The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is starting a project to renovate the historic building that once house the tribe's highest court.

The Cherokee National Supreme Court was built in 1844, just a few years after the tribe was forcibly moved to Indian Territory. The building survived a fire in 1875 but didn't make it through the allotment period of the early 1900s, when it was taken from the tribe.

The tribe re-acquired the building in 1979 after reaffirming its sovereignty. The two-phase project will restore the Supreme Court's interior and exterior to its historic stature.

The building is the oldest governmental structure in Oklahoma.

Get the Story:
These Walls: The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Building (The Oklahoma Journal Record 8/8)