Families Enjoy Christmas Celebration At Overholser Mansion

Preservation Oklahoma partnered with Oklahoma City University students to make sure Santa had everything he would need for his visit to the historic Heritage Hills community.

To get in the holiday spirit, families took a step back in time, paying Santa a visit in Oklahoma City's first mansion.

Lexi Windsor said her son Wynston is celebrating his first birthday in one of the most extravagant homes in Oklahoma City.

“This is Wynston's first time at the Overholser mansion,” Windsor said.

The Overholser mansion was built in 1903. Lisa Escalon said if the walls could talk, they'd tell you stories about Ann Overholser and who many would consider the Father of Oklahoma City, Henry Overholser.

“After his arrival, he gets involved in every aspect of developing Oklahoma City. He was our county commissioner, he ran for mayor. He would be a major investor in a streetcar system and eventually he would start the state fair of Oklahoma. He had a vision of a larger city,” Escalon said.

Escalon said the home many considered the country now sits in the middle of downtown.

“The clothes were still in the closet. All of this furniture is original. Most of it is still in the very rooms that it was placed in in 1903,” Escalon said.

A home with more than 10 rooms now decorated for the holidays putting smiles on dozens of families faces for the holidays.

“With modern society and computers and technology and everything moving so fast, it's kind of fun to step back and see what life really was and not just look at it in a book or see it on a television but to actually walk through it,” Windsor said.

The Mansion is open for tours Tuesday through Saturday.