Lee Cruce

Lee Cruce (July 8, 1863 – January 16, 1933) was the second Governor of Oklahoma. Running against Charles N. Haskell in 1907 in the Democratic primaries, Lee would not receive the party's nomination for Oklahoma's first Governor. However, Cruce would later take Haskell's seat once he left office as the second Governor of Oklahoma. Lee Cruce was born in Marion, Kentucky on July 8, 1863. Educated Marion Academy, Cruce would attend Vanderbilt Univers... more

Lee Cruce (July 8, 1863 – January 16, 1933) was the second Governor of Oklahoma. Running against Charles N. Haskell in 1907 in the Democratic primaries, Lee would not receive the party's nomination for Oklahoma's first Governor. However, Cruce would later take Haskell's seat once he left office as the second Governor of Oklahoma. Lee Cruce was born in Marion, Kentucky on July 8, 1863. Educated Marion Academy, Cruce would attend Vanderbilt University, where he would receive a law degree. Though he passed the Kentucky bar exam in 1887, he would not practice law until he joined his brother’s law firm at Ardmore in Indian Territory in 1891. The town, founded in 1887, was a quickly growing settlement thanks in part to the Santa Fe railroad. After ten years of practicing law, Cruce entered the financial world as the first cashier of the Ardmore National Bank, of which he would later serve as the bank’s president. In 1901, Cruce would be elected an alderman in the local government of Ardmore... less