Built in 1907 by Mrs. Alice S. Atkinson, this Victorian-era four-square home is a simple prairie farm dwelling adapted to the urban setting. Hundreds of similar homes dotted the early neighborhoods of Oklahoma City from 1894 to the coming of Colonial Revival after statehood.

In 1915 it was purchased by one of Oklahoma’s territorial leaders, Mr. John H. Burford, a native of Indiana and graduate of Indiana University. John had married Mary A. Peek at Indianapolis on February 14, 1876. He was chosen as chairman of the Republican Party Central Committee for Indiana, which secured the election of Benjamin Harrison as President of the U.S. in 1888. He remained a friend of Harrison until the president died.

In 1890 Burford moved to Oklahoma City, where President Harrison appointed him as Registrar of the U.S. Land Office. He remained in the Land Office until March of 1892, when President Harrison appointed him as Associate Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court. In February 1898, President William McKinley appointed Burford as Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court. His reappointment continued under President Theodore Roosevelt Burford represented the citizens of Guthrie in all the litigations that resulted from moving the state capital from Guthrie to Oklahoma City. He was elected president of the State Bar Association in 1912-13. In 1912, he was elected to a 4-year term in the state senate. He continued in the leadership of the state Republican Party, which rewarded him by making him their unanimous choice candidate for the office of U. S. Senator in 1914.

After statehood and Democratic control of politics, Burford formed a law partnership with Roy Hoffman, another territorial politician who built a home on 14th Street. Burford remained in the home until his death in 1922, followed by Mary’s death in 1935. John and Mary had one son, Frank E., who was born in 1884. He attended the University of Kansas and law school at the  University of Virginia. He later became a successful attorney in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

The home was inherited by Mary’s sister, Martha Neal, who moved in with her son, Mr. Arthur C. Neal, and his wife, Ruby. The younger Neal was manager of Ho Ho Corporation, a firm dealing in wholesale building materials. His wife remained in the home until 1983, when it was purchased by Dr. William P. Olson and Dr. Sarah L. Tobin. Olson, a political science professor at Central State University, and Tobin, on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, added a bathroom upstairs, returned the kitchen to a period look, and begin refinishing the woodwork.

Dr. Charles “Chuck” & Billie DeJohn lived in the house in the 1990s. Chuck graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in Engineering in 1968. He then earned an M.S. in Aero-Systems Engineering from the University of West Florida in 1972, an M.P.H. from the University of Alabama in 1990, and a D.O. from Oklahoma State University.

Chuck is an Aerospace Medicine Research Physician who concentrates on medical and human factors research for the Federal Aviation Administration. He is frequently called on as a knowledgeable and experienced consultant for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Department of Justice, the aviation industry, and academia. His data-driven decisions make the National Airspace safer for everyone.

Chuck and Billie loved sharing their home with their neighbors on 14th street and often hosted the main dish stop for the yearly Progressive Porch Party. Their dining room table would be filled with pots of chili one year and pans of lasagna the next. Everyone would fill their plates and then walk out the French doors to their spacious front porch to enjoy their meal and festive conversations.

Tanna & Brian Fried lived in the home in the early 2000s with their young daughter and son. They enjoyed spending time in their movie theater room in the basement and on their spacious wrap around porch.

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