Tallchief Mansion

Tallchief Mansion

Alex Joseph Tallchief (Tall Chief) was a full-blooded Osage Indian, his Osage name meaning Eagle God. His roll number was 343, and he, like many other Osages, benefited from the mineral rights that their land sat on. Because of this, Alex didn’t attend any further education past high school and became a businessman and landowner.

I have yet to pin down the exact date that Alex Tallchief (Tall Chief) built his mansion on the hill, but I was able to find a newspaper that told of his construction of a family cottage on the opposite side of town in 1916. One can assume it would have been at least a few years before he built another home, with many assuming that this one was constructed sometime in the early 1920s.

Known as the Tallchief Mansion, it was built to last with a buff brick exterior and a terra cotta roof. Boasting ten rooms, Alex’s wife, Ruth, made this a social center with parties and dinners. During their dinners or social gatherings, talking, laughing, music, cards, refreshments, dancing, and even singing were normal. Miss Nell Little even called them “royal entertainers” in 1921. Sometimes, they even did a little too well at entertaining. The Fairfax Chief ran a story in February 1925 that ten persons were arraigned before the justice of peace for disturbing the peace at the Alex Tallchief home during a “golden jubilee.”

But its size wasn’t the only thing mesmerizing about this place; its location was too. Sitting on a hill on the west side of town, this home overlooked most and served as some representation of the Tallchief family’s influence. The hill it sits upon, still to this day, is largely undeveloped, something that can be credited to the Tallchief family for keeping this land in the family through the last hundred years.

Tallchief Mansion was the childhood home of Maria, born January 24, 1925, and Marjorie Tallchief, born on October 19, 1926. Music and dancing were introduced very early on to Ruth and Alex’s children, as music was important to their father. Alex was a saxophone player, but had not been introduced to the vast world of music until his teenage years.

Through various dance lessons, it was discovered that Maria and Marjorie had an unbelievable talent for ballet. So much so that even the outdoor covered porch in the back of the house was used as their ballet studio. Mrs. Milton Roe Sabin, a dance teacher from Tulsa, made weekly trips to Osage County to give dance lessons to Osage children. She would stay at the Tallchief Mansion when she came to town and would thus begin Maria’s schedule with two hours of practice that evening. They would then get up at 5 am together to do two more hours of practice before Mrs. Sabin would go to teach her class. Maria would attend that class and then get an additional private lesson before Mrs. Sabin would go back to Tulsa

Alex and Ruth Tallchief saw the budding talent their daughters had, and that they needed access to bigger and better opportunities, and in 1933-34, the family moved to California to pursue those. Mrs. Sabin told her students, Maria and Marjorie, goodbye, wishing them well, not knowing when or if she would ever see them again.

While they were away, they retained ownership of the house but rented it out. One of the first families I could find that stayed here was Mr. and Mrs. Joe McClure in April of 1935, after returning from their winter stay in San Antonio. Shortly after they left, though, the house was almost met with tragedy.

A fire threatened the home and the west side of town in the fall of 1934. A carelessly thrown match lit the dying grass, and the wind whipped it quickly. Firefighters battled the blaze for over an hour as it rapidly spread across the pasture. Thankfully, the Tallchief Mansion was spared and only damage to the pasture, telephone poles, and fence posts was done.

Another tenant was Mr. and Mrs. B.M. Cotton, who occupied the home around 1949. The Cottons were the last renters of the house on the hill as Alex and Ruth Tall Chief moved back to the home that year from Beverly Hills. At this point, Maria and Marjorie Tallchief were aspiring young women, and Alex preferred the quaint way of the Osages in Fairfax.

The Tallchief family continued to embrace the community, whether it was letting students learn how to properly prune shrubbery in their gardens or putting up excellent Christmas lights during the winter for those passing by to admire. The home even served as a polling location in the 1950s.

Maria Tallchief

Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief was known to family and friends as “Betty Marie” and her stage name, Maria Tallchief. When she was younger, she made her first public appearance in the Tall Chief Theater owned by her father.

Just five years after graduating in 1942 from Beverly Hills High School, Maria found herself in New York City working as an apprentice for an upcoming Canada tour with Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo. After the tour, she was offered a spot making just $40 a week.

In 1947, after spending a short time with Ballet Russe, her contract ended, and she joined the Paris Opera Ballet before moving back to New York. Joining the New York City Ballet again, she acquired the title of First Prima Ballerina and held it for the next 13 years.

Maria Tallchief was honored by Osage Chief Paul Pitts in 1953 with a crowning ceremony to become an Osage Princess. Oklahoma Governor Johnston Murray, Lt. Governor, and State Senators were among those in attendance to honor the world-famous ballerina. But one of the first people she went to was none other than her dance teacher, Mrs Sabin. They embraced, and with tears in her eyes, her former teacher said, “Maria, you look just like I thought you would.” The Tallchief sisters were her only two Osage students to make it as ballerinas.

Throughout her career, she was honored with many more awards and achievements, including a National Medal of the Arts, National Women’s Hall of Fame induction, and Kennedy Center Honors. Her home state of Oklahoma has honored her with statues in her hometown and the Five Moons sculpture installation of 5 Native American ballerinas, her sister, Marjorie, included.

Marjorie Tallchief

Just like her sister, Marjorie was a world-famous ballerina. Early in her career, she followed her sister’s footsteps in joining the American Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo(1946-47). Then going on to sign with Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas (1948-57).

She was most notably associated as being the first American ballerina to join the Paris Opera Ballet and held the premiere danseuse étoile title from 1957 to 1962. After coming back to the United States, she briefly danced with Harkness Ballet (1964-1966).

She helped her sister Maria in the founding of Chicago City Ballet in the 1980s and was a director for the Harid Conservatory from 1989 to 1993. During her successful career, she performed for John F. Kennedy in France and has been remembered all around Oklahoma for her accomplishments. She is honored in the Oklahoma Capitol mural, Flight of Spirit, by Mike Larsen and the Five Moons Sculpture in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Monte England. She has been inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

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Restoration Coming!

The final years of the home were lived in by  George Tallchief in the 1990s during his term as Osage Principal Chief. The home became vacant and for nearly thirty years, endured vandalism and environmental damage.

For many years, locals of Fairfax and Osage County have pleaded for something to be done. The Tallchief Mansion not only stands as a historically significant structure from the Osage Reign of Terror period, but also serves as a historically significant structure because of its connection to the Tallchief sisters. The popularity of the Killers of the Flower Moon film and book ignited further conversations about the state of this historic mansion.

But those conversations would finally turn into action beginning in 2021. With the Osage Nation and the Tallchief family having shared ownership, Chief Standingbear was able to declare a state of emergency regarding the structural safety. Funds from the Osage Nation Property Improvement were utilized to stabilize the mansion in July 2021.

That stabilization included securing the structure by installing beams and pillars, repairing mortar and brick slippage, roof repair and fully wrapped with tarps. Additionally, the Osage Nation Wildland Fire cleared overgrowth with plans to conduct a controlled burn of the entire property.

Then things went quiet, at least to the general public. Many were concerned that again the historic home was endangered and would be forgotten about. But this is far from the truth. The home’s heirs from the Tallchief family reportedly have not all turned eighteen yet, therefor full ownership cannot be given to the Osage Nation just yet. “Our family is thrilled to be donating the Tallchief Mansion to the Osage Nation and we look forward to working with the Nation to create a community space for the Osage,” said Elise Paschen, the daughter of Maria Tallchief.

Gallery Below of Tallchief Mansion

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