Forever connected to the Nazi Movement beginning in 1920's Germany, the shape commonly known as the swastika has much older roots. It is actually a prehistoric shape with associations to Hinduism, Native American art in Mound Builder cultures in Ohio, in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and into Central and South America, and can be found in some form on nearly every continent with strong presence in Asia.
It had long associations of good fortune and this element was rediscovered in the late 1900's and became part of the spiritualism and alternate religious beliefs that emerged at that time. It was also first coming to the attention of the budding anthropologists of Native American early cultures.
As early as 1906 there is an advertisement of the shape and the selling of various trinkets of luck. It cited the book by Thomas Wilson. Thomas Wilson, curator of the U.S. National Museum authored a book, "The Swastika:The Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration; with Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times" (1896), emphasized its role as a charm or amulet for good fortune.
In 1909 Duncan-Stone Reality was selling "Swastika Lots" around the area of the proposed new capitol building on Lincoln Blvd.
During the early statehood days until just the late 1930's there was literary club in Oklahoma City called the Swastika Study Club. They formed in March of 1907 as a self-improvement and charitable organization according to The Story of Oklahoma City. In 1908 they met at the home of Mrs. G.A. Finninger, 3301 Epworth Blvd. (Oklahoman, Feb.16, 1908,pg.15).
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It was not such a lucky sign in 1940 when resident Clarence Hicks Jr. was faced with living in a home adorned with a yellow swastika on the brown brick face of the house. The headline said it all: "It's An Old Indian Sign: But It Looks Mighty Nazti (sic)" (Oklahoman Dec.29, 1940, pg. 23). The house was located at 208 NW 32 in Oklahoma City. How it was dealt with then is unknown but today, it appears to have a coat of paint over the location of the offending symbol.
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