Vernon Whiting, builder of the Historical Whiting Apartments in the 1920's, was born in 1870 in Ogdensburg, New York, and later moved with his family to Seward, Nebraska, where he graduated from high school, took a business course at Lillibridge and Roose college, and later studied law at the University of Nebraska. In 1891 he was appointed to the District & Supreme courts of Nebraska, and that same year he moved to Kingfisher, Oklahoma, to work as chief clerk at a land office. In 1909 he was appointed probate attorney and Compantency [sic] Commissioner for the Osage Tribe in Pawhuska, moved there in April, established his residence, later resigned from the agency, and purchased the weekly newspaper the Pawhuska Capital, which he operated for 6 years before selling it to Richard Elam, who established the Pawhuska Daily Capital. He then entered the real estate business and built many downtown buildings, including the TG&Y building, the Whiting Hall building, and the Whiting Apartment Buildings, now called Osage Square Historical Whiting Bed & Bath, as well as several residential buildings around downtown. Whiting also served Pawhuska as commissioner and mayor. Commercial space 701 housed Basket Grocery in 1925, Zaroor Elas Grocery in 1928, and Pawhuska Radio Clinic in 1956, where the first television sold in Pawhuska was sold; that television is now in the Osage County Museum on Lynn Ave. Commercial space 703 housed Mrs. Pat's Gift Shop in 1925, Henry & Pat's Art Goods in 1928, and POE Wholesale Co. in 1956.