Will Rogers but they spent summers in Oklahoma. In 1911, Rogers bought a ranch near Claremore, Oklahoma, which he intended to use as his retirement home. He paid US$500 an acre. From about 1925 to 1928, Rogers traveled the length and breadth of the United States in a "lecture tour". (He began his lectures by pointing out that "A humorist entertains, and a lecturer annoys.") During this time he became the first civilian to fly from coast to coast with pilots flying the mail in early air mail flights. The National Press Club dubbed him "Ambassador at Large of the United States".
Will Rogers following year, was named in his honor. The Will Rogers Theatre, an Art Deco movie house designed by Rapp and Rapp, opened in Chicago's Belmont-Central shopping district in 1936. It operated until 1986 and was razed in 1987. The Will Rogers Theater in Charleston, Illinois, also an Art Deco movie house, was opened in 1938 and designed by Roy M. Kennedy. It had 1,000 seats in its single auditorium. The theatre was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It was later twinned and lastly, closed by AMC in 2010. Rogers was portrayed by A.A. Trimble in