Historic Tulsa

The Bank at 320 South Boston

2011-02-06T23:14:00.000-08:00

320 South Boston Building today.

Artist's rendering of completed building prior to expansion.

This handsome 22-story high rise building with 10 story wings on each side is known simply as the 320 South Boston Building. In the past it has had several names.

1927 photo. New addition on the left, old on the right.

The Exchange National Bank of Tulsa, Oklahoma was organized in 1910, when four young men purchased the failed Farmers National Bank of Tulsa. Business men Eugene Frank Blaise, Charles J. Wrightsman, William Connelly, and Harry F. Sinclair became the new owners.

A new 10 story building at 320 S. Boston was completed in 1917 to be the home of the Exchange National Bank. It stood ten stories tall and at that time was the largest bank in
Oklahoma.

Revolving Brass door and Gilt carved trim.

Amidst a downtown building frenzy in 1929, the bank was expanded by adding the left wing and a 22 story central tower. The addition brought the building's height to 400 feet (122 m), making it the tallest building in Oklahoma at the time.

The architect was George Winkler, who also designed the Mayo Hotel. One of the bank's major investors was Harry Sinclair who became the bank's president.

In 1948 these were the only escalators in Oklahoma

Bank of Oklahoma was placed into FDIC receivership in 1990, and a year later was bought by Tulsa businessman George Kaiser.

At the time, it was a $2 billion bank with 20 branches in Oklahoma. Under Kaiser's ownership, BOK began an aggressive expansion effort. BOK's expansion strategy is to locate in growing markets near Oklahoma.

(Older photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society. Text from Wikipedia, mostly)

Old Main Lobby

Main lobby today

Decorative stone trim

Ceiling and decorative stone work

The Vault. Very strong. A safe place to keep your treasure.

Mincks-Adams Hotel, 1927-1928

2010-04-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

403 South Cheyenne, Photograph from 1930

The Adams Hotel is located on a lot in the heart of the Central Business District of Tulsa. Built by I. S. Mincks to capitalize on the 1928 International Petroleum Exposition, the building has thirteen floors, with a full basement and penthouse. A 1935 liquidation sale gave it new owners and a new name: the Adams Hotel.

The Adams facade is widely recognized as an excellent example of glazed terra-cotta veneering.
Produced by the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company, the terra cotta pastel blues and reds are still quite noticeable, and the individual tile units are sound, with tight mortar joints.

The architectural style of the facade is eclectic, in the mood of the 1893 to 1917 period when architects felt free to use any and all decorative motifs as they saw fit. Its highly ornate facade is an imaginative combination of Gothic, Italian Renaissance, and Baroque decorations.

Just to the right of the handsome main doors is a plaque recognizing that the Adams Building has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The hotel was listed in the National Register on November 7, 1978, under National Register Criterion C, and its NRIS number is 78002273.

Terra cotta is also used extensively in the interior of the building in the lobby, restaurant, and all the way up the stairwell. The interior doors are double and made of heavy dark wood.

The floor and walls are faced with decorative tile as are the stair risers.

The old elevators have been upgraded but the original brass letterbox is still in place.

The current occupant for the larger part of the ground floor is the Casa Laredo, an upscale Mexican restaurant which makes good use of the ornate tile on the floor and walls.

(Text courtesy Tulsa Preservation Commission) . (Older photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.)

21st Street Bridge Across the Arkansas River, 1932

2010-03-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

The "new" 21st Street bridge over the Arkansas River in 1932.

The 21st Street bridge across the Arkansas River was completed in 1932. The water level in the Arkansas varies considerably according to the amount of rain falls upstream. The riverbed is very sandy and a number of commercial sand dredging operations are located on the river across the state. When the bridge was being constructed the water level was so low that equipment could work from the channel.

The 21st Street bridge in December 2009.

The bridge originally had decorative risers and guard rails.

Oklahoma acquired its longest concrete bridge (1,880 feet) when Tulsa raised funds through a bond issue to build a twenty-one span, open spandrel arch bridge across the Arkansas River. The 21st Street Bridge, completed in 1932, opened a major new thoroughfare between downtown and fast growing western suburbs.

The bridge assumed a more utilitarian appearance after its 1984 expansion.

The Spans were strengthened, the deck was widened, and a Riverside exit ramp was added.

Looking north at the 21st Street Bridge and the Tulsa skyline in 1932.

Photograph taken September 10, 1983.

The 21st Street bridge project began in early September 1983 with the demolition of the old bridge railings and the three spans over Riverside Drive.

Photograph taken October 7, 1983.

The 21st Street bridge's deck is beginning to vanish into history as work has started on removing the deck to the arches. The bridge's arches and footings are sound, but the deck above the arches is deteriorated. This portion of the bridge will be removed and replaced, while the arches will remain intact.

Photograph taken May 14, 1984.

Work has started on removing the road deck at the west end of the 21st Street bridge. Pier work is continuing on the bridge, and work is underway on building a pedestrian ramp from the new bridge's future bicycle lane to the Riverside Drive bicycle trail.

Photograph taken August 12, 1984

The new ramp connecting the 21st Street bridge with Riverside Drive is moving along as two piers are complete and a third pier is nearing completion.

A comprehensive study of Oklahoma bridge construction can be found HERE. (Older photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.)

US Highway 66 over the Arkansas River, 1915-1916

2009-12-15T22:40:00.000-08:00

West Bank Looking toward the North East, 1917

East Bank Looking toward the North West, 1936

West Bank Looking Toward the South East, 2009

Tulsa's 11th Street Bridge over the Arkansas River is a good example of a multi-span concrete arch bridge with verticals. It is a continuous span constructed of reinforced concrete. The roadway decking and guardrails are monolithic. It was altered in 1929 and has ornate guardrails that utilize Art Deco motifs, especially the Zigzag Art Deco and PWA Classical-oriented Art Deco. Its roadbed is 34 feet wide and it was labor intensive to build, reflecting a technology and aesthetic approach to bridge construction no longer in use.

The current state of disrepair of the old bridge make it unsafe even for foot traffic. It has been named an historic site and plans exist to restore it and make it the centerpiece of a Route 66 Center. However because of the expense involved those plans are on hold for the time being.

This bridge is sandwiched in on the North by the Redfork Expressway (I244) and on the South by Southwest Boulevard. It it difficult to photograph except from either end looking between the old bridge and I244.
(Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Committee . Older photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.)

Skelly Mansion, 1923

2009-12-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

2103 South Madison Avenue - Photo circa 1950

The Skelly mansion is a three-story building with a full basement, providing approximately 10,000 square feet of floor space. It faces west-northwest from a spacious, wooded corner lot. Its masonry exterior walls are faced with red brick, with a roof of green tile. The severe front entrance, with a classic architrave and a transom of clear, leaded glass, is flanked by carriage lights believed to have come from an early-day hearse. The entrance way is protected by a classic two-story portico supported by white cut stone columns with lotus style capitals. The portico is flanked on either side by a pair of double French doors, opening onto the terrace. A large second floor veranda with iron rail and iron staircase offering access to the yard may have been added some time after the house was built.

The main feature of the ground floor is the long, forty foot dining room. The walls have murals in inset panels and arched mirrors with plaster mold frames in the French style. Unusual features of the second floor include an ornate, half-circle ceiling grill through which the third floor exhaust fan sucked cool air into the bedroom. The third floor has two servant rooms and a bath.

William G. Skelly, oil producer, refiner, and marketer, purchased this neo-classic house in 1924. It remained in the Skelly family until 1968. The Skelly House remains one of Tulsa’s premier historical buildings.
(Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Committee . Older photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.)

Gillette Mansion, 1921

2009-12-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

1521 South Yorktown Place

This is the home of J. M. Gillette, from which the residential district around it draws its name. It is a three-story, Gothic Tudor building constructed of brick, stucco and heavy timbers. It has rock accents, multi-paned leaded glass windows set within cut stone Gothic arched frames, and a slate roof. This early photograph looks at the house from the north with the prominent windows on the west side.

Outstanding interior features include a winding staircase and cut stone fireplaces. One of the fireplaces has gargoyle brackets on the mantle. Much of the interior is of gumwood with intricately detailed moldings and paneling. It also features a library and a sunroom with a colored glass skylight.

Originally, the mansion’s back yard extended from the house to the lot line where 16th Street should go through. The mansion grounds included a natural stone goldfish pond, a wood and stone screened “summer house” facing the fish pond, a hand crafted (dated and signed) concrete picnic table and benches with inlaid tile tops, concrete garden benches, and a clay tennis court located in the southwest corner of the yard. The property around the mansion is now populated by other houses.

James Max Gillette was an important merchant, real estate entrepreneur and oilman in Tulsa’s early days. Gillette sited his home outside the city limits and raised purebred cattle on this “country place” for several years. The cattle grazed on land south of the mansion, which is currently occupied by four new homes. During the Depression, Gillette lost everything, including the mansion.
(Excerpts from Tulsa Preservation Committee. Older photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.)

Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1909, 1921, 1952

2009-11-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

In 1909 a group led by Reverend Sandy Lyons organized themselves as the Second Baptist Church in a one room schoolhouse in the 300 block on North Hartford. They soon decided that they did not care to be second in anything and changed their name to the Mount Zion Baptist Church. It was said that Mount Zion was the highest point in Jerusalem whereupon the city of God rested.

In the early days of the fledgling congregation a property was purchased as 419 North Elgin with plans to raise money for a new church. In 1914 Reverend R. A. Whitaker Assumed the duties as Pastor and very soon faced a serious challenge. The school building they had been using ceased to be available and they were forced to move with only 3 days notice. They temporarily moved in what had been a dance hall on North Greenwood. As soon as possible they built a frame tabernacle adjacent to their new property at Fourth and North Elgin and began to make plans for a permanent home.

Several anxious years of planning went into the construction of a permanent home for Mount Zion. Under Reverend Whitaker some $42,000 was raised but the cost of the proposed building was $92,000. Just when it appeared that plans would have to be abandoned a Jewish contractor came forward with an unsecured loan for $50,000. His faith and confidence in the new congregation was soon to be justified.

In 1916 construction on the new church was begun and five years later the $92,000 edifice was completed. An enthusiastic congregation held its first services on April 4th, 1921 while assuming a $50,000 loan in doing so. Their joy was short lived, as soon the "Church that Faith Built" was heading for more dark days.

In two months time Tulsa would experience the worst race riot in US history. At this time Tulsa had a very prosperous black business community. The financial strength of what was known as the "Black Wall Street" was second in financial dealing only to New York City.

It was during this time that a young black man was accused of assaulting a young white girl working as an elevator operator in the white business district. Before any real sense of the incident could be made the incident quickly escalated into a white lynch mob and an effort by the black community to protect the accused. This quickly escalated into an all-out but one sided war. Within 24 hours the once prosperous black community was ashes and rubble. Most homes and businesses and no less that 23 black churches including Mount Zion were burned to the ground.

Reverend Whitaker organized what relief he could. Members of Mount Zion set up a distribution center for what food and supplies they could gather for use of the devastated community. The pastor and members of the church gathered within the ruins for prayer and discussion. They were relieved to learn that they did have insurance, then dismayed to find that it had a clause that excluded an act of riot. The only way they could avoid obligation for a $50,000 mortgage on a pile of smoking rubble was to declare bankruptcy.

After considerable discussion the decision was made that the debt was a matter of honor made in good faith by the lender. They would pay off the mortgage as best they could. Some members did leave, but most stayed and spent evenings and weekends clearing away the debris, readying the site for rebuilding.

Exhausted and in ill health, Reverend Whitaker resigned as pastor. A series of ministers lent service for brief periods of time. Sometimes there was no pastor but the members pressed on. For the next five years the church struggled with the issue of the debt. At times it looked like they were facing foreclosure. The burden of debt made it difficult to call a pastor.

In 1928 Reverend Hamilton came and became involved in a fierce debate regarding the unpaid mortgage. He led a group who felt that the mortgage was not a legal debt because much of it was made up of "Good Faith" lenders. Money had been lent with no hard assets to secure it. Because it ws lent to a church it was a matter of good faith that the debt would be honored without security. This debate split the church. Pastor Hamilton resigned and withdrew with a large number of the members to start another church called New Hope Baptist. Those who remained continued to slowly pay off the old debt. By late 1937 they were holding services in the dirt floored basement of the ruined church and had paid off about three-fourths of the mortgage.

In 1937 Reverand J. H. Dotson was called to be pastor. Within 6 months 60 new members joined Mount Zion and $3,000 had been raised. Using several effective fund raising techniques Reverend Dotson continued to bring in new members and to chip away at the remaining mortgage. On November 23, 1942 the mortgage on the first structure was paid in full.

As soon as the first mortgage was paid Reverend Dotson began an aggressive building fund to pay for a new church. The story of how this small congregation managed to survive great hardship with honor was retold widely in papers and magazines all over the nation. As a result, contributions towards a new church came in from people who were moved by the story of the struggling congregation.

W.S. and J.C. Latimer were trained architects and members of Mount Zion. The two brothers drew up the plans for the new Mount Zion. It was to be larger and more expensive that the old church. It is this design that Rev. Dotson is so excited about in the photo above.

Once the construction began Rev. Dotson could be found at the construction site every day, watching, checking, handing bricks to the workman, providing encouragement. Finally in November of 1952 the fine new church was dedicated.

In a few years Pastor Dotson's health began to fail and he asked for permission to call Reverend G. Calvin McCutchen to be his assistant. In 1957 Reverend McCutchen was installed as the Pastor for Mount Zion.

Reverend McCutchen was to serve Mount Zion for 50 years. During his tenure the mortgage was retired, a number of improvements were made to the property, and the membership increased. In 1985 ground was broken for a large Family Life Center adjacent to the church which was completed one year later on Palm Sunday 1986.

There were difficult times when the I-244 Expressway was completed very close to Mount Zion, and Urban Renewal took out a large section of old business and residential building just south of the church. This caused a decline in attendence as prople were displaced from the area. Less than 1% of the membership is within walking distance of the church. Members now come from all over Tulsa, some as far away as Bixby, Glenpool, and Broken Arrow.

Since building the Family Life Center, other facility improvements include the remodeling of the Sanctuary, the J. H. Dotson Study Hall, the R. A. Whitaker Annex; development of "Faith Park;" and the establishment of a Computer Lab. On November 8, 1998, the Family Life Center was renamed "G. Calvin McCutchen, Sr. Family Life Center" in honor of Pastor McCutchen.

On Sunday, August 15, 1999, there was another fire at Mt. Zion. This time it was a joyous celebration of God's blessings with the burning of the mortgage on the G. Calvin McCutchen, Sr. Family Life Center.

After 50 years of faithful service Reverend McCutchen retired in 2007 and continues to be active in the ministry of Mount Zion. The baton has been passed to Dr. Leroy M. Cole who serves as the current Pastor of Mount Zion.

The only thing remaining from the church that burned is this basement room that served as sanctuary for a time. On August 16, 2009 Mount Zion Baptist Church celebrated its 100th anniversary celebration. The theme was "We Have Come This Far By Faith".

Mt. Zion Baptist Church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on September 5, 2008

(Older photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society, and Mount Zion Baptist.)

Parriott Mansion, 1929-1930

2009-11-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

2216 East 30th Place (older photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

This elaborate Colonial Revival style residence was owned by oilman Foster Brooks Parriott. Designed by the Kansas City, Missouri, architectural firm of Boillot and Lauck, the house exhibits many of the characteristics of the style, including a hipped roof with gabled dormers, dentils, modillions and a simple frieze. It has an elaborate entry surround, including a swan-neck pediment. The house and outbuildings are situated in a fenced lot of 50 acres and the overall estate is most impressive.

The black and white photo was taken not long after the house was built. Since that time the grove of small trees has been cleared and an elaborate street side entry has been added. The Christmas decorations are in place for the season.

Parriott, a Standard Oil employee in 1898, was later involved with Leader Oil Company, Carter Oil Company, and was elected a director of Sunray Oil Company in 1937. He was elected chairman of the board of Sunray Oil Company six years later.
(Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Committee)

Moore Manor, 1918

2009-11-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

228 West 17th Place (older photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The Moore Manor, built only eleven years after Oklahoma’s statehood, is significant for its association with the oil boom of Tulsa. Frank L. Moore started business as a small drilling contractor and parlayed a few drilling interests into an oil empire. With his new-found wealth, he purchased a prime lot within the new Buena Vista Park Addition and built Moore Manor. Such oil industry giants as the Sinclairs, Cosdens, Roesers, and the McFarlins resided in this addition.

The house is the finest example of Colonial Revival residential architecture constructed during those early oil boom years. It is also an outstanding example of excellence craftsmanship and detailing. Its four stories consist of a full basement, first and second floors and a finished attic. Brick veneer is of rough red-brick, laid in very light gray mortar, with coursing of a common running bond. Building corners are done with brick quoins while all trim is of light gray limestone. The four-way hipped roof is covered with slate shingles, pierced with wall dormers on the entire perimeter.

This tract of land includes the famous Creek Council Oak Tree. Of the many opulent homes built on the block containing the Council Oak Tree, only the Moore Manor remains today to remind us of a glorious episode of American history. (Excerpts are from Tulsa Preservation Committee)

The Moore Manor and the Creek Nation Council Oak are on the same block of land. Moore Manor on the northwest corner and the Council Oak on the southeast corner. To see my earlier post on the Creek Nation Council Oak click HERE.

Phoenix Cleaners, 1947

2009-11-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

125 East 18th Street

Built in 1947, this white, two-story, brick building features a curved front corner and a smooth black metal canopy extending across the front facade and around the corner. Various window sizes adorn the upper level which is bordered above and beneath by bands of projected brick courses. An unusual curved-front window bay composed of fitted, flat-glazed frames is bordered by glass block "sidelites." (Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Committee)

Carl K. Dresser House, 1919

2009-11-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

235 West 18th Street

Designed by New York City architect Albert Joseph Bodker, the Carl K. Dresser House is a multi-story, stucco dwelling. Constructed in 1919-1920, the house is an excellent representation of the Spanish Eclectic style in Tulsa.

Located south of downtown Tulsa, the Dresser House is located in the historic Riverview neighborhood and was historically one of two houses on the block. Originally an exclusive neighborhood for Tulsa’s society, primarily oil tycoons, the neighborhood has been built up in modern times with apartment and condominium complexes.

Privately held, the Dresser is available for weddings and elegant receptions. Their website is HERE. (Excerpts are from Tulsa Preservation Committee) (older photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Tribune Building, 1924

2009-11-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

20 East Archer Street

The Tribune Building, at 20 East Archer Street, was built in 1924 and housed Tulsa's evening newspaper the Tulsa Tribune until 1942. It was the first building in Oklahoma built as a newspaper plant. Built in Tulsa’s original business district, the Tribune Building is similar in style, scale, and materials to other 1920s buildings that were constructed several blocks to the south in what was to become the central business district. Designed as an efficient newspaper plant, its large, elaborately detailed interior also reflected the Tribune’s importance to the growing community.

In 1942 the Tulsa Tribune became part of the Newspaper Printing Company and was printed at 315 South Boulder along with the morning newspaper the Tulsa World. Following the trend of most evening newspapers the Tribune's subscribers declined causing it to be unprofitable and it ceased publication in September, 1992.

The Tribune Building subsequently served as a storage facility and as a mission for the homeless. The photograph above was taken in about 1945 when it was a warehouse for The Aldridge Moving and Storage company. Notice the streetcar rails turning the corner of Boston and Archer.

The building lay largely vacant from 1971 until 2001, when it was renovated and converted into loft apartments under the name Tribune Lofts.

In the early sixties until its abandonment in 1971, the building housed John 3:16, a mission and shelter for homeless men. Notice that statues of two small owls originally sat perched above the entrance. The owl being a symbol of wisdom and appropriate for a newspaper.

The main lobby retains its terrazzo floor, marble wainscoting and stairway, and dentiled molding. Original elevators, call buttons, and brass mailbox remain, as does the iron catwalk that surrounded second floor presses. The Tribune Building has become the cornerstone for revitalization of Tulsa's oldest commercial district.

(Excerpts are from Wikipedia and Tulsa Preservation Committee) (older photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Gypsy Oil Company 1920 / Gypsy Coffee House 2009

2009-11-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

303 North Cincinnati Avenue

The Gypsy Oil Company was an affiliate of Gulf Oil and was in business before 1910. This building housed their Tulsa Offices until the early 1930s.

For the past 10 years Gypsy has been reincarnated as the Gypsy Coffee House and Cyber Cafe. I have not patronized them but the fact that they have been in business for 10 years tells me they are doing something right. I like to see old buildings turned into new businesses. This one not only provided space, but a catchy name.

They have a website in progress, look HERE. A satisfied customer has a blog post HERE.

Ambassador Hotel, Tulsa 1929 / 2009

2009-11-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

1324 South Main Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Opened in 1929, this elegant hotel catered to the leaders of Oklahoma's early oil industry.

n 1929, General Patrick Hurley introduced the Ambassador Hotel to Tulsa. One of the first "extended stay" hotels, the Ambassador was created to provide upscale temporary housing for oil barons and their families while their own mansions were built. The ten-story Mediterranean style building is one of Tulsa’s most beautiful structures, graced with Italian terra cotta relief panels and limestone cornices. Hurley never got to bask in the elegance of his hotel. About the same time as the opening, Hurley was appointed to the Secretary of War post, the first Oklahoman cabinet member.

Tulsa’s oil business continued to grow. In 1960, Kewanee Oil and its subsidiary Delbert Development Company purchased the Hotel Ambassador. A $1.25 million overhaul was undertaken to create an apartment hotel, primarily targeting commercial occupancy.

After the oil business decline, the hotel became senior retirement housing, and closed entirely in 1987. In 1997, developer Paul Coury and a group of civic-minded citizens purchased the property to begin the $5.5 million renovation to restore this historic structure to its early day elegance.

The Ambassador is also the location of The Chalkboard, one of Tulsa's finest restaurants.

For more information see the website for the Ambassador Hotel

Here is Patrick Hurley with Oklahoma's favorite son Will Rogers.
(photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Day 9 - Home Again, Home Again

2009-11-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

Today we drove back home to Tulsa. We had a great week and I tried to sum it up in this last post from our trip to Santa Fe. To join us and look at today's photographs, please link to my other blog.

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Route 66 Roadtrip: Day 8, Santa Fe, NM to Guymon, OK

2009-10-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

We started back and after a side trip to the Black Mesa State Park stopped in Guymon, Oklahoma. To join us and look at today's photographs, please link to my other blog.

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Route 66 Roadtrip: Day 7, Santa Fe, NM

2009-10-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

We spent the day exploring Santa Fe and wished we had much more time to enjoy the city. To join us and look at today's photographs, please link to my other blog.

Please visit TulsaGentleman

Route 66 Roadtrip: Day 6, Santa Rosa, NM to Santa Fe, NM

2009-10-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

We left Santa Rosa this morning and drove up to Santa Fe using new US 84 and old route 66 as they separated and joined across New Mexico. We spent some time at the Pecos National Park then were greeted by snow flurries as we entered Santa Fe. To join us and look at today's photographs, please link to my other blog.

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Route 66 Roadtrip: Day 5, Amarillo, TX to Santa Rosa, NM

2009-10-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

Today we drove from Amarillo, Texas to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. We got a little rain and a significant drop in temperature. We rose from the flat plains of the panhandle to the colorful mesas of eastern New Mexico. To join us and look at todays photographs, please link to my other blog.

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Route 66 Roadtrip: Day 4, Elk City to Amarillo

2009-10-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the morning in the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma. We drove west through Sayre, Shamrock, and on to Amarillo, Texas. We continue to retrace te original Route 66 where we can and are enjoying the great expanse of the Texas Panhandle. Photos are posted in my other blog.

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Route 66 Roadtrip: Day 3, Oklahoma City to Elk City

2009-10-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

We are trying to follow the historic route 66 as closely as possible. From north of Tulsa to Oklahoma it follows the same general route as Interstate 44. West of Oklahoma City it runs roughly parallel to Interstate 40. The old 66 meandered from town to town along the path that was easiest to pave and did not run in a straight line. The interstates bypass most towns and run as straight as possible to allow high speed non-stop travel. This means that to follow old 66 requires that you zigzag back and forth and cross the interstate in a number of places. It makes for much slower travel.

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Route 66 Roadtrip: Day 2, Tulsa to Oklahoma City

2009-10-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

By following The original route 66 as nearly as possible we were able to drive from Tulsa to Oklahoma City in only 4 hours. Of course we had to stop for lunch at the Rock Cafe in Stroud for a wonderful lunch. I posted only my best photos and got it down to an even dozen. Come and enjoy our trip with us.

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Route 66 Roadtrip: Tulsa to Santa Fe, Day 1 in Tulsa

2009-10-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

For the next week Susan, Smokey and I will be taking a vacation from our usual routine and will retrace historic Route 66 from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Santa Fe, New Mexico. During this time I will not try to create separate posts for both my Tulsa Gentleman and Historic Oklahoma blogs. This trip will be historic enough for both. We are armed with several guide books and maps but a minimum of advanced planning. In short, we are winging it. Stay tuned and we will see how it goes.

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Dawson School, 1908

2009-10-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

NE Corner of East Ute Place and North Kingston Place

Dawson was one of many small communities established after the land rush in 1889. It was annexed into the city of Tulsa in 1948. Present day Dawson is bounded by Apache on the North, Pine on the South, Yale on the West and Sheridan on the East. It was the location of the Smith Brothers coal Pit, a strip mining operation.

The Dawson School was constructed in 1908 and served as both school and community center for Dawson. The Dawson School is a sandstone, Romanesque style, two-room building. It is an excellent example of a schoolhouse built after the post-statehood school building boom.

Originally, there was a bell tower atop the porch, however, it was removed at an unknown time. Decorative details include an arched partial porch, two semicircular windows flanking the porch, a boxed cornice and gable returns. Dawson School was an important center for Dawson community activities. The school was the only municipal building in Dawson until 1942 when the firehouse was built. (Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

Sherman Residence, 1937

2009-10-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

7228 South Evanston Avenue

Howard J. Sherman originally built this two-story house of steel reinforced concrete on a hilltop in the country 7 miles south of downtown Tulsa. He called his property "the farm" and raised turkeys there.

Mr. Sherman was the seventeenth employee of the Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville. He later moved to Tulsa to form McIntyre-Sherman-Cummings which obtained interests in the Texas Oil Field discovery of 1936.

This house is vertically massed with open decks topped with a triple pipe railing. There is a curved second floor balcony and a porte cochere allowing automobile approach to a side door.

What was out in the country in 1937 is now a neighborhood of beautiful homes on spacious lots In what would be called "near South" Tulsa. (Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

East 21st St. and S. Memorial Ave., 1956 / 2009

2009-10-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

On Memorial looking north across 21st Street, 1956 (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

On Memorial looking north across 21st Street, 2009

Philbrook Gardens 1950s / 2009

2009-10-08T13:25:00.001-07:00

2727 South Rockford Road

An Italian Renaissance villa, the Philbrook was designed in 1926 by Kansas City Architect Edward Buehler Delk. Construction on the mansion was begun the same year by the John Long Company of Kansas City and completed in 1927. Originally called Villa Philbrook, the home featured 72 rooms on 23 acres (93,000 m²) of grounds. (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The expansive grounds contain elaborate gardens inspired by Villa Lante, an Italian country estate north of Rome designed by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola in 1566. The formal gardens to the east descend to the tempietto and were part of the original design and construction.

Villa Lante at Bagnaia from Wikipedia

Tulsa SPCA, 1931

2009-10-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

2910 Mohawk Boulevard

The Tulsa Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has its headquarters in this Public Works Administration Art Deco building built in 1931. The SPCA and its related organizations are known throughout the world for the work they do in protecting "those unable to protect themselves". I tried to find an old photo of this building from its earlier days but could not. It looks a bit the worse for wear but is still providing shelter for Tulsa's homeless dogs and cats.

East 41st Street and South Peoria Avenue, 1953 vs. 2009

2009-10-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

From 41st Street looking east across South Peoria was practically out in the country in 1953. There are a few houses in the distance but not much else. (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

By 2009 this is the heart of the Brookside neighborhood and described as mid-town or "close to downtown". Tulsa is now solid residential and light commercial from here South and East all the way to Broken Arrow.

East 41st Street and South Yale Avenue,1953 vs. 2009

2009-10-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

On South Yale Avenue Looking South across East 41st Street, April 1953.

The southwest corner became the Standard Oil Research facility. The northwest corner became a gasoline station. The southeast corner became Southland Shopping Center. The northeast corner became Southroads Mall. (photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

On South Yale Avenue Looking South across East 41st Street, October 1, 2009

By the yead 2000 the southwest corner became the Tulsa campus of the Oklahoma University Medical School and the Schustermann Center. The northwest corner became a Shell gasoline station. The southeast corner became the Promenade Shopping Center, and the northeast corner became a much revised Southroads Mall.

Weber's Root Beer Stand, 1933

2009-09-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

3817 South Peoria Avenue

Home Made Root Beer, and the World's First Hamburgers.
Weber's is a family-owned and operated restaurant that was started in June of 1933. Located in the heart of Brookside at 3817 S. Peoria, the oldest and longest-running business of any kind located in Brookside. Weber's Superior Root Beer was the creation of Oscar "Weber Bilby" back in the late 1800's. Oscar and his wife Fanny moved to Oklahoma from Missouri to a 640 acre farm just north of Sapulpa to an area now know as Bowden, Oklahoma in 1884. Oscar was a farmer but he enjoyed experimenting with different soft drink condiments. Through trial and error, he put together a secret recipe consisting of 14 natural ingredients which were "fire brewed" then stored and aged in birch bark barrels. His famous Weber's Superior Root beer was then served at the peak of the flavoring cycle. Oscar used yeast to carbonate his root beer.

On the fourth of July, 1891, Oscar probably made his most significant contribution to society when he forged a piece of iron into a 3' x 4' grill. He then built a pit and heated the grill with hickory wood. His wife, Fanny, made sour dough buns while Oscar pattied up some black angus all-beef-patties and proceeded to grill the patties on his new hand-made grill. When they were cooked to perfection, he placed the patties between the buns...thus, the first real hamburger was made. He then served them (along with Weber's Superior Root beer, of course) to more than 100 people who were the Bilbys' friends and family. Oscar continued this 4th of July tradition every year for the rest of his life.

His hamburgers and root beer were the hit of the community. Decades of encouragement later, Oscar opened the first Weber's Superior Root beer Stand at 3817 S. Peoria. Oscar felt that the original stand should remain in the Bilby family forever. At the present time Oscar's great grandson Rick Bilby and his wife Jennifer own and operate the original Weber's Superior Root Beer Stand. It is with great pride that they cook their burgers on the original grill, made the same as they were in 1891, every day.(Excerpted from Weber's of Tulsa)

First Baptist Church, 1897, 1926, 1942

2009-09-23T12:58:00.001-07:00

East Fourth Street and Cincinnati Avenue

First Baptist Church in downtown Tulsa has a history that coincides with the earliest days of the city, when Tulsa was a small Indian Territory trading post on the banks of the Arkansas River and known affectionately as “Tulsey Town.”

Today, the church is situated at Fourth Street and Cincinnati Avenue in a complex of several buildings and has a congregation of over 3,000. It originated as “Missionary Baptist” in May of 1897. The Reverend W.A. King, district missionary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, a revival team and 12 others were the founders and first members. In her book about First Baptist’s history, “The Story of a Church: Highlights of the First Hundred Years,” author Alice Heath describes the church’s first services, which were held in the Mowbray Furniture Store and Undertaking Parlor on South Cincinnati Avenue between Second and Third Streets.

Within four months, the congregation had grown to 76 members. A year later, the church members had managed to construct their own building on Cincinnati Avenue between First and Second Streets, thus allowing the members to relocate from the furniture store and undertaking parlor. Although they had a new building they did not have baptizing facilities, so new members continued to be baptized in the Arkansas River.

As the town grew so did the church and by statehood in 1907, according to Heath, “Tulsa Baptist” as it was then called, began steadily evolving into First Baptist and the church it would become today.”

The first few decades of First Baptist’s history were punctuated by financial difficulties, a common problem among new and growing churches. Despite initial struggles in the beginning years, the church continued to grow steadily and in 1927 opened a new sanctuary with enough seating for 2,200 people. Things were rosy until January 1929 when Pastor Dr. William Anderson tendered his resignation in order to follow a calling to a church in California. Anderson was succeeded by Dr. Robert Bateman, whose first year as Pastor coincided with the Great Depression. (photos courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Though presented with a series of challenges over the years, First Baptist continually developed its outreach programs and by 1942 opened a new education building. By the church’s 50th birthday in 1947, church membership numbered 5,000 and at least 2,000 worshipers a week were attending services. Church programs continued to grow. The Women’s Missionary Union (WMU) was the largest in the Southern Baptist Convention with projects including a scholarship to Oklahoma Baptist University, support for a Children’s Home, a missionary in China and Hillcrest nursing students. Students in Vacation Bible School numbered over 600.

In April 1957 Dr. Warren Hultgren of Trinity Baptist in Lake Charles, La., arrived in Tulsa to succeed interim pastor Dr. Boyd Hunt as pastor of First Baptist. Dr. Hultgren would serve as pastor for 35 years, retiring in 1992. Deron Spoo, today’s pastor, says, “Warren Hultgren was a fantastic pastor and much loved in the community. Part of the strength of the foundation we are on is due to his leadership, integrity and pastoral care of the church.” He adds, “When Warren Hultgren retired he was replaced by Sam Shaw. He was also a wonderful pastor. We have been fortunate to have excellent, committed leadership. This is evident when you consider that over the past 70 years First Baptist has had only four pastors.”

(Excerpted from the GTR News)

Looking North from 31st Street on Riverside

2009-09-22T01:45:00.000-07:00

Looking North from 31st & Riverside, 1928
(photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The fertile riverbottom soil makes a good cornfield. The road north is a dirt wagon trail. Rail road box cars stand just east of the field.

Looking North from 31st & Riverside, 2009

The dirt wagon trail is now a 4-lane Parkway connecting the heart of downtown Tulsa with the southeast part of Tulsa, and the communities of Jenks and Bixby, Bridges span the river at 21st, 51st, 71st, and 101st via the Creek Nation turnpike, providing easy access to I-44, I-75, and the Broken Arrow Turnpike.

Tulsa Fire Station No. 3, Old 1909, New 2009

2009-09-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

1013 East 3rd Street
One of Tulsa's oldest oldest fire stations, this was built in 1909 and remodeled in 1948. It has since been converted into a commercial property but seems to be vacant at the moment.

62 North Utica
The new station number 3 is a far cry from the old one. Sorry but I could not find the year it was built. The photo is from September 2009.

Southwestern Bell Main Dial Building, 1924, 1929

2009-09-19T00:45:00.000-07:00

424 South Detroit Avenue (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The first two floors of this well-maintained building were built in 1924 when the Gothic Style was popular. They were erected to house the new telephone dial equipment which was first used in Tulsa in November of 1924.

Six years later, in 1930, when Zigzag Art Deco had supplanted the Gothic style, a four story addition was made. The addition held the division offices and the toll terminal equipment for the Oklahoma City-Tulsa underground cable.

The facade of the first floor of this light brown brick building is broken by a series of large, arched windows. These windows are framed in terra cotta, matching the color of the rather narrow terra cotta quoins and foundation of the building. The second floor windows are rectangular and separated by brick panels decorated with ornate terra cotta torches. A vertical pair of terra cotta shields is located above the torches. Above the second floor the building facade is broken into a series of stepped-back panels terminating in pinnacles above the roof line. The windows appear to be recessed panels. The spandrel area, constructed of buff-colored terra cotta tile with art deco designs, has strong vertical lines. The pinnacles are also faced with terra cotta tile, as is all of the building’s ornamentation. Northwestern Terra Cotta Tile Company of Chicago, the leading manufacturer of these tiles, was the supplier. (Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

PS. I added some information to the previous post Cherry Street at Peoria

Home Federal Savings (BOK), 1956

2009-09-18T01:55:00.000-07:00

East 31st Street and Harvard Avenue (Northeast Corner)

Built in Art Moderne style in 1956 by Koberling and Brandberg, the same architects that built the KVOO television studio.

Initially built as Home Federal Savings and Loan, it is now one of the Bank of Oklahoma locations in Tulsa.

Tulsa Little Theater, 1932

2009-09-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

1511 South Delaware Avenue (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The Tulsa Little Theater was organized in 1922 and performed plays in a variety of locations; large canvas tents, movie theaters and even at the American Legion. By 1925, the Little Theater group numbered over 300 members and began to perform at the Alhambra Theater at 15th and Peoria.

In 1929, the Little Theater purchased the property at 15th and Delaware, which would be its home for the next 60 years. East Lynne, the first production at their new location was performed in a tent. Despite the depression, the Tulsa Little Theatre continued its performances and in 1932 completed its permanent building.

In 1932 a theater was built in a plain art nouveau style. The first show produced in their new building was the Cradle Song. During the 1930's and '40's, the Delaware Playhouse, as it became known, was the epicenter of Tulsa's arts and entertainment scene. Over the years, the theater hosted hundreds of plays and entertainment events as it went through multiple directors and saw actors come and go.

Over the years the theater suffered a series of fires and other disasters as it changed hands several times. By 2004, the building had fallen into serious disrepair. It was at this time that Tulsa attorney Bryce A. Hill was looking for a midtown location for his law office.

In 2004, Bryce and Sunshine Hill purchased the property and began a massive restoration process that took 14 months to complete. Today, The Tulsa Little Theater is a modern, state-of-the-art facility with a capacity of 260 people. During the restoration process, great care was utilized in maintaining the historical ambience as well as adding many new features for the Tulsa Little Theater. In addition to the theater, the law office of Bryce Hill is located in the front portion of the building.

There is a nice web site with additional information about the Tulsa Little Theater. It has an interesting history, and even a few ghosts. You can find this story HERE.

Looking North at 15th and Boston

2009-09-16T01:08:00.000-07:00

East 15th Street and South Boston Avenue, 1954 (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

East 15th Street and South Boston Avenue, 2009

Century Geophysical Building, 1946

2009-09-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

1333 N. Utica Avenue (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

It was hard to find specifics on this Streamline Art Deco building. It was originally built for Century Geophysical in 1946.

Residence at 15th and Norfolk, Then (1956) and Now (2009)

2009-09-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

East 15th St and South Norfolk St (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

A photograph of this comfortable looking home is part of the Beryl Ford Collection. It has no information other than the note 15th and Norfolk. But if it is interesting enough to be in Beryl Ford's collection in 1956, I am interested in checking to see how it looks today.

When we look at it from the same angle as earlier we see it is looking in good repair. The major change from the outside is a change of paint from white to green with smart white trim, and some healthy looking trees; a Catalpa on the north side, and what I think is a Bradford Pear in the front.

When we slip around towards the side to peek behind the trees we see very much the same house with what looks like it might be a porch swing on the south side of the front porch and flowers planted along the planter which flank the front steps. A very nice house which has been cared for and still looks very inviting.

Colonial Building and Inn, 1927

2009-09-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

1325 East 15th Street (Cherry Street)

The Colonial Building and Colonial Inn at East 15th and South Quaker Avenue in 1927. (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

With the exception of the smart red awnings, the weathered bricks, and a bit of shrubbery, the old Colonial building is remarkably unchanged in this September 2009 photograph. The handsome design has withstood the test of time.

Fifteenth and South Boston, Looking East

2009-09-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

15th and S. Boston looking East in 1956.

It looks like the Tulsa police are working a fender bender involving what, at that time, would have been a new Buick. A crowd has gathered to kibitz and the street looks busy with parked cars and traffic. The men on the street are in shirtsleeves and the trees are leafed out so I assume this is summertime. (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

15th and S. Boston looking East in 1962.

There are fewer buildings on the left side of the street and less traffic. The trees are bare and garlands are strung on the buildings on the Southeast corner so I assume this is in December. The railroad overpass is still seen in the distance.

15th and S. Boston looking East in September 2009.

The service station and other businesses on the north side of 15th Street have all disappeared and a parking lot for a new medical clinic are in their place. On the southeast corner the same buildings are in place, now housing The Gadget Company and Mrs. De Haven's Flower Shop. The flower shop claims to have been business since 1905, although I rather doubt at this same location. The railroad trestle is gone and an overpass for South Cincinnati crosses 15th in the near distance. The rail right-of-way is now a bicycle path that runs to the pedestrian bridge over the Arkansas river.

The only things that appear in all 3 pictures are the southeast corner building that's now the Gadget Company, the small building beyond it, and a pair of manhole covers on this side of the street.

Sipes Grocery / Camille's, 1948

2009-09-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

1342 East 15th Street

This was one of several Sipes stores in Tulsa. I don't have the date it was built but this photograph was taken in 1948. Although the Sipes stores were bought by Hale-Halsell in 1955, they continued to operate under the Sipes name for a number of years. The design is clearly along the lines of the Streamline Modern Art Deco. (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The Remodeled building is now one of the 6 Tulsa locations for Camille's Sidewalk Cafe.

The store is large enough to house more than a coffee and sandwich shop. The remodeled structure makes up the Cherry Street Market and is looking for additional tenants.

Oak Lawn Cemetery Gates, 1930

2009-09-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

1120 East 8th Street

The Oak Lawn Cemetery gates are listed as art deco treasures by Wikipedia but there is no information about the designer. Neither is it clear where they are located. Oak Lawn Cemetery is north and west of the intersection of East 11th Street and South Peoria Avenue. The gates are on the north side of the cemetery where the American Legion Post One is located. The address given here is that of the American Legion. Go north of 11th Street on Peoria and turn left (west) on 8th Street to the American Legion and look back south to the gates. If you go a little farther to the end of 8th street you will be at the Fire Alarm Building.

The gates are striking in their design. They have a "Frank Lloyd Wright"ish look about them that is clearly of an art deco influence. They are in good repair. When I first went to look at them a month ago they were being tuck pointed. I would like to know more about them and hope that a reader can add to the discussion.

Claude's / Van's Hamburgers, 1950

2009-09-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

3834 South Peoria Avenue
(photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Claude's old fashioned hamburgers may boast that they have been in business since 1954, but before it was Claude's it was Van's. For a time there were several Van's hamburgers in Tulsa. Van's is long gone but Claude's still grills them up and serves them with that little dab of grease on the bun from being warmed up on the griddle. Just like they used to make.

Belleview/Lincoln Elementary School, 1909

2009-09-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

1330 East 15th Street

Built in 1909, Bellview School sits at the northwest corner of the Swan Lake Historic District. Until its closing in 1990, this elementary school was the oldest operational school in the city of Tulsa. (photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Originally named Bellview, the name was changed to Lincoln in 1914. The original three-story building was built outside the city limits and had no running water or rest room facilities. Perimeter buildings were added between 1916 and 1922. Patio areas originally extended off each classroom. These were later enclosed to make hallways. The bell tower in the original building was taken down in 1967 after being struck by lightning. (Post card from Familyoldphotos.com)

The west side is The Gray Snail Saloon.

Notable graduates of Lincoln Elementary School include Tony Randall (known to his classmates as A. Leonard Rosenberg), Bill "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd, and Moscelyne Larkin, co-founder of Tulsa Ballet Theater.

The entrance on the south (back) side still has the Lincoln school name.

The old school was converted into a retail/office complex in 1993 and renamed Lincoln Plaza on Cherry Street. A groundbreaking was held on July 9, 1993 by the developers, Orcutt Development Company (named in honor of the area’s founders). Architect Michael Dwyer developed the plans for the new center."

The north side faces Cherry Street and is Jason's Deli.

Today, Lincoln Plaza's shops and restaurants remain a busy and lively focal point of the neighborhood, enjoyed by people from all over the greater Tulsa area. This is also the site of the Cherry Street Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings from April to October. (Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

Booker T. Washington High School, 1913

2009-09-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

507 E. Easton Street

Legally segregated schools for African-American students began shortly after Oklahoma became a state in 1907. In 1908, a two-room frame school building was constructed on Hartford Avenue between East Cameron and East Easton Streets. The small school served grades 1 through 8. In the fall of 1913, Dunbar Grade School began operation in an eighteen-room brick building and a two-room frame building located at 326 N. Hartford Avenue. That first year’s enrollment included 241 lower grade students and 7 high school students. That same year the original Booker T. Washington High School was constructed. Its four-room frame building, designed by Leon B. Senter, was located at 507 E. Easton Street. Its first principal was E. W. Woods. This is now the center of the OSU Tulsa campus just north of Greenwood and Archer.

507 E. Easton Street

As Tulsa grew the four-room school soon became inadequate. A larger 3 story brick school was built on the same location in 1920 which served Tulsa's African-American community until 1960.

Booker T. Washington High School number two.

1631 East Woodrow Place

The third Booker T. Washington High School at 1631 East Woodrow Place began serving students in 1958. The first class to graduate from this school was the class of 1961.

The Tulsa Public Schools district was slow to react to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that de jure racial segregation was unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed all racial segregation in the United States. However, in 1973 Booker T. Washington was chosen to be the vehicle for Tulsa's school desegregation program. At that time in Tulsa, most Caucasians lived in south Tulsa, whereas most African Americans lived in north Tulsa. As Booker T. Washington was built during American Segregation, it was in north Tulsa. The Tulsa School Board chose to bus in primarily Caucasian students who did not live near the neighborhood that Booker T. Washington had served, while continuing to accept students who lived near the school. This method was used by several school districts, and is called desegregation busing.

Although a fourth Booker T Washington High School was built in 2003, the front section of the previous school was retained for its historical significance.

After 1973, Booker T. Washington became a magnet school; it no longer had a home neighborhood from which students were accepted, instead, students had to apply for admission to the school and came from all over Tulsa. A racial quota system was established; until the 2004-2005 school year, 45% of the students accepted identified themselves as "white," 45% identified themselves as "black," and 10% came from "other" ethnic categories. However, because of the 2003 Supreme Court Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger decisions Booker T. Washington was forced to accept students using a different method. The school now uses a system that accounts for the geographical location in which a student resides. Because Tulsa remains rather segregated, this method maintains the ethnic diversity created by the old quota system.

Today, the student body of Booker T. Washington boasts championship basketball, football, and soccer teams, a nationally ranked academic bowl team, a physics team, a nationally competing science bowl team, a robotics team, a forensics team, and a competitive cheerleading team. Booker T. Washington was the first Tulsa Public High School to offer Advanced Placement courses and began offering the International Baccalaureate in 1983. The 2003-2004 school year marked the 90th anniversary of Booker T. Washington and the dedication of a new school building.

Booker T. Washington High School’s new 213,000-square-foot building was completed in the fall of 2003, as the school began its 90th year. The new high school is an unique achievement; a state-of-the-art, expansive, and technology-rich facility that also celebrates a distinctive heritage within the Tulsa community. The top public high school in Oklahoma, Booker T. Washington is also one of the top-rated schools in the nation. The 1,250-student school is considered a cornerstone of north Tulsa’s African-American community: it began as a one-room segregated schoolhouse in 1913, and in 1973 it served as a model for Tulsa Public Schools’ voluntary desegregation program.
(photos courtesy of Robert Hicks and the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society) (Excerpted from Wikipedia and Tulsa Preservation Commission)

The Abundant Life Building,1957

2009-09-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

1720 South Boulder Avenue

The Abundant Life Building was built in 1957 to house the Oral Roberts Ministries. It is very striking in its appearance because it has no windows. To make sense of the building requires at least a brief understanding of Oral Roberts.

Oral Roberts is an pentecostal minister and faith healer. He started his ministry as a pastor in the Pentecostal Holiness Church. He came to believe he had a special gift for spiritual healing. In April 1947, he began holding healing services in his church on Sunday afternoons. His reputation as a faith healer spread quickly and by May, the crowds were so large that he had to rent larger facilities. In June, he announced to his congregation that he had received invitations to conduct healing services in eight states and had decided to resign his pastorate. In 1949, he began a series of radio programs. By 1950, he was traveling the country with an 18,000-seat tent simultaneous broadcast on 63 stations. Within two years, his radio and television programs were being broadcast on 400 stations in the United States, Canada, Alaska and by short-wave to listeners around the world.

At the time the Abundant Life building was built Oral Roberts was raising literally millions of dollars through his traveling tent meetings and from radio and television solicitations. The name "Abundant Life" is a reference to the passage from the Gospel of John 10:10, "... I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly". This and other scriptural references are the basis of what is called "the gospel of prosperity" His life and ministry have been the subject of considerable controversy. He is regarded by some as a prophet and by others a fraud. Nevertheless, he and his ministry have prospered.

The Abundant Life building was the headquarters of this ministry and contained a large television sound stage which could simulate the tent meeting and film the opening and closing segments of the weekly broadcasts. This was also the destination for the large donations which supported the ministry. Much of this money was sent in the form of cash donations and the security considerations of handling and accounting for this money were implemented within this building.

The scale of donations provided for the establishment of a a Christian university which Roberts named for himself. In 1964 Oral Roberts University was opened on South Lewis. By the mid-70s the activities of the Abundant Life Building were transferred to the university and the original building was closed.

Southwestern Bell telephone used it for a time then but since the early 1980s it has been empty. It has changed hands several times but attempts to convert it into a multi-use facility have not gone anywhere. It remains empty at this time. For more on this see this post in Lost Tulsa.

The windowless facade looked very striking when illuminated at night.

This photo taken in July 2009 shows it looking rather shabby with several missing exterior tiles. I know of no one who has seen the inside. It is something of a mystery.

A fairly concise biography of Oral Roberts and his ministry is HERE.
A Wikipedia article on Roberts is HERE.

Cherry Street at Peoria: 1924, 1959, 2009

2009-09-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

East 15th Street and South Peoria, "Cherry Street"

Looking north on Peoria from Cherry Street (15th) circa 1924. On the far right is what is now (2009) the Palace Cafe. Next to it is a lower building and then the Alhambra Theater which was remodeled as the Plaza in 1930. The 3 story apartment building in the distance is still there.

In its early days the Tulsa Little Theater performed plays at the Alhambra Theater. The smaller building is still there but the Alhambra Theater is now a parking lot. (Photo courtesy of the Tulsa Historical Society.)

The photo above reveals that this was still known as the Alhambra area in 1959 when this picture was taken. I know this has been the location of a number of businesses over the years. I bought a pair of stained glass panels here in the early 1970s when it was an antique shop. (photo courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

This most recent reincarnation is as the "Palace Cafe, Nouveau Cusine" and the "Wood-Stone Studio". The building has a nice fresh coat of paint and looks good. We wish them luck.

The restaurant has a nice web site where you can look over their menu. Any place that has a Lobster Corndog as an appetizer has to be interesting. Sue and I will have to look into this. See their web site HERE.

St. Paul's Methodist Church, 1907

2009-08-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

1442 South Quaker Avenue, (South Quaker at Cherry Street)

This congregation was founded in 1907 by the Reverend Sylvester Morris who founded a number of Methodist congregations in Tulsa. The parsonage of Rev Morris is believed to be the oldest surviving house in Tulsa and is now located in Owen Park. See my earlier post HERE. (photo circa 1925 courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The beginnings of St. Paul's history coincide with the year that early Oklahoma became part of the United States. In August 1907, Rev. Sylvester Morris and a small group of families gathered to worship in the brush arbor at 14th and Rockford. The "church" consisted of a few planks, blocks, stumps and rocks. After six years of meeting in various locations, these early Tulsans received permission to hold church services in the basement of the Bellview School building (later called Lincoln Elementary) at 15th and Peoria.

Later, the congregation moved its weekly church services to a house located at 1441 S. Quincy. In 1913, the church changed its name to Orcutt Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church and a little white church was built at 14th and Quaker.

Growth in spirit and body lead to decision in 1920 to construct the current sanctuary located at 15th and Quaker. Construction was not completed until late 1924 and the first service of the St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church was held in December. The new sanctuary was formally dedicated in January 1925. With its exquisite stained glass and its familiar red brick gothic architecture, St. Paul's has been a Tulsa landmark ever since. In conjunction with the national realignment of Methodist churches in 1968, our church is now known as the St. Paul's United Methodist Church. Visit their website HERE.

J. B. McGay Residence, 1936

2009-08-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

1551 South Yorktown Place

This house was designed by Joseph R. Koberling, Jr. for J. B. McGay. McGay was an inventor who designed the parking meter, a gas calculator, petroleum gauges, and the tubeless tire. The home is an example of Streamline Art Deco with elements of the early Zigzag style. It is constructed of painted brick and features Spanish style wrought iron window balconies. Considered a maverick at the time, it was very unusual with its corner windows, front garage, and five different levels. (Excerpted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

Brookside Then and Now

2009-08-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

The heart of Brookside, 34th and Peoria, 1954.

Brookside is the Tulsa neighborhood just south of downtown, from Riverside east to Lewis, and from 31st Street south to 51st Street. In 1954 this area was anchored by the Brookside Pharmacy, TG&Y Variety Store, C.R. Anthony Clothing, Hanna Furniture, and Sidney's Hardware. These businesses catered to the neighborhood living close by. Most of Brookside was built in the early 1950s and was inhabited by growing young families. (photo courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The heart of Brookside August, 2009.

This area, like Cherry Street (15th Street from Peoria east), has become an upscale entertainment district. Senor Tequila replaces the pharmacy, and the rest are an assortment of bars, cafes, and clubs which cater to a wider, and more fickle clientele. Competition is ferocious and most of these places change hands every few years.

What a difference 55 years can make.

Midwest Marble and Tile Building, 1945

2009-08-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

507 South Quaker Avenue

This building was designed by Robert E. West. This simple, white rectangular-plan building has an interesting facade. Its small radiused corners are highlighted by two separated bands of black marble tile at the cornice. The smooth walls curve inward at the entrance, topped with a projected concrete lintel. (Excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission )

The building designed for the Midwest Marble and Tile company was itself an advertisement for the company's product. The alternating bands of black and white marble make a simple but striking appearance. After over 50 years the marble is smooth, shiny, and as rich in color as when it was new. Few materials are as permanent as marble.

The current occupant is Sharp Typesetting & Graphics.

Day and Nite Cleaners, 1946

2009-08-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

1012 South Elgin Avenue

This streamline art deco commercial building sits on the curve where 10th Street in the downtown grid resolves into 11th Street. It is across the street from the Warehouse Market Building featured last June. See HERE.

Constructed in 1946 by architect William H. Wolaver it is very typical of the style presenting a flat roof and strong vertical lines even though only a one story building, it has rounded corners and glass block is used prominantly.

Possibly the most interesting thing about it is that it was used as a dry cleaners when it was built and continues to do business under the same name. Other than the City Veterinary Hospital I'm not sure what other Tulsa building can make that claim.

TV Channel 2, KVOO (KJRH) in Tulsa, 1954

2009-08-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

3701 South Peoria Ave

KVOO radio broadcast at 50,000 watts for many years and has a rich history in Tulsa radio. IN 1954 KVOO opened a new broadcast facility in the heart of the Brookside neighborhood and went on the air with television channel 2.

Above is a fine artists drawing of the new station. It really is not possible to get far enough away to get that good a perspective.

Tulsa TV Memories has a good history of both the radio station (HERE) and the TV station (HERE).

Television Channel 2 is the NBC station in Tulsa. Located in the tower is a live web cam which shares the view of Brookside. On a good day you might see my house. The station's website is HERE.

Tulsa Fire Station No. 7, Old 1946, New 2000

2009-08-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

601 South Lewis Avenue

The first fire station number 7 was opened in this location July 1, 1921. It was remodeled in 1946 and again in 1967. (old photo courtesy of City of Tulsa.)

The original Fire Station No. 7 building was sold and remodeled and is now used by a landscaping company.

Old No. 7 from the rear. The original glass block panels are still in place in this view.

3005 E. 15th Street

The new Station No. 7 opened in 2000 at 15th and College.

Cities Service Oil Company Station, 1933

2009-08-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

1502 East 11th Street

This two-bay service station was designed by M. R. Pettingill. Its design includes an office which is recessed from the larger service area. The brick building remains painted white but the office now features a full-glazed aluminum-framed storefront which was added later. The station is still utilized in the automotive service business, but no longer contains the pump island. (Excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission )

This building is on the list of historic art deco buildings so I will include it in this collection. However, I have to think that with the roll up doors and store front windows, the original style has been somewhat diminished.

City Veterinary Hospital, 1942

2009-08-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

3550 South Peoria Avenue

The City Veterinary Hospital was designed by Joseph R. Koberling, Jr. and built in 1942. It was built to be a Veterinary Hospital and has been in continual use as such to this day. It is a little streamline art deco jewel box.

It is a one-story, buff brick building with rounded Streamline corners, and large, full curved glass block windows. It has a flat roof with a banded parapet and a curved, smooth metal-faced canopy above the entrance. The "3-bar modern" parapet is similar to those seen earlier on the Tulsa Monument Building (HERE).

The rounded Glass block sections are very attractive and provide excellent interior illumination. The front of the clinic faces east toward Peoria.

Looking back out from the lobby through the front entrance.

The solid walls and terrazzo floors are attractive and very durable. Although the building is essentially in its original condition it has been brought up to date with additional lighting and central heating and air conditioning.

The surgery is in the Southeast corner. Although modern lighting is in place the glass block wall floods the room with natural light.

I have used this clinic for my pets since moving to Tulsa in 1993 when it was operated by the late Dr. Rick Pickard. It is now operated by Dr. Chet S. Thomas who was kind enough to give me a tour.

A kennel extends to the west and has several sets of cages like this one. The door faces north and connects to outside dog runs.

The dog runs are on the north side out of the sun. Full boarding services are provided for dogs and cats.
(Partially excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission )

Jesse D. Davis Residence, 1936

2009-08-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

3231 South Utica Avenue

This residence was designed by Frances Davis. Constructed of brick and wood on concrete, its prominent glass bay is suggestive of the ship imagery popular in Streamline residences. Corner windows and horizontal ribbon windows emphasize the streamlining, and a porthole window carries out the ship motif.

The most unusual element of the house is a three-story structural column of hollow fluted wood, extending from the basement through the second floor. It is 2 feet in diameter, 26 feet high, and was the largest of its kind in Oklahoma when built. It is the central feature in the house and is enclosed by a spiral staircase. This house also boasts the distinction of being the first all-electric home in Tulsa. (Excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

Hawk Dairy Building, 1948

2009-08-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

2415 East 11th Street

The original Hawk Dairy building was built in 1937 and stood immediately east of the "new" building built in 1948. That original building and related resources were demolished in 1962. The remaining building is historically significant in its own right.

The Hawk Dairies is an excellent example of post-World War II Modernist architecture as applied to a dairy processing plant. Constructed in 1947-1948 by Tulsa contractor Jack Owen Stegall, the building was designed by Kansas City, Missouri, architect Gerad W. Wolf. The construction of the building dramatically boosted the production capabilities of Hawk Dairies, allowing it to expand its product lines, trade territory and the number of farmers from whom it purchased milk. In addition to processing milk using the latest production means, the company incorporated a retail outlet for their product in the new building. (Excepted from a report prepared by historian Cynthia Savage for the Tulsa Preservation Commission )

Milady’s Cleaners Building, 1930

2009-08-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

1736-38 East 11th Street

This two-story building housed Milady’s Cleaners. The first floor is covered with buff colored terra cotta. The second floor is covered with cream colored stucco which blends with the terra cotta.

Detail of Terra Cotta tile on facade.

The building’s windows are surrounded with sculptured terra cotta depicting flowers, various fruits, and leaping stags. The building had cold storage for furs and utilized an underground spring for its cleaning process. (Excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

Since 1967 this building has housed La Maison Inc., which sells residential lighting fixtures.

Guaranty Laundry Building, 1928

2009-08-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

2036 East 11th Street Original architects drawing.

The building has been Page Moving and Storage for many years. View from North East.

Photograph of original entrance showing the Zig Zag Art Deco design. (drawing and photo from bruce-goff-film.com)

Remodeled Entrance of Page Moving and Storage. View from North.

Service entrance from West.

This commercial building was designed by Bruce Goff (Rush, Endacott & Rush). Projecting sills and lintels form horizontal bands on the building. The front entry way door was orginally accented with diagonal mullions. Bands of diamonds extend to the top windows. A fur storage addition designed by Koberling & Fleming was added in 1940. (Excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

Tulsa Monument Company, 1936

2009-08-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

1735 East 11th Street

The building was designed by Harry H. Mahler. Mr. Mahler suggested to the prospective owners that this new building simulate the appearance of a monument. A long building, it contains strong horizontal and vertical elements in its exactly symmetrical facade. It has wings extending on either side of the towered main entrance. It is a single-story, flat roofed building of white plaster concrete with striking gunmetal gray trim features. The triple banded pillar caps bordering the entry tower are representative of the original term given the style during this period, “3-Bar Modern.” The central focus is the tall clock tower over the main entrance with spot-lighted clocks on three sides. (Excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

The Blue Dome Station

2009-08-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

313 East 2nd Street, (2nd and Elgin)
The White Star Gulf Station (photo courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The Blue Dome was built in 1924 and served as the White Star Gulf Oil Station. This was the first station in Oklahoma to have hot water, pressurized air and a car wash. It was also open 24 hours, seven days a week. The station attendant lived upstairs in the dome itself. It is now the icon for a downtown Tulsa neighborhood.

The small arcade next to the dome is now enclosed and serves as the home for Arnie's Bar. Across the street is the Blue Dome Diner where my son Luke makes the world's finest walnut blueberry pancakes.

Wheatley Bros Foundry & Machine Co., Pre-1942

2009-08-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

3303 Charles Page Boulevard

Although this building shows the influence of Streamline Art Deco it is not listed in any architectural archive that I can find. Industrial buildings do not seem to be as interesting as other structures.

The Wheatley Brothers Foundry and Machine Company was listed in the Machinist's Monthly Journal of the International Association of Machinists, Volume LIV, 1942. Obviously this puts the construction prior to 1942. It probably has some interesting history but it may be lost to everyone but the family if any remain. This building is located on the curve of Charles Page Boulevard just south of Knotty Pine Barbecue. It is currently used as a facility for Tulsa Housing Authority and looks to be in good repair.

If the reader knows more about this building please leave a comment.

Will Rogers High School, 1938

2009-08-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

3909 East 5th Place
(photo courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

This school was designed by Leon B. Senter and Joseph R. Koberling, Jr. Typical of PWA period Art Deco, this school was featured in a Time magazine article "outlining the high school pattern of the future" in which it was called "a model progressive high school" in "one of the most progressive school systems in the study."

The elaborate buff brick school features two large towers at the front corners of a large main block of classrooms. The towers are supported by stepped pilasters with ornate details in terra cotta "capitals". Panels above the double doors feature Will Roger’s life in two phases. One depicts his cowboy days with a horse, roped steer, and the prairie, and the other his movie days with a reel camera, airplane, and polo rider. The school has an auditorium designed to serve 1,500 students. (Excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission)

But a school is more than just a building. It is the students and staff that make up the story and history of a school such as Rogers. The first official school year for Rogers was 1938-1939 during which time they had an estimated 1200 students.

Located in one of the most beautiful buildings in the City of Tulsa, Will Rogers High School opened in 1939 with a student body of 1,501, a staff of 44 teachers and three office personnel. Students were warned to avoid bad cattle grazing in the campus area while traipsing the footpath from 11th Street. (Excerpted from Will Rogers Alumni website)

The carved stone grey stone and Terra Cotta ornamentation is very striking.

If you do not know who Will Rogers was, you should. He is probably the most famous and well thought of person ever to have been born in the state of Oklahoma. His story is well worth reading in this article in Wikipedia. Oklahoma's favorite son WILL ROGERS.

Will Rogers Field House

Webster High School, 1936

2009-08-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

1919 W 40th Street
(photo courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Tulsa Central High School had grown to nearly 5000 students by the early 1930s prompting the city of Tulsa to to build 2 new schools to open in 1938. On the east side was Will Rogers High School, and on the west side was Daniel Webster

This school, designed by Arthur M. Atkinson, John Duncan Forsyth, Raymond Kerr, and William H. Wolaver, opened in September 1938, on a beautiful 20-acre campus. Built with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds, the long, horizontal, buff brick school has two large wings which angle forward.

Cast aluminum plaques above the three entry doors present classic Greek motifs. The central plaque contains a Greek column ringed by a laurel. One of the side plaques contains a female figure and the other contains a male figure, each holding a torch lighting the way to knowledge. Two large metal torch lanterns also flank the front entrance.

The school's main entrance is flanked with large rectangular columns which frame the school's name and large clock. The clock still works.
(Excerpted from the Tulsa Preservation Commission)

Adah Robinson Residence, 1927

2009-08-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

1119 South Owasso Avenue
View of the front on the west side.

Teacher and designer Adah Robinson, with the help of her student Bruce Goff and Joseph Koberling, built her house and studio facing Tracy Park. This hollow tile and stucco Art Deco house has leaded glass windows, terrazzo floors and contemporary spaces decades ahead of its time. The two-story living room has an open balcony running the length of the room and a sunken conversation pit with a fireplace. The home was originally designed by Goff with only a two-burner kitchenette unit at the end of the dinning room. When this was discovered by Robinson, she insisted that Koberling build a kitchen. A small kitchen was inserted into a north corner of the house without disturbing the rest of the plan.
(Excerpted from the Tulsa Preservation Commission)

View of the north side.

View of the south side.

View of the front entrance.

Adah Matilda Robinson was a painter, printmaker, and art teacher in Tulsa art circles for three decades. Born July 13, 1882, in Richmond, Indiana, to Francis Wills and Catherine Robinson, she studied at Earlham College, at the Chicago Art Institute, and with Charles Hawthorne, George Elmer Browne, and John Carlson. In 1905 her family moved to Oklahoma City, where she taught art privately, then briefly at Epworth University, and afterward in the public schools. In 1916 or 1917 she moved to Tulsa to teach her specialty at Central High School and then privately. She founded the University of Tulsa Department of Art in 1928 and thereafter served as its chair. There she was instrumental in founding Alpha Rho Tau art fraternity, and she helped establish the Tulsa Art Association.

During Robinson's career, in addition to painting and printmaking, she articulated the intellectual concepts that guided the overall design of Tulsa's Boston Avenue Methodist Church, now a National Historic Landmark, and she is widely credited with responsibility for the elaborate decoration of the interior. She also redesigned the interiors of Tulsa's First and Second Churches of Christ, Scientist, when those buildings were renovated in 1935 and 1950, respectively. Adah Robinson died in Tulsa on March 10, 1962. (Excerpted from Oklahoma State digital library)

Tulsa Central High School, 1917

2009-08-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Tulsa High School, 1906, Fourth and Boston

The original Tulsa High School was erected in 1906 at Fourth and Boston in downtown Tulsa. In 1913 it became the third school in the state to win accreditation.

Tulsa Central High School, 1917, Sixth and Cincinnati

A new building opened in 1917 at the corner of Sixth and Cincinnati, and was enlarged in 1922. The Manual Arts building at Ninth and Cincinnati was added in 1925. Tulsa Central was at one time said to be the second largest high school in the country, and included indoor Olympic-size and lap pools, an indoor track, an extensive art collection, and a large pipe organ.

Central was Tulsa's only public high school for white students, and by 1938 it had grown to its peak enrollment of more than 5,000 students in grades 10-12. Finally, in 1939, Tulsa opened two new high schools: Webster High School in West Tulsa, and Will Rogers High School east of downtown. Booker T. Washington High School was established for African American students in 1913. Tulsa's schools were legally racially segregated by race until 1955, and remained segregated de facto at least into the 1970s, due to population patterns and school policies.

The construction of Tulsa's Inner Dispersal Loop freeway impaired the school's access to the outdoor physical education facilities at Central Park and Tracy Park. The cost of downtown parking was also a problem. These factors led to the decision to move the school out of downtown. The new 47 acre campus was opened in 1976, at 31st West Avenue and Edison Street, in the portion of northwest Tulsa that is located in Osage County.

The old Central High School building at Sixth and Cincinnati was acquired by Public Service Company of Oklahoma ("PSO"). After a complete renovation and extensive interior modifications, it now serves as PSO's headquarters. The renovated and adapted building has been named a Tulsa landmark by the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture. The former Manual Arts Building at Ninth and Cincinnati is now part of the downtown campus of Tulsa Community College.

When I compared my photo of the main entrance with the old night view above it I noticed that the front doors have been lowered and the double set of steps eliminated. The old school was not handicap accessible, the remodeled PSO building is.

On a personal note, I did my practice teaching at Tulsa Central High School during the fall semester of 1963 under veteran Math teacher Jack Skelton. When I heard that Central was to be closed I was afraid it would end up demolished and used for a parking lot. Like a lot of Tulsans I was very pleased when PSO did such a fine job of renovating it into office space. I have always wondered what happened to the swimming pool. I guess I should ask.

(Text excerpted from Wikipedia. Black and white photos courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society. Exact dates are uncertain. A more complete history of Tulsa Central High School can be found HERE.)

Tulsa Exposition Center (QT Center), 1966

2009-08-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

4145 East 21st Street

The Tulsa County Free Fair began in 1903 at the Western Association baseball park at Archer and Boston. With enactment of the Oklahoma Free Fair Act in 1915, a 15-acre tract of land north of Archer and Lewis was purchased to provide more suitable grounds. In 1923, thanks to a land donation from M.E. Crosbie, the fair was moved to a portion of the present Expo Square between 15th and 21st Streets. Passage of a major bond issue of $500,000 provided for the construction of the Fairgrounds Pavilion in 1931. The fair board acquired land adjacent to the gift acreage in later years, and the "state fair" was born.

The International Petroleum Exposition (IPE) was established in 1923 to exhibit the latest oil industry technology and provide a venue for oilmen to purchase up-to-date equipment, while educating workers and the general public. Tulsa, Oklahoma, was chosen as its home, and the first show, called the "International Petroleum Exposition and Congress," was held there on October 8-14, 1923. Tulsa was proudly calling itself "The Oil Capital of the World".

With the exception of 1926, the IPE was held annually from 1923 through 1930 for a week to ten days during October and grew in attendance from a few thousand to over 120,000. Poor economic conditions in the 1930s caused the show to be held less frequently. After 1940, World War II caused activities to be suspended until 1948.

In 1948, when the exposition opened for the first time since the beginning of World War II, it attracted more than three hundred thousand visitors. The exposition's board of directors voted to hold it every five years in a number of buildings on twenty-plus acres at the fair grounds. During the 1950s and 1960s the venue continued to draw in excess of three hundred thousand visitors. If this world class event was to have a suitable venue one would have to be constructed.

(photos courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

In 1966 a $3.5 million bond issue was passed and all the old IPE buildings were demolished and a ten-acre Exposition Center was constructed. The center provided 354,000 square feet (32,900 m2) of column-free space under a cable-suspended roof. The building spans 448,400 total square feet on two levels, connected by side ramps and stairs, allowing for a variety of show floor plans.The Expo Center became home to the International Petroleum Exposition.

The 1966 IPE housed in the new facility attracted the largest attendance in the history of the IPE. The future of the International Petroleum Exposition seemed assured. But in the early 1970s the oil slump struck. That, combined with competition from the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, caused the IPE to lose money in both 1976 and 1979. After a dismal attendance of twenty-six thousand people in 1979, the fifty-seven-year-old International Petroleum Exposition was canceled for all time.

Over the years the Expo Center has hosted a great variety of shows and events. In my memory it has been used for auto shows, boat shows, home and garden shows. powwows, midgit auto racing, rodeos, tractor pulls, gun shows, anything that needs a large open area.

Standing in front of the Expo Center the Mid-Continent Supply Company placed the eight-story-tall Golden Driller statue which was added as a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Weighing 43,500 pounds and standing 76 feet (23 m) tall, the Golden Driller has become the symbol of Expo Square and a Tulsa landmark

The Golden Driller has it own interesting history. The Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth first introduced the Golden Driller in 1953 at the International Petroleum Exposition. It was temporarily erected again for the 1959 show and attracted so much attention that the company had it rehabilitated and donated it to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority. It was permanently installed at the 21st Street and Pittsburg Avenue site for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition. His right hand rests on an old production oil derrick moved from an oil field in Seminole, Oklahoma.

The Driller has been ravaged by weather, survived tornadoes, photo sessions with tourists, attacked by vandals, assaulted by souvenir seekers, shotgun blasts, and has even had an arrow in the back. Art critics have even ridiculed the poor old man.

The basic angle-iron structure made of plaster and concrete will withstand 200 mile-an-hour winds. It was refurbished and painted gold by Gibco, Inc. Tulsa, Oklahoma, in time for the International Petroleum Exposition of 1979. Since then the Golden Driller has guarded the main entrance of the Exposition Center where various trade shows, conventions and consumer events are held. He has collected a host of friends, not only in Tulsa, but also from around the world.

Wanenmacher Gun Show, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The largest gun show in the world.
(Photo by Caleb Long)

Recently the local QuikTrip Corporation has joined in a 10-year, $2.6 million naming rights agreement with the fairgrounds. For the duration of the agreement it will be known as the QuikTrip Center.

This is but part of the work going into improving the functionality and flexibility of the Tulsa Fairgrounds, now more correctly known as Expo Square. The QuikTrip Center is considerably refreshed, the Pavilion has enjoyed a complete remodeling, New livestock show barns have replaced the outdated barns and sheds with help from the Ford Motor Company. Tulsa should be well served by Expo Square far out into the future.

(Excerpts from: Expo Square; OSU Digital Library; Wikipedia.)

Fire Station No. 16, Old: 1947, New: 2009

2009-08-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

Old Fire Station No. 16, 1401 North Lewis Avenue, 1947

New Fire Station No. 16, 2412 North Harvard Avenue, 2009

One of Tulsa's oldest fire stations has been replaced with a modern building that uses the latest concepts in fire station design. The $2.75 million station at 2412 N. Harvard Ave. houses Station 16, which previously operated out of an aging building at 1401 N. Lewis Ave. Equipped with a cavernous garage, stainless steel kitchen and dozens of other upgrades, the 11,830-square-foot station opened July 13. At the old station, firefighters squeezed into a cramped building that was built in 1948.

Quoted from an article by Matt Barnard, Tulsa World, Jul. 22, 2009, in the Fire Department Network News.

Christ the King Church, 1928

2009-08-01T15:46:00.001-07:00

1530 South Rockford Avenue

In the 1920s, Christ the King Church was considered innovative and, to some, radical. A combination of Gothic, Byzantine and Art Deco architecture, the church was designed in 1926 by Chicago modernist Francis Barry Byrne, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The church sanctuary is almost square and is built around the central carved limestone altar. Emil Frei, Inc. designed the mosaic of Christ which is empaneled behind this altar. Tulsa architect Bruce Goff designed the mosaics at the two side altars. The church’s stained glass windows, designed by Alfonso Iannelli and produced by the Temple Art Glass Company of Chicago, are described in Liturgical Arts Magazine as ranking “among the best to be found in the United States.” These windows depict Kings of the Christian era on the North side of the church and Kings of the Old Testament on the South side. The buff brick exterior includes terra cotta spires. Alfonso Iannelli was responsible for the terra cotta ornamentation on the exterior of the church and also produced the statues of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary found at the side altars.

The church was dedicated by Bishop Francis C. Kelly in May of 1928, and was the first church in the world to be dedicated with the name “Christ the King.”

Quoted from the Tulsa Preservation Commission.

Meadow Gold is Back

2009-07-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

The old at 11th and Lewis. (photos courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

The new at 11th and Quaker

US Route 66 is the historic highway that ran from Chicago through Tulsa and on west to terminate in Los Angeles, California. It is known as "The Mother Road". During the Great Depression nearly 15% of the population of Oklahoma migrated west to Arizona and California on Route 66 looking for employment.

Route 66 went through Tulsa on 11th Street just south of the downtown area, and there is a lot of history there. In 1934 Beatrice Foods put up a large neon sign advertising Meadow Gold milk. It was a landmark at 11th and Lewis for decades. Over the years Meadow Gold went out of business and the sign fell into disrepair and went dark some time in the 1970s. In 2004 the owner of the building on which the sign was installed wanted to tear down the building and the Meadow Gold sign was endangered. The Tulsa Foundation for Architecture led a campaign to save the old sign and it was carefully dismantled. A few months ago it reappeared on the corner of 11th and Quaker on top of a brick pavilion on a parcel of land donated by the city of Tulsa. A landmark restored.

The "Route 66 News" blog has a nice article about the dedication back in May and some fine pictures showing it lit up at night. See it HERE.

Burtner N. Fleeger Residence, 1937

2009-07-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

2424 East 29th Street

This residence was designed by Frederick V. Kershner. As the first monolithic concrete house in Tulsa, this Streamline style residence has walls of reinforced poured concrete, 12-14 inches thick, which were engineered by the Portland Cement Company. The exterior is striated with narrow horizontal bands and the wings are composed of intersecting rectangular blocks. The house is situated on an uneven lot, massed to the highest point above the entry, with banded, flat roof levels stepped down like a series of stairs to the garage. The front location of the garage was very unusual for its time.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation, 1940

2009-07-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

1709 East King Place

Built in 1940 as the Tulsa headquarters of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation this has been the home of Empire Roofing for a long time. Other than the stone work around the front entrance there is not a lot of Art Deco to it but it is an attractive functional design.

I searched the internet for the architect and some information about the design but could find nothing. If you know more about this building please leave a comment.

William D. Whenthoff Residence, 1935

2009-07-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

1142 S. College Avenue

The building is constructed of bricks over tiles blocks, and then painted to look like stucco. This house at 1142 South College Avenue, built in 1935 for William D. Whenthoff by Joseph R. Koberling, architect, was designed in the streamlined ship style with two-stories of brick laid over tile blocks and painted to look like stucco.

A second story balcony serves as a canopy for the entry and wraps around the house. Its triple railing creates the illusion of a ship’s bridge with an exterior ladder running from the second floor to the flat roof. There are two porthole windows, one on the first floor by the entry and the other above the second floor entry. (Excepted from Tulsa Preservation Commission )

Big 10 Ballroom, 1948

2009-07-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

1632 East Apache Street, Art Deco Streamline

The Big 10 Ballroom is a very large open structure originally built in an Art Deco Streamline style in 1948 by Lonny Williams. Mr Williams was only the second black officer on the Tulsa police force. It was created to be a venue for black entertainers to perform in North Tulsa.

The Big 10 Ballroom after 50 years of neglect. The front has recently been given a fresh coat of paint.

The interior looking south to the stage.

Plans are in place to restore it to service to the community.

In its day the Big 10 Ballroom was the venue for some of the hottest music of the day. It was a stop on the what was known as the "Chitlin Circuit" that provided safe venues for black singers and musicians to perform as they toured across the United States. A venue where crowds once packed the house to watch legendary performances from artists that are now part of the canon of American music.

Some of the artists to perform at the Big 10 during the 50' and 60s were Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, James Brown and Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, B.B. King, Fats Domino, Count Basie, Jackie Wilson, Dinah Washington, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Sam and Dave, Ike and Tina Turner, and the Temptations. All good things come to an end, and it closed in the mid-1960s.

When the ballroom closed the building was used as a supply warehouse for American Beauty Products for many years and then stood vacant for another two decades. The property has changed hands several times since then but is now in the hands of a group that plans to restore it to its former function as a performance center.

Lester Shaw, founder and executive director for the nonprofit A Pocket Full of Hope, said the organization is dedicated to introducing the arts as a character-builder into the lives of Tulsa youth. The Big 10 Ballroom Auditorium, as it will be called, will be the venue for the organization's theater productions and other events meant to lift the north Tulsa community surrounding it.

Shaw said the organization will apply for a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and seek help from charitable foundations to cover the restoration, which will begin with closing the massive holes in the roof that once served as a secondary dance floor. Then work will be done to clean the interior, extend the stage, add exits, create a coffee shop area and construct a corner to house photos and other memorabilia of the ballroom's and neighborhood's past. (from NewsOn6.com)

Holland Hall, 1923

2009-07-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

1850 South Boulder Avenue - Boulder on the Park

The Student Body in February 1924, Grades 1 through 12

This was the original building for Holland Hall, a private Episcopal school now located at 5666 South 81st Street, Tulsa. (photos courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Charles A. Sanderson and Roy Wesley Sanderson originally constructed this building for Holland Hall School. Waite Phillips, W.G. Skelly and George S. Bole, along with several others, backed the project financially. The building was originally constructed with 9 classrooms, a shop, gymnasium, assembly auditorium, offices, and a chemical laboratory. The property was purchased by aerial cartography business Aero Exploration Company in 1938. It was later sold to KTUL Radio, a CBS affiliate, and Tulsa Broadcasting Company. KTUL remodeled the building internally and externally in 1947, converting the appearance to its current “Art Moderne” theme. (Tulsa Preservation Commission)

Tulsa National Guard Armory, 1942

2009-07-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

3902 East 15th Street

Like most of Oklahoma's National Guard Armories Tulsa's was a WPA project. It is the second largest armory in the state and was built from native stone. The Oklahoma National Guard has a newer facility on North Mingo and no longer uses this facility. The ownership went back to the city of Tulsa and it has been used for a number of things. There was an earlier plan to demolish it to clear fairgrounds space for something else. The resulting public outcry has persuaded the city council to cancel those plans and a number of possible uses are being considered. The cavernous open space of the main structure could be host to any number of events. I remember taking my dog there for obedience training back in 1966.

Arnold Ungerman Residence, 1941

2009-07-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

1718 East 37th Street

This Streamlined Art Deco house was designed by Leo Clark for Arnold Ungerman. Ungerman was a doctor who once worked for the U.S. Department of Indian Affairs on a Hopi-Navaho reservation. He and his wife fell in love with the Southwestern style of architecture and intended this house to be a blend of Mexican-Southwestern and contemporary modern styles. It is a two-story, concrete block structure on a concrete slab foundation. The house features a flat roof, corner windows, and a curved bay composed of glass block. Horizontal bands above the entry and at the roof line add to the Streamline effect.

Clinton Middle School, 1925

2009-07-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

2224 W. 41st Street - New in 1925

Being demolished in 2009

New in 1925 (Photos courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society)

Being demolished in 2009

No doubt it is all for the best; still, it is sad to see an old friend go.
When the original cornerstone was opened a Time Capsule was discovered with papers and momentos from 75 years ago. Read about it HERE.

The new Clinton middle school being built adjacent to the original. View from the south.

The new Clinton Middle School next to the old. View from the north.

Clinton was first built as a high school for the Red Fork District in 1925. When Daniel Webster High School opened in 1938 it became Clinton Junior High School, then later Clinton Middle School. I taught 7th and 8th grade mathematics and general science at Clinton in 1966 and 1967 and wanted to see what it looked like now. I arrived just in time to see some large machines tearing down the walls. I felt a little sad but then looked at the large new school being built to replace it.

That is what we do in this country, rather than try and preserve the old, we tear it down and build over. It will be a nice facility for the youngsters who attend school here. Perhaps in 75 or 80 years from now someone will see this new one torn down and be sorry to see it go.

McBirney Mansion, 1927

2009-07-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

1414 South Galveston Avenue

The McBirney Mansion is a brick, stone, and stucco house built by John Long of Kansas City in 1927-28. It is proportioned on a grand scale, befitting its Gothic Revival style, and is meticulously crafted. Landscaping features fine magnolias and cedars, a grotto, and a rock-lined walk that make effective use of the spring that gave the site its original importance.

McBirney Springs has its source in an underground stream that surfaces here near the Arkansas River. The site was used by pioneers and early residents of Indian Territory Tulsa for watering stock before crossing the river. A ferry replaced the ford at this point, serving travel between Tulsa and Red Fork until the advent of bridges. In 1832, Washington Irving stopped at this spring and was so impressed by its beauty that he wrote about it.

James H. McBirney and his brother formed the Bank of Commerce in Tulsa in 1904. He soon built two of Tulsa’s early skyscrapers: the 10-story McBirney office building and, adjacent to it, the first 8-story home for his bank. By 1918, he and two associates were developing the Childer’s Heights subdivision along the Arkansas River. Many of Tulsa’s first mansions were erected on the downtown’s perimeter by some of Tulsa’s early builders and developers. McBirney’s home is one of the last still standing. (Historical text courtesy of The Tulsa Preservation Commission)

The McBirney Mansion is currently operated as an upscale Bed and Breakfast and is available for special events. This would be a beautiful place for a wedding reception. Look Here.

Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion, 1932

2009-07-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Tulsa Fairgrounds (South Louisville Ave., and East 17th St.)
Photo courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society

Built in 1932, the Fairgrounds Pavilion is an Art Deco treasure. An extremely flexible arena, it can go from ice floor to basketball court to concert seating in a matter of hours.

Designed by architect L. I. Shumway, the arena was built as a WPA project during the great depression. It seats about 6500 in a variety of configurations and hosts ice hockey, rodeos, basketball games and rock concert

The Art Deco ornamentation reflects an agricultural motif as is appropriate for a fairgrounds. The interior also contains Art Deco decoration. With the Great Depression came PWA Art Deco. The Public Works Administration, part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, provided construction jobs that included government and public buildings. Tulsa is noted for its many Art Deco Buildings.

Midwest Equitable Meter Building, 1929

2009-07-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

3130 Charles Page Boulevard

This one-story, commercial warehouse was designed by Bruce Goff. It has corbeled brickwork with tan bricks laid in soldier courses. Glass block was utilized on the sides of the building.

The building is curently occupied by the Oklahoma Gage and Supply Company. At one time the stone with the building name was covered with another sign. The sign is gone but the metal frame it was fastened to is still there.

S&J Oyster Bar / Leon's, 1945

2009-07-08T18:04:00.001-07:00

3301 South Peoria Avenue

What was the S&J Oyster Bar is now Leon's

The old S&J Oyster Bar featured a lot of black and white tile, on the floor and on the wall.

The tile has been replaced with red brick and varnished concrete floors.

The curved glass block windows go back to the original Streamlined Art Deco origins. The north side dining area is now a game room.

This is what I remember from the S&J, a lot of chrome and black and white tile.

Quite a different look now.

The wash rooms still feature art deco glass blocks although I don't remember the doors.

Wash room walls and floors are still tile. This could use a good scrub and some polish on the brass fixtures.

The main bar area is open and spacious. The sky lights fill the room with soft light.

In 1945 the Town and Country Restaurant opened in this building built at 3301 South Peoria Avenue in a Streamlined Art Deco Style. Other than this simple fact, I was unable to find any other mention of the original restaurant. I know that the S&J Oyster Bar was here for a number of years followed by En Fuegos and then Ford's Filling Station, but have not been able to learn its earlier history. A few days ago my wife Susan and I ate lunch at Leon's which is currently located in this building.

In 1983 the building was remodeled by Howard and Sandy Smith and opened as the S&J Oyster Bar. The decor featured a lot of black and white tile and chrome rails. The restaurant's hard surfaces of black and white wall tiles resulted in a high noise levels during busy times which gave the place a lively feel. This proved to be a very successful restaurant and Smith opened a second location in 1984 and a third in Kansas CIty in 1985. The S&J did business in this location until it was sold to Greg Hughes in 2002.

Greg Hughes did a lot of remodeling, replacing the black and white tile motif with exposed red brick. The original flat roof over the front bar area was replaced with a high curved sky light which gave the place a more spacious open feeling. In December 2002 it opened as En Fuego which was an upscale Mexican restaurant.

In early 2005 Hughes teamed up with Benjamin Ford who was Hughes' fraternity brother at USC in California. Besides being the son of actor Harrison Ford, Ben had made a name for himself as chef in noted west coast restaurants. Their joint effort opened in June 2005 as Ford's Filling Station.

J. J. Lewis worked for Greg Hughes when En Fuegos was just starting and ended up managing several enterprises for Hughes. In the summer of 2008 he leased the location and started his own restaurant and bar, Leon's, which he describes as an upscale casual restaurant and sport's bar. In its present incarnation the restaurant at 3301 S. Peoria is very attractive and probably headed for success. My only question is, who the heck is Leon?

Tulsa Association of Pioneers, 1935

2009-07-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

Owen Park, Maybelle Avenue and Edison Street

This monument was erected by the Tulsa Association of Pioneers in honor of the charter members of the association living in Tulsa, Indian Territory and vicinity for thirty years from 1881 to 1921 and other pioneer families.

The monument was moved from its original location on the Dr. Sam G. Kennedy farm to the north entrance of Owen Park in 1950. Dr. Kennedy was the first president of the Tulsa Association of Pioneers. In 1947, his heirs donated five acres to the Owen Park grounds. The monument bears the names of scores of pioneer families.

John Duncan Forsyth Residence, 1937

2009-07-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

2927 South Birmingham Place

This house was designed by John Duncan Forsyth in a Streamline Art Deco style. It is a two-story, flat roofed house containing a massing of plain, unbroken surfaces in horizontal bands. A low concrete landscaping wall across the front of the property seems to extend, as an integral part of the house, from the garage and from the south wing. Painted white with teal blue detailing, the main block of the house rises like a ship’s deck from the landscape with one curved wall inset with a corner glass block window. The front projecting garage wall adjoins the recessed entry canopy. This strong horizontal feature is repeated on the second level by a cantilevered canopy over the deck.

John Duncan Forsyth was born in 1886 in Florence, Italy. He received his training at Edinburgh College, Scotland, and at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France. He practiced in Tulsa and the surrounding areas from 1925 until his death in 1963.

Forsyth designed several homes in Tulsa including his own residence at 29th and Birmingham. In addition, he designed Southern Hills Country Club (1936 with D. McCormick) at the corner of 61st and Lewis, All Souls Unitarian Church (1957) at the corner of 30th and Peoria and Daniel Webster High School (1938 with W. Wolaver and R. Kerr) at 1919 West 40th. He is perhaps best known as the designer of the Marland Mansion in Ponca City (1926) and the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore (1938).

Tulsa Historical Society

2009-07-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

The Tulsa Historical Society is located at 2445 South Peoria Avenue in the former Samuel Travis mansion. Admission is free and the exhibits are excellent. Go there and see for yourself.

Brothers David and Samuel Travis constructed complementary mansions on South Peoria in 1919. The Travis brothers, who had made their fortunes as independent oil producers, hired Noble Flemming to design their residences in what was then considered far south Tulsa. Flemming executed two designs in Revival style, set at the crest of a broad lawn rising to the east from Peoria. The two homes instantly became Tulsa landmarks.

In addition to housing the Garden Center and the Historical Society these beautiful mansions are available for weddings and receptions.

In the front garden of the mansion are life sized sculptures of the Five Moons. The Five Moons are five Native American ballerinas from the state of Oklahoma, who achieved international prominence during 20th century. They are Yvonne Chouteau, Rosella Hightower, Moscelyne Larkin, and sisters Maria Tallchief and Marjorie Tallchief. Five Moons is also the name of a bronze sculpture installation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, depicting the five ballerinas. A good Wikipedia article is HERE.

Currently on exhibit is a retrospective of Oklahoma's 24 governors and their first ladies.

Dresses worn by some of the first ladies are on display.

The state seal of Oklahoma is worked into the waist band of the gown worn by Mrs Keating.

A boot with the state seal and other mementos belonging to Robert S. Kerr who went on the the US senate after he was governor.

A display of artifacts of the Warren G. Skelly Oil Company. Tulsa boasted of being the Oil Capital of the World and Skelly was one of the leading oil men in the early 1900s.

On display are service uniforms and gasoline pumps.

A variety of fishing reels made by Tulsa company Zebco.

A photograph of Tulsa Seidenbach's Department Store. From 1927 to 1963 Seidenbach's was an elegant store at 415 South Main.

A few of the high fashion clothing from Seidenbach's.

With stylish hats to match.

On display are some photographs of native Americans who were in Oklahoma in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Apache Chief Geronimo driving a 1905 Buick during his confinement at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Three Tribes Indian Memorial, 1935

2009-07-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

Owen Park, Maybelle Avenue and Edison Street

In 1935 the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument marking the intersection of tribal lands of the Cherokee, Creek, and Osage nations. Initially located at the intersection of West Edison and North Elwood, construction of the inner dispersal loop required this to be relocated to nearby Owen Park.

The inscription on this monument, reads:

On June 2, 1825, the Osage Nation, under treaty with
the United States, granted certain lands to the Government
for the use and benefit of the Cherokee and Creek tribes
who were being removed from the Southern States. This
monument is to commemorate that treaty and to mark that
spot where lands of the three great nations joined.

The Brook Theater/Restaurant

2009-06-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

3307 South Peoria Ave - The Brook Theater in the 1950's

The same view today

The grand opening of the Brook Theater in 1945 as reported in the Tulsa World.

The Brook Restaurant and Bar

The Brook Theater, located in the Brookside District was designed by William Henry Cameron Calderwood in the Streamline style of Art Deco architecture and opened in 1945. It was a 600 seat movie theater famous for its "Saturday afternoon matinees" and the longest run of the movie "South Pacific" in a single theater in Oklahoma—over one year! Since that time, it served as the home of the American Theater Company for about 15 years and then was transformed into The Brook Restaurant and Bar which operates today. One of the mementos of its history as a movie house is an enormous projector just inside the door.

Fleeger Residence, 1937

2009-06-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Riverside Studio aka Spotlight Theatre, 1929

2009-06-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

1381 Riverside Drive

Built in 1929 as the Riverside Theater, since 1953 as the Spotlight Theater and home of The Drunkard melodrama and Olio of amateur talent. Link HERE

Patti Adams Shriner was a musician and teacher who received her training in the United States and Europe. She was also a scholarship pupil of the world renowned Maurice Moszkowski. Like her fellow artist (and designer of the Boston Avenue Church), Adah Robinson, Patti decided to build a residence to reflect her profession. The result was a combination studio and recital hall for her music students. Like Robinson, Patti selected Bruce Goff to be her architect. The Riverside Studio, as it was called, was built at 1381 Riverside Drive on a magnificent site overlooking the Arkansas River. The Art Deco structure is similar to the Robinson studio in both plan and material. The high ceiling lobby is reminiscent of the living room studio in the Robinson home. The stage acts as a link between the studio and residence, and the kitchen and dining facilities served both residential and studio functions.

The front elevation is dominated by an enormous round window patterned with sand-blasted designs. On each side of this window there are smaller rectangular windows connected by black glass inserts to form a diagonal pattern. It has been suggested that these windows resemble the black keys on a piano keyboard.

Eventually, Patti Adams Shriner was forced to give up her studio in 1933 and various lending institutions maintained possession until 1941 when Richard Mansfield Dickinson, a former New York City actor, purchased the property. He used the building as a residence and speech-drama studio. In 1953, Dickinson and a small group of performers known as the Tulsa Spotlighters, gave their first performance of a melodrama called "The Drunkard". Since that performance, the troup has performed the melodrama and Olio each Saturday night in what is now known as "The Spotlight Theater". The Drunkard and Olio has been a Tulsa fixture for quite a long time. In 1969 I was part of a Barbersop Quartet that sang on the Olio. We were the Sooner Statesmen.

Washington Irving Monument, 1915

2009-06-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

Intersection of West Easton St. and Vancouver Ave near Owen Park

In 1832 a group of U.S. Rangers with civilian observers came through this area. Among them was Washington Irving, perhaps the best known American author of the time. On October 14, the party was traveling to their camp destination at the convergence of the Cimarron and Arkansas Rivers. Pausing briefly at a lookout point, Irving enjoyed the panorama from the hilltop in the Owen Park neighborhood. The descriptions of the view can be found in his book, Tour of the Prairies. A monument to this event stands at the corner of Easton Boulevard and Vancouver Avenue. This monument was erected and donated to the public by Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Norman Wright in 1915.

The Oldest House in Tulsa, 1885

2009-06-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

Located in Owen Park, Maybelle and Edison

This simple rectangular plan, side-gabled house is of the National Folk style predominant during the late nineteenth century. A centered entry door is flanked by two single-frame windows and covered by a colonnaded, open porch with a shed roof.

Originally located on the 400 block of North Cheyenne Avenue, this was the parsonage home of Reverend Sylvester Morris, a Methodist missionary, who founded many churches in and around Tulsa, including St. Paul's Methodist on Cherry Street.

The house was moved to the present location in 1976 after intruders set fire to it. The fire brought the house to the attention of historian Beryl D. Ford, who found within its plaster walls letters to Morris dated in 1895 and a photograph of the house. Reverend Morris, a Methodist minister, was reportedly shot and killed by lawmen who had mistaken him for a whiskey peddler. His horses continued on home, bearing his body in the carriage.

Although 1885 may not seem that old to some, it pre-dates the first Land Rush of 1889 when the first of the Unassigned Lands were available for settlement. The land run started at high noon on April 22, 1889, with an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres (8,000 km²). Initially known as Indian Territory, Oklahoma only became a state in 1907.

Tulsa Garden Center/Donald Travis Mansion, 1920

2009-06-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

2435 South Peoria Ave.

The Italian style villa was designed by Tulsa architect, Noble B. Flemming in 1920. It has twenty-one rooms and ten bathrooms. It was built by David R. Travis (originally known as David Rabinowitz) an immigrant originally from Czarist Russia. The ballroom in the lower level was the location of the first Jewish services during the Travis residence since there was no synagogue or temple in Tulsa.

Samuel Travis built the house immediately south, which is now owned by the Tulsa Historical Society. In 1923 J. Harthur Hull purchased the home and built the Lord Burnham greenhouse and sunken garden. During the Depression the house and 10 acres was offered for sale for $25,000 with no buyer coming forward for several years.

The Snedden family finally purchased the mansion and property in 1934 and lived there until 1950, when oil man W.G. Skelly purchased the home. Mr. Skelly sold it in 1954 for $85,000 including ten acres to the City of Tulsa. Since then, the Tulsa Garden Center has operated the city-owned facility providing educational resources and meeting places for horticultural and environmental organizations.

Woodward Park with its beautiful Azalea Gardens, the multilevel Municipal Rose Garden, and the Tulsa Garden Center are all located on this 10 acre plot. This is a municipal treasure.

I love the round room with windows on the south side.

Parking in in the rear which has become the main entrance.

The greenhouse and sunken garden give the back garden a victorian look. Sometimes orchids are displayed inside.

Lamp tables built into the north wall of the library. Click to enlarge detail. This is all hand work.

A small library on the east next to the great hall. Notice the old gas stove in the fireplace. it has been "modernized".

The great hall on the south end. These are the curved windows seen yesterday from the outside.

The dining room on the north end.

The grand staircase rises to the second floor from the east side of the entry hall.

The entry hall looking south to the great hall. The front doors are on the right. It is possible to rent the entry and hall for receptions and weddings. The Garden Center in the spring and summer is a beautiful place for a wedding.

The entry hall looking north to the dining room. The front doors are on the left.

Creek Council Oak Tree, Prior to 1836

2009-06-23T18:02:00.001-07:00

1750 South Cheyenne Ave.

The Creek Council Tree, a mature burr oak, marks the traditional "busk ground" chosen in 1836 by the Tulsa-Lochapoka clan of Creek Indians. They built a fire here and scattered the ashes brought from their last campfire in Alabama. In late 1834, they had begun their involuntary migration from Alabama under the control of the U.S. Government. It was a slow and painful trek; of the original group of 630, 161 died in route.

Their 1836 arrival was marked with a solemn and traditional ceremony. A "busk" site was chosen on a low hill overlooking the Arkansas River. Here, according to their traditions, they deposited ashes brought over the trail from their last fires in Alabama. The Tulsa-Lochapoka, a political division of the Creek Nation, established their "town." As late as 1896, the Lochapoka gathered here for ceremonies, feasts, and games.

The site was probably not used by the Indians after about 1900. Gradually it became a solid residential area for the growing city of Tulsa. The Creek Council Tree itself, however, survived. The oak, standing in its small, well-landscaped city park, serves as a meaningful memorial to the proud Indian tribe that brought law and order to a new homeland 173 years ago. I know of nothing in Tulsa history that is any older than this.

The Creek Council Tree was listed in the National Register on September 29, 1976. It was listed under National Register Criteria A, and its NRIS number is 76001576.

This historic old tree has its own little corner park.

Acorns from a Burr Oak tree. These are the largest acorns of any oak tree.

Boston Avenue Methodist Church, 1927

2009-06-23T17:44:00.001-07:00

1301 South Boston Ave.

The soaring modern design of this magnificant downtown Tulsa church can be seen from all directions. It is art deco influenced by gothic cathedrals. Construction began in 1927 and was completed in 1929. Click to enlarge and see detail.

The inside is very interesting too, but I don't have any photos inside. The only time I was inside was for a funeral and that was not a good time for taking pictures. I do remember that the organ was magnificent. As usual an excellent article about it can be found in Wikipedia. You can read it HERE.

There are several versions of the story of how the distinctive architecture was created. Here is the version from the church's own web site.

Miss Adah Robinson, a University of Tulsa art instructor, was asked to sketch an initial design for the church. The sketch Robinson produced a few days later was a real shock to committee members, but her idea gradually caught on. The design was done in a new art deco style rather than the then-popular Gothic architecture, and included a round sanctuary and a slender 15-story tower. With the 1920's oil boom at its peak, church members were optimistic enough about the future to embrace both the new look and the $1,500,000 commitment. Robinson's design was approved, and Rush, Endacott, & Rush architectural firm was hired. A young man named Bruce Goff , one of Robinson's students and an employee of the firm, did the drafting and another former student, Robert Garrison, created the sculptures. Robinson supervised the project, working closely with church members and construction workers through the building's completion. Construction took over two years, and finally on June 9, 1929, church members moved into the twentieth-century art deco masterpiece that still houses the Boston Avenue congregation today

Frank Lloyd Wright's "Westhope", 1929

2009-06-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

3704 S. Birmingham Avenue

This 10,000 square foot home was built for his cousin Richard Lloyd Jones in 1929 when Jones was editor and publisher of the Tulsa Tribune. This view looks West towards the long axis of the house. The trees surrounding the house make it difficult to get a photograph which does justice to the interesting design. For some vintage photos see HERE , or current exterior photos see HERE . Some interesting biographical information relating to this house can be read HERE CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE.

A view from the front (looking South). The estate includes a guesthouse, workshop, and a nice garden area with pool in the back. I would love to see the interior but I do not know who is living there now. This is one of only 3 Oklahoma buildings created by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Warehouse Market Building, 1938

2009-06-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

925 South Elgin Ave.

The facade on the entry of the Warehouse Market Building is an excellent example of Art Deco.

In July 1938 Clint V. Cox and his son Clint V. Cox Jr., opened the first Warehouse Market store in this building considered one of Tulsa's most notable landmarks.

Carlton Place - Old Tulsa, 1910 to 1915

2009-06-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

East 14th St. and South Cheyenne Ave.

The area near downtown Tulsa around 14th and Cheyenne was called Carlton Place when it was developed about the time of statehood. Recall that Oklahoma only became a state in 1907. This photo was taken in 1913. The brick pillars and wrought iron arch were built in 1909. A good article is found HERE.

The pillars are still standing but the arch is gone. Most of the old houses are still here. Because it is so close to the center of Tulsa it is a very desirable place to live if you work downtown.

This lovely old residential area is almost in the middle of downtown Tulsa. It is typical of neighborhoods built prior to 1920 with solid homes on tree lined streets.

Big front porches, flags, and sidewalks are of an older time when prople walked around after dinner and visited with their neighbors.