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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.