Tulsa's Old Locust Grove Park

[Hometown]

You guys inspired me and I found some more pictures from Locust Grove Park.

It looks like someone has been doing that doll's hair, Steve.  I'll have to tell you about my little sister's Skipper one of these days.

This first photograph is me and my little sister next to the tennis court in Locust Grove Park.  You can see Cincinnati and 14th behind the tennis court.  The park also had a playground set for younger kids.



Here's the tennis court from a different angle with houses on 14th in the background.  I don't remember the girls with me.



You can see a little slice of the park on the left from this vantage point on 14th Street looking up the hill towards Carolina then Detroit.  The houses across the top are on Detroit facing the park.  These are probably neighbors.



I also found a picture of the other house on Norfolk in Tracy Park Addition.  It still stands and I wanted to include it because the house is so beautifully proportioned.  We must have already moved out when this photograph was taken.  The Highway and Expressway really decimated Tracy Park Addition.  Double AA pointed out that there was a later redevelopment of a gated community that took out several blocks of Tracy Park Addition too.  I drove by the gated community today and those houses don't compare well to the houses that were there before.

[Steve]

I remember vividly those swings with the painted horse figures.  At the same time you lived by Locust Grove park (1957-1961), my family lived at 2246 S. Gary, directly across the street from Madelene Catholic Church and near Florence Park.  We spent many a summer day at Florence Park and I remember those exact same swings and the splash pool there too.

In the fall of 1960, my parents contracted to have a new home built on the outskirts of Tulsa in the new Leisure Lanes subdivision at 20th St. and 69th E. Ave., built by Jim Nuckolls' Royal Homes company.  (Probably around the same time that your family moved into Lortondale.)  We moved in there in the spring of 1961, when that area of 21st street (Hale High School area) was still "out in the country."  Jim Nuckolls was a major Tulsa home builder in the 1960s, building in Leisure Lanes, Longview, Sungate and many of the Park Plaza subdivisions.

Our subdivision, Leisure Lanes, was developed mainly by Jim Nuckolls and Ramon King.  Ramon King was the father of Sharon King-Davis, whose name you see pop up in the papers recently for historical society functions, centennial planning, or whatever.  Funny, all the houses around us that were built by Ramon King had major foundation problems (shifting slabs, water seeping into slab ductwork, faulty plumbing) within 5 years of construction, but the homes built by Jim Nuckolls, such as our house, did not have these problems.      

[waterboy]

I too remember those horse swings. They were at Kendall park as well as those great elephant slides. And the dangerous merrygorounds.

If you lived in a Jim Nuckolls home, my father and his crew probably painted it. My first home at 4th place and Lewis was Jim Nuckolls first personal home built in the 20's. He was one of the class builders of his time. The reason so many of those slabs failed was that it was a new process at the time and that area was built over old coal pits that settled after the homes were built. Lots of well built homes in those neighborhoods.

[pmcalk]

They had those horse swings at Woodward park, as well.  My dad use to take us on Sundays--we tried to catch tadpoles in the ponds, and spend hours swinging.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

If you lived in a Jim Nuckolls home, my father and his crew probably painted it. My first home at 4th place and Lewis was Jim Nuckolls first personal home built in the 20's. He was one of the class builders of his time. The reason so many of those slabs failed was that it was a new process at the time and that area was built over old coal pits that settled after the homes were built. Lots of well built homes in those neighborhoods.

True.  Jim Nuckolls' Royal Homes company built quality houses, regardless of price level.  My family's home at 6926 E. 20th St. was built in late 1960 and was one of the first houses constructed in the neighborhood by Nuckolls, after the builders' model homes which were directly to the west of our house.  That house was on the market about a year ago and I stopped by during an open house, for nostalgia sake.  (We lived there from 1961-1973.) Man, that was a creepy feeling going through that house where I grew up and my father died.  I had not been in it since 1973.  It is a 4 bdrm, 2 bath, 2 living, 2 dining, 2 car rear entry garage house, and except for paint and minor cosmetic details, was exactly the same as when I was a kid.  It was obvious that it was built with quality materials and craftsmanship to have held up so well for 46 years.  To this day, I can drive through many Tulsa subdivisions from the 1960s and easily identify houses that were built by Nuckolls.

After mom died in 1974, I was going through the estate papers and found the original contracts my parents signed with Nuckolls' firm to build that house.  Contracted price was $28,000, including lot, which was on the high end for a mid-priced house in 1960 Tulsa.  Financed on a 20-year VA loan, the house payments were $147 per month, including escrows!  The house was 1900 sq. ft., small by today's McMansion standards, but quite spacious at the time.  And my parents opted for some "frills" such as the built-in AM-FM intercom system, which was the ultimate suburban home gadget in 1960!  Boy we had some fun with that intercom, especially scaring kids on Halloween over the front-door speaker!  I wish my mother had kept that house in the family instead of selling it in 1973.  Hindsight is always 20/20.

[Hometown]

pmcalk, I remember catching tadpoles at Woodward Park.  I loved Woodward Park especially the old grotto and bridge.  Funny thing about those tadpoles.  I don't remember any of them living long enough to become frogs.  A whole lot of Gardner snakes, frogs, turtles, fireflies and grasshoppers ended up in jeans pockets and didn't survive for long.  Poor critters.  But kids don't mean to hurt anything.  

[carltonplace]

Thanks so much for the pictures. I can kind of remember those swings, but i can't remember the park. Your pictures made me laugh..kids never wore shoes in the summer back then.

I asked my mom about this park, and she told me that I played there as a toddler when my parents lived at 14th and Baltimore around 1968. As she told me the stories I started to remember it. There was a spray pad that my brother and I used to play in and we would never come out. My dad had to get one of the neighborhood kids to sit on the jet to stop the water so he could come in and get us. I also remember the old carosel there and I have a vague recolection of my little brother hanging on to one of the bars for dear life as his little feet were flying through the air after one of the bigger kids had spun the thing too hard.

It really makes me sad to see how much we've lost.
Here are a couple of homes that were just two blocks to the west at 14th and Boulder.

[Hometown]

Carltonplace it's hard for me to describe how disappointed I am about everything that has been torn down in Tulsa.  The stately old homes on Denver, on 15th between Utica and Lewis, the last of the old Theatres.  Downtown?  The list goes on and on.  And what's going up in their place is changing the feel of Tulsa.  Stately old homes make way for Kum & Go.

[pmcalk]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

pmcalk, I remember catching tadpoles at Woodward Park.  I loved Woodward Park especially the old grotto and bridge.  Funny thing about those tadpoles.  I don't remember any of them living long enough to become frogs.  A whole lot of Gardner snakes, frogs, turtles, fireflies and grasshoppers ended up in jeans pockets and didn't survive for long.  Poor critters.  But kids don't mean to hurt anything.  

I can't tell you how many animals we tried to "rescue" as kids--baby birds fallen out of the tree, turtles escaping from Swan Lake.  Once we caught a whole bag full of tadpoles, which actually survived for some time, almost turning into frogs.  Then our dog got thirsty one day, and lapped up the entire fish bowl, frogs & all.  Sometimes I think there must be a special place in Heaven for "pets" of small children.

I miss the old horse swings, and I really miss the old metal carosel (I think we called them merry-go-rounds).  But, as much as people gripe about playgrounds being overly sanitized for safety (because of lawyers or whatever), you could kinda see the need to get rid of those.  Like Carltonplace, I recall many incidents of the big kids getting them going so fast, you could barely hang on.  Did anyone spend time on those things without witnessing at least one serious accident?  I recall a kid falling so hard he blacked out, and another girl having to get stitches (it didn't help that most had razor sharp metal underneath).

[MichaelBates]

Here is a link to the 1939 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the area around Locust Grove Park, showing the houses and other buildings from Main to the Midland Valley tracks, 11th to 15th Street. (This is part of a database that the Tulsa Library subscribes to, so you'll be asked for your last name and library card number to log in.) The map is interactive, but clicking the "Download Map" link will open a hi-res PDF of the map.

[Hoss]

Wow; I was six years old when we were moved out of that neigborhood in 1973 (I lived on Elgin in between 14th and 15th Street and I can remember the railroad tracks being in my back yard.  I remember kindergarden at Lincoln Elementary, I remember Mom buying Ethel gas at the Derby station on 15th St when it was 40 cents a gallon and the car we had was a 1958 Chevy Belair.  Gosh, that brings back memories.

[carltonplace]

We probably went to elementary together then. Remember the candy store that was where Peace of Mind is now?

[Hometown]

I remember a Mrs. Lamb, the kindergarden teacher at Lincoln around about '60. Don't you hate what they did to Lincoln.  One day I skipped kindergarden class and went home and told our housekeeper that we were sent home because they were installing a pool at school.  I don't think she believed me.

I do remember a convenience store on Peoria next to the small commercial building with the curved glass brick Entrance.  The building is still there.  I would stop at the store on my way home and buy bourbon balls.

[carltonplace]

I remember Ms Lamb, she taught first grade when I was there. Mrs Zimmerman taught second grade and all of the kids were afraid of her. She livied in one of the Orcutt apts accross the street. Mrs Abraham was 5th grade, Mr Denny was sixth (he called everybody puddin' and wore lots of turquoise). I can't remember the art/science teacher's name. I really dug her though.

I'm OK with the new use for the school. Its a great building. I'm glad it has a new life.

[Hometown]

No one had air conditioning in the older parts of town.  We had water coolers.  Most of the older homes had one large water cooler in the living room.  Houses had attic fans.  When our housekeeper took us to church with her over in Sand Springs everybody had those handheld fans.  And people dressed up more than now.  Men wore suits and women wore dresses.  No sneakers unless it was gym class.  People used to put on their Sunday best to go pick up someone from the airport.  Remember that Restaurant at Main and 15th.  Or was it Boulder and 15th?  I think it was called Jerry's.  There was a 100 year old waitress there named Lucille that had a blond beehive.  She called everybody, "Honey."  They had a $1.50 fried chicken special.  Mother used to fill up the car with groceries and spend about $20.