Tulsa's Old Locust Grove Park

[Riverview Rat]

Yes, I fondly remember Jerry's restaurant, for embarrassing reasons I will not go into.  It was at 15th & Main. Its name was changed to Comans, and then shortly after changed to Jerry's Comans; these changes all took place between 1962 and 1964.  I have a picture of Jerry's at night, shown below.

[Riverview Rat]

Great stuff about Locust Park! My name is Roland Austin, and I attended Riverview Elementary School. I moved to Tulsa in 1960 at age 5. Our house was on the northwest corner of 13th and Baltimore (one block west of the Boston Avenue Methodist Church and Locust Park). We moved from a small rural town and the public pool at Locust Park really excited me! My friends and I spent many a day there, sometimes just shooting the breeze while laying in the big patches of clover that was everywhere; so much, that I found a four-leaf clover about every time I went there. I remember the horse swings, those pictures were great to see. Southeast of the pool was a big tree with a large limb that stretched horizontally... we would all climb up on it and pretend we were flying a jet fighter. I remember the girl workers that would teach the summer crafts... I joined one year just to be around them because I thought they were pretty. Our house was an old mansion that was converted into a duplex when the rich folks moved South. We lived upstairs and I could see Locust park from our balcony porch. I had a clear view all the way down 13th Street and past Boston Avenue. To this day, when I drive my family on the expressway, I always tell them we are now going through Locust Park. What I remember about Horace Mann school, was that our family walked there to eat our sugar cube of Polio vaccine.

[MichaelBates]

Thanks, Roland, for posting that photo of Jerry's. My dad worked across the street in Boulder Towers in the late '70s, so we went by there all the time.

On a related topic, Roland has a great website remembering the Riverview school and neighborhood in the early '60s.

[Double A]

The best thing about is thread, is it really shows just how important it is to save our remaining historic neighborhoods from developers. You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

[beverlyw58]

Thank you for all of the information about Locust Grove Park!  I was searching for anything about the park that I remember so well and found this!  I love the old photographs especially.  I grew up in the Florence Park area, but attended Boston Avenue Methodist Church.  I have such fond memories of ice cream socials and Easter egg hunts at that wonderful old park.  I'm saddened every time I drive by there since the park is completely gone and also all of the lovely old homes.
I was also thrilled to read further and find out about Riverview school over by 12th - 13th and Frisco/Guthrie.  I have been by there many times and always wondered if maybe that had at one time been a school.  I attended Lanier, Wilson, and Rogers.  If any of those are ever torn down, I'll be heartbroken.
Thank you again for bringing back so many wonderful memories.

[Hometown]

Good to hear from you Beverly and thank you.  I drove through the Gunboat Park neighborhood today.  It's still there but it's seen some heavy wear.  Needs to be rescued and restored.  You can still get a hint of what Tracy Park Addition was like by driving through what remains along the edges of the old neighborhood.  A friend was in town recently and we went by his childhood home site at Boston and Jasper.  I don't even know the name of that neighborhood but it has been torn down.  He said the homes were like Brady Heights.  It was an integrated neighborhood that sat on the north side of downtown.

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

Good to hear from you Beverly and thank you.  I drove through the Gunboat Park neighborhood today.  It's still there but it's seen some heavy wear.  Needs to be rescued and restored.  You can still get a hint of what Tracy Park Addition was like by driving through what remains along the edges of the old neighborhood.  A friend was in town recently and we went by his childhood home site at Boston and Jasper.  I don't even know the name of that neighborhood but it has been torn down.  He said the homes were like Brady Heights.  It was an integrated neighborhood that sat on the north side of downtown.

Sorry to say, it had become a favorite haunt of drug dealers, prostitution and crime. Too close to downtown so it was razed. Some of the foundations were still visible for many years.

[Wingnut]

I very much enjoy reading the posts about old neighborhoods in Tulsa, but I don't know where a lot of them are. I've been wondering for a while if there is a website, map or other information that shows the name and boundries of the neighborhoods in Tulsa. Anybody know of such a thing?

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by Wingnut

I very much enjoy reading the posts about old neighborhoods in Tulsa, but I don't know where a lot of them are. I've been wondering for a while if there is a website, map or other information that shows the name and boundries of the neighborhoods in Tulsa. Anybody know of such a thing?

That would be helpful, but I'm not aware of one online.

The neighborhood under discussion was between 13th and 15th Streets, Boston and Peoria Avenues. Not much left of it, sadly.

The near northside neighborhood that Hometown mentions was razed specifically to meet the city's commitment to UCAT / Rogers U. / OSU-Tulsa for a 200 acre campus. The homes there were of the same era and construction quality as Brady Heights and North Maple Ridge, mainly two stories with detached garages. You can still see many stoops, sidewalks, and driveways. On Flickr, I came across a photo of one of those remaining stoops -- the person who took the photo mistook it for a ruin from 1921.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by Wingnut

I very much enjoy reading the posts about old neighborhoods in Tulsa, but I don't know where a lot of them are. I've been wondering for a while if there is a website, map or other information that shows the name and boundries of the neighborhoods in Tulsa. Anybody know of such a thing?

You can look at the edition names here:
http://www.assessor.tulsacounty.org/tca_maps_county.htm

[Hometown]

Wingnut, I found a fascinating selection of old Tulsa maps in the research department of the main Tulsa Library.  There was one from 1917 that was particularly clear and helpful.

You can enter Gunboat Park at 13th & Frankfort, drive towards 11th on Frankfort then return to 13th on Elgin.  The streets are laid out in the shape of a Gun Boat.  I believe that was done to honor World War I vets.  Waterboy would know for sure.

The remnants of Tracy Park Addition can be found immediately behind Tracy Park.  Tracy Park is at 11th and Peoria.  The big old Modern home immediately adjacent to the Park was the home of Ida R. (need help with last name), the former Central High School art teacher that designed Boston Avenue Methodist Church along with her student – famed architect Bruce Goff.

Even though the neighborhood at Boston and Jasper has been demolished, you can see a similar neighborhood on the north side of downtown by driving north on Denver from downtown.  The Brady Heights' mansions stop before Pine but there are lovely Craftsman homes all the way up Denver to Pine.  Brady Heights was Tulsa's First Neighborhood and now home to a handful of young urban pioneer families.

If I didn't have to work for a living I would spend some time creating driving tours of old Tulsa neighborhoods.  I can picture a brochure with a map and photographs to guide you through the old neighborhoods.  Someone please tell the visitor's bureau Hometown is available.

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

Wingnut, I found a fascinating selection of old Tulsa maps in the research department of the main Tulsa Library.  There was one from 1917 that was particularly clear and helpful.

You can enter Gunboat Park at 13th & Frankfort, drive towards 11th on Frankfort then return to 13th on Elgin.  The streets are laid out in the shape of a Gun Boat.  I believe that was done to honor World War I vets.  Waterboy would know for sure.

The remnants of Tracy Park Addition can be found immediately behind Tracy Park.  Tracy Park is at 11th and Peoria.  The big old Modern home immediately adjacent to the Park was the home of Ida R. (need help with last name), the former Central High School art teacher that designed Boston Avenue Methodist Church along with her student – famed architect Bruce Goff.

Even though the neighborhood at Boston and Jasper has been demolished, you can see a similar neighborhood on the north side of downtown by driving north on Denver from downtown.  The Brady Heights' mansions stop before Pine but there are lovely Craftsman homes all the way up Denver to Pine.  Brady Heights was Tulsa's First Neighborhood and now home to a handful of young urban pioneer families.

If I didn't have to work for a living I would spend some time creating driving tours of old Tulsa neighborhoods.  I can picture a brochure with a map and photographs to guide you through the old neighborhoods.  Someone please tell the visitor's bureau Hometown is available.

Adah Robinson was the name of the architect, and that is her home on the southeast corner of 11th Place and Owasso Avenue.

Driving tours of old neighborhoods is a great idea.

[beverlyw58]

I love Adah Robinson's home!  I admire it every time I drive down 11th Street.  After recently reading a wonderful book about her, I learned of another of her Tulsa homes on 26th Street.  She lived in that (26th St.) one later in her life.
Didn't Jennifer Jones (Phyllis Isley) live around 12th and Owasso at one time?    I know she later lived in a home close to Lee Elementary.
We're going to drive through some of the old neighborhoods that have been mentioned on here this weekend.  We've heard that this is the last week for the flea market to be in the current building at the fairgrounds.  Someone told me that they plan to tear that old building down.  I have to go say good bye to it tomorrow.  I'm still so mad about Bell's.
Thank you again for all of the great information on this site!  I love it!
BeverlyW58@hotmail.com

[beverlyw58]

Speaking of driving tours of old neighborhoods, a few years ago there was something called the "Tulsa Walk."  It had various routes to take according to how far you wanted to walk.  I absolutely loved it and kept the information.  I remember the route we chose took us around Swan Lake and told so many interesting pieces of information about the homes.  The walks all started on Cherry Street.
Do anyone know if this still goes on?  If it does, I haven't heard about it in a few years.
Beverly

[Wingnut]

SGrizzle,
Thank you for the link! That is just what I was looking for.

MB & Hometown, Thank you for the information on the neighborhoods. Gunboat Park sounds facinating! I'm going to go check that out first chance I get.

I have also thought about a driving map of the cool neighborhoods around town. When we have out-of-towners in for a visit, we pil them into the van and go drive around showing them the neat old houses and such. Of course, I drive. I do it as much for me as them!
To reinvent the wheel, I would love to do a photo book of art-deco stuff around Tulsa.

Something neat I saw years ago...When I worked as a courier delivering stuff downtown I noticed Sooner Federal Savings on Boston had a set of doors on the building that must have been 8-10 feet high with a rough texture on them. I took a good close look at them one day and it was actually a hugh, raised relief map of Tulsa with the river, tall buildings, roads and such. I thought it was the coolest thing I had seen in a while. Since it's not Sooner anymore, I wounder what happened to those doors since it's been remodeled. It seems that they should be in the historical society or something. I believe there were 2 set of them. Anyone know their whereabouts??