Report for Greenwood District, Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma

From the Abstract: "...Preservation and Design Studio staff conducted the study to locate, identify, and document resources within a designated area that are associated historically with the reconstruction of Greenwood after the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Resource types under investigation included commercial buildings, churches, schools, and residences constructed prior to or during the recovery period and associated with late-20th-century/early-21st-century urban redevelopment, including office and apartment buildings, single-family dwellings, the Oklahoma State University-Tulsa (OSU-Tulsa) and Langston University-Tulsa branch campuses, and a minor league baseball park known as ONEOK Field. Interstate 244 (Crosstown Expressway) and U.S. Highway 75 (Cherokee Expressway) are also prominent in the study area. This study includes two basic components historical research and fieldwork. Due to the closure of many public facilities because of the COVID-19 pandemic, research relied almost exclusively on digital resources. The Tulsa City-County Library's '1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Materials' includes numerous digital sources. Historic Sanborn maps were accessed via the Metropolitan Public Library in Oklahoma City. Digital copies of the Tulsa city directories dated 1922-1935 were available through Ancestry.com. Sufficient historical research was performed to prepare a brief historic context on the reconstruction of Greenwood following the race massacre. Fieldwork conducted on April 16-17, 2020, covered over 550 acres of commercial and residential development within a 4-mile perimeter to the north and east of Tulsa's central business district. This study was bound roughly by East Pine Street (north), North Lansing Avenue (east), the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad tracks (south), and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (west). ...In all, approximately 460 individual resources were surveyed. Of this total, three (3) buildings are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and eight (8) are contributing resources to the Brady Historic District. Ten (10) buildings located on the 100-block North Greenwood Avenue are eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places as a commercial historic district. Two (2) buildings in proximity require additional documentation for potential inclusion in the district, and one (1) building in proximity is individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. One (1) contributing resource and one (1) noncontributing resource in the Brady Historic District were found to have an historic association with Greenwood. One (1) contributing resource in the Brady Historic District requires additional documentation to discern an historic association with Greenwood. One (1) contributing resource and one (1) noncontributing resource in the Brady Historic District are no longer extant. It is recommended that the Brady Historic District nomination be revised and the district boundaries be potentially expanded to better incorporate the area's historic association with Greenwood. ...This study will assist the city in future preservation planning endeavors concerning Greenwood. It is anticipated that the materials included with this study will facilitate community efforts on behalf of current and future historic preservation initiatives in the area. Additionally, this report will assist decision-making processes pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966, as amended." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office, Oklahoma Historical Society, administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P19AF00201).

Report for Greenwood District, Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma

Collections