Tulsa began as a Muskogee (Creek) settlement, and hence our name of “Tulsey”. As White immigrants overtook in population the original Muskogee settlers, we evolved into a small but insignificant cattle town.
The town’s first big break came with the arrival of the railroad. Without the railroad we never could have grown beyond our small town status. Everything that followed in our history was made possible by the railroad.
Its second big break …Tulsa's giant big break… came when oil was discovered in huge quantities in the Glen Pool. Enterprising civic leaders in Tulsa capitalized on the economic opportunities that the oil discovery presented in ways that outpaced other area towns, and as other big fields were developed in Oklahoma in the wake of the Glen Pool discovery we were on our way to becoming the center of the global oil industry, The Oil Capital of the World.
We reached our peak as a petroleum center in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The rise was swift, but by the late 1950’s a slow decline had begin in Tulsa’s oil fortunes. For thirty or forty glorious years we enjoyed a remarkable prosperity as a city, and the experiences and influences of that period continue to culturally mark us today.
Join us in these studies as we look around us for footprints left behind by the forces that created our contemporary culture, and accompany us as we observe today's Tulsa ...and as we seek to project the future and imagine what our "City of Tomorrow" will be.
We look to the past to learn how we came to be city we are today. The influence of our past is felt in our values, character, and culture. Our past is also visible in the iconic architectural landmarks of the city. Our past is still present.
Tulsa was a Creek settlement first, then a cowtown, and then a boomtown. By the end of the 1920s we had become a mature city with an established culture and character that still describes much of who we are.
All of these changes happened quickly. Lots of people from lots of places, creating a new culture, a “Tulsa” culture that was distinctly defining of our own city.
By the late 1930s we were recognized as the Oil Capital of the World, and by the 1950s we began the slow process of transitioning to greater economic diversity. Oil finds in other parts of the country were eclipsing Oklahoma’s role in the industry, and by the 1970s we were clearly entering the modern era of our city’s history: we were settling into a new role, but one still not yet fully defined.
What lessons can we learn from our past?
In the articles in this section we look at factors that contributed to the formation of Tulsa's culture. We also examine how our patters of urban living have changed over the years.
"Flâneur" is a French term, dating back to the 16th or 17th century, referring to the urban wanderer, the city explorer, the aimless walker observing the sights of city life. Walter Benjamin described the flâneur "as the essential figure of the modern urban spectator, an amateur detective and investigator of the city."
It is the spirit of Benjamin's description that we dedicate this section of the Tulsa Studies. The illustrated articles in this section are devoted to things we see happening around us today in Tulsa, however weighty or insignificant things may seem at first glance.
The subject matter of these articles may be anything ...the idea is simply to capture what's happening and what's interesting. The goal is Observation, the activity of looking.
What is found can be surprising, and often full of meaning,
Tulsans have always been travelers. From the original native peoples of the Plains to the settlers who who came in the 20th century, Oklahoma has always been the home of travelers. The petroleum industry added an international dimension to our travels and gave us global connections.
As Tulsans traveled the world representing the oil companies headquartered in Tulsa they experienced new cultures and different ways of life, just as leisure traveleres of our own day do. The experience of travel, and the knowledge gained by travelers, is something we bring home. By what we share of our new knowledge, and by our example, we influence others around us. The influence of travel on us is transmitted to those around us.
This section is dedicated to the little discussed question of how our city is affected by the expereinces of our travelerers and what they bring home. We'll do this primarily by looking at the personal experiences of Rodger Randle, the Center's Director, and by his own example of the transformative character of travel.
Tulsa was changing during these years, but other American cities were changing too. Throughout the country, the automobile was transforming the landscape of cities. The old patterns of how people lived were being replaced by new ones, impacting the nature of community and altering how people related to each other in the new urban geography of car-based living.
The articles in this section of this study are about transformation in Tulsa and how, after decades of changes, we have become the place we are now. Why have we come to be so different from the city we once were? What was the role of the automobile in causing this change? What other factors contributed? These are the questions we will consider in the course of this study.
The method we will follow is simple. Dividing the project into three sections of past, present, and future, we will gather articles that provide observations, facts, and bits of history about Tulsa. You can think of it as a “city tour” that explores Tulsa’s origins, examines current trends, and projects future possibilities.
