Thursday, January 08, 2009
Lost Bartlesville
It's been over 5 years now that I've been commuting to/from Bartlesville for my job. Although I prefer to live in Tulsa, I am quite fascinated with Bartlesville's history and structures. I finally got out and took some new photos of the places that interest me the most. With the new pics added to old photos I've been holding onto, I realized that I've got a pretty huge collection of Bartlesville-related stuff. So, breaking from the strictly Tulsa-centered sets, I present Lost Bartlesville [flickr].
Bartlesville in many ways mirrored Tulsa's growth in the 20th century, with a large oil-driven surge early in the century, then explosive growth after WWII. They managed to keep many of their downtown structures preserved from a fate as surface parking. There are many excellent examples of varied architectural styles, including some wonderful art deco and mid-century buildings.
Some items of interest in this set:
Downtown Bartlesville with all of it's great brickwork, fading advertisements and fire escapes. Top photo: May Brothers Apparel is going out of business after almost 100 years of service to the area.
Murphy's Steak House Neon Sign - If you're going to hurt yourself, you have to do it right with a wonderfully decadent Hot Hamburger!
Frontier Pool - A 1969 two pool former Olympic platform diving tryout location (10m). It's now being torn out to be replaced by a splash pad park.
Travelers Motel - Fantastically preserved mid-century neon sign.
Bartlesville Downtown Tunnels - Follow the tunnel network beneath downtown Bartlesville.
Hotel Phillips - 1950 luxury hotel threatened by new modern facilities opening in Bartlesville.
These and much more are in the Lost Bartlesville photoset for your browsing pleasure. For those of you who don't care about Bartlesville will just have to wait a bit longer for a new Tulsa entry.
Thanks for all the kind words and excellent memories in your e-mails and comments. Please keep them coming. It's your recollections of these places that bring these inanimate buildings to life.
Labels: Bartlesville
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I missed seeing this until now. Thanks for posting it. I lived in Bartlesville from 1965-69 and all my earliest childhood memories are there.
120 N. Seneca St. was the location of the Sanipool, a public swimming pool. It gets a mention in the 1940 Federal Writers Project guide for Oklahoma, and we swam there in the late '60s. Last time I checked, the steps up from the street to the pool (the deck was several feet above street level) were still there.
A blog about Bruce Goff's work in Bartlesville has 1974 photos of the Playtower at Sooner Park and the Mobius Strip climbing apparatus that used to be at its base.
Mom taught at Limestone School, US 75 at Nowata Rd. It was torn down within the last year.
On US 75, a few miles south of Nowata Road, there used to be a billboard for the Sooner Motel with a picture of a covered wagon and these directions: "Forge ahead four miles."
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120 N. Seneca St. was the location of the Sanipool, a public swimming pool. It gets a mention in the 1940 Federal Writers Project guide for Oklahoma, and we swam there in the late '60s. Last time I checked, the steps up from the street to the pool (the deck was several feet above street level) were still there.
A blog about Bruce Goff's work in Bartlesville has 1974 photos of the Playtower at Sooner Park and the Mobius Strip climbing apparatus that used to be at its base.
Mom taught at Limestone School, US 75 at Nowata Rd. It was torn down within the last year.
On US 75, a few miles south of Nowata Road, there used to be a billboard for the Sooner Motel with a picture of a covered wagon and these directions: "Forge ahead four miles."
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