Turley and McLain Area Far
North Tulsa Tour GuideBook 2014
Sponsored by A Third
Place Community Foundation
This tour covers much
of our two mile service area and is part of old Turley area, now both city of
Tulsa and unincorporated areas. We call it McLain/Turley area or as the
planners do, Far North.
1.
Turley/Cherokee School Begin Tour
Note: Some of the oldest places
connected to Turley won’t be on this tour due to their relative remoteness:
some of the early business and residences by Bird Creek and Bird Creek Falls,
which was a kind of park and resort and camping area, on 86th St.
west before you come to Highway 75. Tornadoes on that road also known as
Cyclone Road shifted the focus of the town to the new area near the train
tracks. On 76th St. west of Peoria in areas of trees now at the flat
land at bottom of Turley Hill was an early trading post site after the Cherokee
Removal in the 1830s. Also along Delaware Creek east of Victor Ave. in late
1800s was another trading post. And on the south side of Turley Hill is the
Turley Runestone markings.
Much has been left out we know; we
trust that the “Turley elders” will fill in gaps, bring their own stories of
what used to be where.
Turley School district from around
the time of statehood; boundaries went south up to Apache toward downtown;
Turley Schools closed and the area merged with Tulsa Schools in mid-1930s; at
that time the high school closed and students went to Central; junior high and
below stayed at Cherokee which was the name picked by students in a vote
between Cherokee and Wiley Post (Post later became the name of the nearest
other elementary school, on 54th St. west of Peoria). The junior
high remained until 1966 and it closed and students went to Monroe or Gilcrease
Junior Highs. At that time Morse Elementary School in Turley north of Cherokee
on Victor Ave. also was closed and students came to Cherokee. At some point
after that the sixth grade was shifted to Gilcrease and Cherokee became PK-5
until it was closed in 2011.
Since it closed we have been working
to attract other nonprofits to come in and help us provide a center for healthy
living as the school system has indicated a willingness to sell it to us way
below market value, but we have been unable to attract others. Right now The
Lighthouse Academy, a Tulsa Public School charter school in the former Greeley
Elementary School at 63rd St. N. and MLK Jr. Blvd is considering
expanding as it grows and might use Cherokee for its mid-high and high school
grades and has begun talks with TPS on that. When we held community forums
after the closing of Cherokee, residents said bringing in a charter school
would be their top preference other than reopening Cherokee. We have talked
with Lighthouse about re-installing the local historical display in the school
building if they get to use it; this might also make it much easier to resume
the Cherokee School Reunions.
In meantime, we still have some
landscape beautifying the grounds, a remnant of our landscape project for
Cherokee; we decorate the Memorial Arch and the Evergreen Tree by it for
Christmas or Other Holiday Seasons.
2.
Old Downtown Area
Immediately adjacent on all sides of
the School property were located a mixture of homes and businesses. Appliance
and general stores, gas station and domino parlor, pharmacies, doctors offices,
and the Grotto Movie Theater, and more. Along 60th St. (old
Commerical Street) from Peoria/Highway 11 to the Midland Valley train tracks
(where depot was located) was the old downtown; stores, hotel, lumber yard, the
post office, churches, grocery stores, and residences and more. The train was
passenger then freight and then was changed to the current Osage Prairie Trail
connecting downtown Tulsa north out to Avant. We are currently working with
Tulsa cyclist organizations and area transportation planners to have a Trail
Appreciation and Awareness Day to provide hospitality to those who use it and
to raise up the issues of security and safety along it. We also hope to get a
grant or county funds to allow us to create community kiosks at Trail
intersections to provide “Where You Are” type information on the surrounding
areas, sites, and businesses. The vacant land where the old downtown buildings
were would make a good “pop-up” street event site to show potential investors.
Beautification efforts along the Trail could be reinstituted by our “guerilla
gardeners.”
3.
Drive North Peoria from Cherokee to
the Daylight Donuts Store at 74th by the north Welcome to Turley
Sign then turn and drive south to 46th St. to Generation of Destiny
Parking Lot.
The Stretch between 46th
and 66th St. along North Peoria (where the city bus service ends)
has been envisioned by us as a Far North Main Street Project since it is almost
entirely commercial and educational now. Imagine a Sign at Both Ends signaling
Far North Main Street, with redbuds and planters and sidewalks and street
lights providing beauty and safe transportation and incentives for private and
public investment, and with it monies for current businesses to be a part of
the beautification and promotion. Notice
the current lack of sidewalks in many places that especially in wet weather
forces some people especially in motorized scooters into Peoria Ave. You just
have to come back at night to see the effects of few street lights.
To the north from Cherokee:
Highlights on the east side include the old Britton Feed Store and where
Dutch’s Pawn Shop is now the former Turley Volunteer Fire Dept. building
erected in 1949. The old Cullison’s grocery store now used for storage; the
current Cullison’s Hardware Store, our oldest continually operating business,
family owned independent hardware store where John Miller’s Truck Equipment
used to be; the Assembly of God church site; a vacant building just north of it
was the Wynn’s Grocery Store and was our first site for The Welcome Table
church which began the A Third Place Community Foundation and projects; the 24
hour Maverick gas station which used to be Gibble Gas; the former Smokey’s
Hondas buildings, current Shorty’s Restaurant; where the Freedom Bank (formerly
the First National Bank of Turley) is located was the site of a sawmill and had
been the flower sanctuary planted by local gardener Claud Cox. The intersection
of 66th and Peoria on the east where the meridians are used to have
a large billboard advertising Coors Beer. On north on the east side were
residences, and a few businesses such as where Butler’s BBQ is now located
where the original Lions Club building was (lions still on the roof; and the
flag pole is dedicated to Lions leader Ray Perkins who was a Turley business
owner) and the Star Café where you can still see the Star sign saying Eat (we
would love to get it and the old funeral home sign for a Turley Historical
Section at our GardenPark and Orchard) and where the donut store is was also a
bar, and then convenience store. Just off Peoria on 71st is the
First Baptist of Turley (formerly Golden Hills Baptist).
Going back south on Peoria on the
west side: where the auto salvages now are located was the former Rainbow
Skating Rink, and a large Tomato farm and residence. Nearer to 66th
St. is where the old drive in joint was located, Blackburn’s, Red’s, Sonic,
Shorty’s, then King Taco Palace. On the northwest corner was the Smith’s
Grocery Store and original bank site, then a bookbinder, and then the building
burned and later was demolished. Going on south across from current bank area
was a laundramat (an older one in a building now torn down), in the strip mall
now abandoned was a western wear store, and video store, and then church, and
after several years empty was the site of our first Third Place Community
Center and OU Health Clinic; it was a funeral home and flower shop after us
before they left; also it is where the Post Office was located before it was
closed. Near it was a Chiropractic Center and Church. We are still interested
in applying to bring in a Village Post Office, a partnership between a local
business and organization and the USPS; drop boxes remain at the postal site
but no services otherwise…The abandoned Turley Restaurant is site of long time
restaurants and gathering place; there were mobile homes located behind it that
had been abandoned but they have been removed…The current fire department
building is next. We are working with the Fire Dept. to create a public Fire
District Board to allow property taxes to fund the department instead of the
unpredictability of membership dues, especially as the community becomes more
mobile; the election for that would be the first official Turley only election
of any kind since perhaps the election of the old school board. To the south of
it is an old body shop that has deteriorated and until recently was open for
several years with dangerous glass shards; it is one of the main sites we have
been pushing to get cleaned up as part of the Health Dept. Environmental
Quality division’s Turley Project on property nuisances….Warehouse Market and
area was a pasture for many years; across the creek where the used appliance
outside store is now used to be Sawyer’s Pharmacy; we have been pushing for its
cleanup; when the appliances are removed each night and on Sunday the area in
front is full of junk. To the south before you reach the Turley Water Dept. is
the hair salon and also used by Nation of Islam study group on Sundays and some
evenings. The Turley Water Dept. is one of our oldest organizations; a private
nonprofit that buys water from City of Tulsa and administers the lines in this
area; all sewer line service is with the City of Tulsa even in the county
areas; other areas use septic systems.
South of the old downtown going up
the hill on Peoria: Ruby D’s wonderful consignment shop, the turley tag agency,
other shops, automotive repair places you will see dominating now all up and
down Peoria along this two mile stretch (reflects poverty areas, and the effect
of poor public transportation). Near the top of the hill on the west was the
site of the old Ninde Funeral Home; the clock sign from it is still located
next to old firework stands; we would love to get the sign for a Turley
Historical Section at the park, along with the Eat Sign at the old Star Café.
On the east side of the hill was Bussman’s Corner, and residences. It is where
the renovation is going on for the Welcome To Turley Sign and our planting bed
for it thanks to grant from Keep Oklahoma Beautiful.
Off of Peoria not on the tour: two
blocks east on Quincy is the Turley Odd Fellows Lodge, our remaining civic
lodge.
Crossing over to city side of Peoria: on the east where old
pawn shop was the site of an early department store, Suttle’s Variety. The
Kingdom church building was originally Northside Christian (disciples of
Christ). The Plaza Center is the former McLain Village Shopping Center that was
full of many department stores and specialty shops; finally under new ownership
after years of abandonment it is being fixed up and put into more use and has
much potential; it is the site also of one of the weekly Mobile Grocery stops;
Sweet Lisa’s has a carryout restaurant; it is the site of our only liquor
store. To the north and west of it is the former Wiley Post School which was
then the YWCA and Tulsa Health Dept. building and now is the site of a youth
activities and educational outreach center EduRec sponsored by World Won Church
on 36th St. near N. Peoria….In the residential area to the east, on
53rd St. before you get to Utica is the site of one of our partners,
Sarah’s Residential Living Center, a small intimate group home for seniors;
they are hoping to repurpose some of the many abandoned houses on that street
(I believe 13 just from Peoria to Utica on the one street alone) for group home
support. To the north of McLain is the Northridge Shopping Center that once was
full and had a twin cinema. Across from McLain are several businesses; there
used to be a series of cafes often frequented by students, and the McLain Music
Shop, and a recently torn down abandoned Wilshire Bar that was open for years.
There was also for a while a place where trampolines were stretched over holes
dug in the ground and kids paid to jump….To the south of McLain on the east
side was the longtime Meeks Furniture Store and at the corner on 46th
St. there was a grocery store where the abandoned Generation of Destiny
building is now located. Just around on 46th St. to the east was the
site of St. Jude’s Catholic Church where the radical priest Father Dan Allen
began Neighbor For Neighbor northside renewal organization, one of our role
models, currently located on 36th Street in the old Northland
Shopping Center.
McLain High School was opened in 1959
serving far north Tulsa. For a while in the late 90s early 2000s it was called
Tulsa School of Science and Technology. The mascot was changed from Scots to
Titans. About 10 years ago or so it was renamed McLain but the mascot remained
Titans. At homecoming you will see many wearing both Scots and Titans. We are
on and helped start the McLain Alumni and Community Foundation a few years ago.
We help with a variety of connections and support areas, helped get uniforms,
helped get the McLain Greenhouse, work on homecoming which will be Friday Oct.
10 this year, and the Annual Taste of North Tulsa major free dinner from local
restaurants and community fair this year Thurs. Oct. 16, and have helped send
students on flights with American Airlines partners to learn about aviation
careers, and help out in many briefer ways and are a conduit for people seeking
to support the school financially; McLain was the last high school in the
district to begin a community and alumni foundation. It began as a 9th
grade to 12th grade,then went to 7th grade to 12th
grade for one year and then the 7th grade got its own building (see
next tour section) and it is now 8th to 12th grade. East
of McLain is Northridge Addition and Berry Park and Pool; Berry used to have
ball diamond; across from it was a YMCA; on 48th east of Berry Park
is Monroe School. It was originally 7th to 9th grade then
closed; then used as both site for Margaret Hudson School for pregnant unwed
girls and women and the Tulsa Schools Adult Education Program with classes for
the GED test (all now moved away or shut down); now it is the site of two
programs: a PK up adding a grade each year Spanish and English dual immersion
school where all classes are taught in both languages, and a 6th to
8th grade Demonstration school using different teaching methods and
space arrangements. East of Monroe is Penn Elementary School, one of the two
remaining traditional public elementary schools serving our area (where there
used to be eight Cherokee, Morse, Greeley, Houston, Alcott, Penn, Post, Lindsey).At
the corner of 46th and Lewis is a major spot in our area, the 24
hour Quick Trip store.
4.
west on 46th St. to MLK
Blvd.
On the south side before the Trail
was where the Bud’s A&W Stand was; also on the south side is the Zion Plaza
that used to be Suburban Acres Shopping Center full of department and variety
stores. On the north is the Suburban Acres Library. West of it is the former
Alcott Elementary School closed in 2011 and reopened later as McLain 7th
Grade Center. To the north is the Valley View subdivision, and Chamberlain
Recreation Center (recently threatened with loss of staff; site of many old
Teen Dances and basketball leagues) and pool and Dickinson Park; Valley View
also had its own private neighborhood swimming pool that for many years was
fenced and overgrown. At the corner of 46th or Dan Allen Blvd. and
MLK Jr. Blvd is one of the remaining old burger stands The Freeze, used to be
Tastee Freeze.
5.
north to 56th St. Stop at
new Health Dept.
To the west between MLK Blvd. (old
Cincinnati Ave.; still Cincinnati Ave. south of Archer) and the Osage County
Drive/Line is Carriage Hills addition. The former Houston Elementary School is
now Bunche Early Childhood Development Center, early and PK and Kindegarden.
Gilcrease School is now First Grade to Sixth Grade and is the traditional
school that receives all the students from the former Cherokee, Morse, Greeley,
Post school areas….The new Health Dept
North Regional Wellness Center diagonal from Gilcrease and across from the
abandoned for several years now half built church building is a multi million
dollar public investment on the unincorporated side in the county serving all
of northside. It is one of our major partners. For the community it has a
community play area, and community garden, and walking trail that was built
back as it existed on its own on the site before the building. Inside it has
many programs for health needs and a Community Multi Purpose Rooms for meetings
and events. It also houses the OSU Physicians Clinic. On Sat. Oct. 11 from 12
to 3 pm there will be the major annual community event, FoodGloriousFood with
booths and fun events and this year art cars and more stressing healthy food
and living resources. We are a part of the Community Advisory Board for the
Health Dept. and Rev. Ron was privileged to be asked to give the benediction at
the opening of the building in 2012, a year after our OU Health Clinic
closed…If we were to go back east on 56th Street you would see the
City of Tulsa Fire Dept. and the entrance to Suburban Hills addition, inside
the city limits north to 61st St.; and the convenience store called
Turley Food Mart on the south side of the street. By the intersection of 56th
and the Osage Prairie Trail there is a fishing lake created by flood management
of the creek that runs from Delaware Creek past Cherokee School and our
community center and to the lake.
6.
Drive to 66th St.
Note on your right at 61st
St. the Turley Residential Center which used to be called the Turley
Correctional Center; it is a private correctional facility contracted to the
state dept. of corrections as a women’s only pre-release center. It has
facilities the community can book to use such as meeting space. Its creation
back in the 1980s sparked the creation of the Turley Community Association
opposing its opening and the drive that never materialized for Turley incorporation.
Across from it is a run down abandoned off and on small commercial area where
convenience store was. On the west is the entrance to the Northgate Addition
and city of Tulsa property, and on the corner is the former Greeley School now
The Lighthouse Academy Charter School, a public charter school sponsored by
TPS; when it opened when Greeley was closed, 75 percent of the students at
Greeley remained in it. It currently has 377 students from PK to sixth grade,
and is adding a grade each year; it has 344 students on a waiting list; it has
an arts-focused curriculum, and receives private corporation support as well as
it is part of a national organization. North of Lighthouse is the City’s Vining
Park.
In Northgate Addition, in the
Suburban Hills addition east of MLK Jr. Blvd and north of 56th St,
also in the city, and in a few other housing additions in our service area
there are 34 scattered housing sites owned by the Community Action Program in
Tulsa (14 being rented; 20 sitting vacant); we are hoping this year to buy
those from them to be able to manage and put back into use in a variety of
ways, and are awaiting IRS rulings on the possibilities. It would become one of
our next major community renewal projects for the Foundation.
7.
east to Lewis Ave. with a detour on
North Victor to roundup club and old community center
We go up into Turley Hill on the
south side (this is both a scenic area and popular illegal dumping site at
times). On top of the hill has become a concrete and construction dump site; to
the west are acreages and several nice homes on OakCliff Drive. Up on the hill
near where the runestone is located (in an area you have to walk through woods
to get to) was once a bar that is now in ruins. There is no water utility
service to the hill. East of Peoria on the south side are businesses churches
and residences and where the former Steve’s Burgers and gas station were
located in the rundown burned out building there for years now.
On Victor north of 66th
St. we come to the Turley Round Up Club Rodeo Grounds where rodeos are held
several times during the year. Next to it is a dilapidated building that used
to be the Turley Community Center. Up to about ten years ago it was still used
off and on for dances then was condemned and closed. The Roundup Club has
announced it is hoping to raise funds to tear down and build a new community
center on the site. Just north of it on vacant land where an oil pumper now
operates were little league ball fields…back on 66th St. on the north
side east of Victor is the Chapel Hill Funeral Home where the former private
church school and church Cornerstone was located; another prerelease center was
trying to come into that space but after resident protests was denied; the
funeral home also owns the Chapel Hill cemetery, predominantly African American
historical cemetery on 66th St. just east of Highway 75 and across
from the site of the former Tulsa Speedway….On Highway 75 itself at both the 66th
and 56th St. exits we had a matching grant (cost us $500) to put in
Roadside Wildflowers to beautify the entrances to our community from the
highway, but the state highway department messed up the planting and then
stopped the program called Color Oklahoma right after that, and though the
signs remain and though we have tried to continue to “seed bomb” the area, the
mowing practices work against the roadside beauty.
We turn, however, at the corner of 66th
and N. Lewis is an intersection with a lot of traffic coming in and out of the
community, and two large medians that for years were neglected, overgrown,
trash strewn and then mowed and poisoned; we have taken them over unofficially
and have maintained and begun planting and have the vision working toward of a
beautiful low maintenance native plant wildflower plots and a nice low welcome
to turley sign. There used to also be a bus stop at the location but it has
been eliminated.
8.
South to O’Brien Park.
Formerly Northside Park, a county
governmental agency, it is now split between activities used by local area
residents such as few remaining shelters, the recreation center and community
pool and outside walking tour and fitness facility. Most of the Turley
Community Association meetings are held in the Center. We partner with the park
to promote activities such as the recent well attended Puppy Palooza to help
promote animal welfare, and the Easter Egg events and fall festivities and summer
day camp. The Center is home to a local wheelchair basketball team. Many of its
ball field facilities are used by groups from outside the area but there has
been a local youth baseball and softball and current basketball league formed
as there used to be. Also a golf course used by McLain golfers as well as
others. A current political effort is underway to look at options of combining
city and county park departments. A Third Place received both state and
regional awards from the Parks and Recreation Societies for our Welcome Table
GardenPark creation.
9.
West on 61st St. to stop
at Welcome Table GardenPark.
Across from O’Brien on the west is
the mobile home park in our area; we have been working with residents on safety
concerns during tornadic weather since there is no storm shelter in our area
and often those ill or disabled or without transportation don’t have same
options living in a mobile home and not often being able to go elsewhere…South
side is the Vann Industrial Park area, now called GreenPark to encourage
businesses to promote ecological construction and resources; it purchases land
and then gives free to companies to build on if they will commit to hiring a
certain number of employees (though often those employees don’t live in this immediate
area). The presence of the companies there was very beneficial during the
August 2011 wildfires when they used their equipment to create a fire break to
stop the spread of the fire from destroying even more homes and businesses…Just
west of the Industrial Park on land the park now owns at Utica Ave. used to be
the site of the Turley Veterans of Foreign Wars building and grounds where
turkey shoots were held even after the building was torn down after the VFW
closed and merged about five years ago. We would also like to get that sign to
include in our Turley historical sign section at the gardenpark…If we were to
go up the hill, Boyer Hill, on Utica toward 56th St. we would see
another scenic drive and spot and also a frequent spot for illegal dumping.
We go back to 60th and up
from Cherokee west to the curve at the top of the hill and arrive at our own
Welcome Table GardenPark and Orchard where we will get out for a tour and more
information on its history and current projects, site of the former Leo Beeler
property. To the east you will see still more of the overgrown and burned out
property; to the west there is the unofficial trail made by residents pushing
shopping carts back and forth from the Suburban Hills addition to Warehouse
Market and other stores on Peoria. We are pushing for county funds to clear out
the fire hazard growth of red cedar trees along the trail and across from our
park, and we are working toward getting a better trail with better security on
this county right of way property, and the land that the Methodist church owns
next to it we want to use as a restful native plant preserve for those walking
by with or without their shopping carts loaded down. This is the land across
from the current park where we started our demonstration gardens that helped
lead to the vision for the gardenpark and orchard. At the park you will hear
about our current partnership with an Eagle Scout project to work on a new
Welcome Sign and Welcome Area where we will honor donors and create a hospitable
and accessible space for those with physical disabilities as well; about our
new Kitchen Greenhouse we raised funds for and will be building; still hoping
for funds for an additional hoop house so we can grow year round and teach
cooking and preserving; about our beds, our children’s playhouses of gardening,
the park as site for community parties and food giveaways; our need for another
deck and also a stage and larger chicken coop.
Across you will see the Turley United
Methodist Church, one of our major partners, and the oldest church in the
Turley Area having been founded in 1909 and built the oldest current building,
our own Welcome Table Center site, in 1925.
10.
Finish at Welcome Table Community
Center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave.
Our building was begun as a community
church in a brush arbor on the site in 1909; then in 1910 as a Methodist
Episcopal church there was a wooden frame steepled building; it was moved later
to Sperry to be used as a church and then part of the funeral home; in 1925 the
church finished construction of the brick building. In 1940 it added the office
wing to the north; in 1952 it added the fellowship hall building. In the early
1960s the church moved to the top of the hill, worshipped in Cherokee School
during construction, and Witt Memorial Indian Methodist Church owned the
building until the mid 1980s, being noticeable for their community wild onion
dinners. Then they moved and merged to become part of Tulsa Indian Methodist
Church and Zion Baptist Fellowship bought the building, using it as church and
as child care center until its pastor was murdered in the early 2000s; they
then put efforts into the Zion Plaza on 46th St. where Suburban
Acres had been; on again off again ministry was in the building then was vacant
and used by people trespassing until we purchased it at the beginning of 2011
after much had been vandalized. The downstairs Indian art painted on the walls
themselves by the Indian Methodists remained untouched, however. We have
expanded our free food store program in it now partnering with the Food Bank
and others, our clothing and items store, our art room, our free books library
and meeting space, and we rent to the national religious organization housed
here, the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship and to The Welcome Table
Church which is the church which formed A Third Place Community Foundation in
the first place but as a non faith-based nonprofit now with leaders of many
faiths.
