Tulsa,
it takes you in – it is a city that surprises visitors with a feeling that
is Southern, Eastern and Western all at once. Experience its cosmopolitan
flavor, and be delighted in its small-town friendliness. Big enough to
have everything, but small enough to make everyone feel right at home.
In Tulsa, visitors find everything from cowboys and classical ballet to art
deco and arena football, rodeos, religion and rolling hills. A visit to
Tulsa is a great opportunity to experience a delightful mix of rich culture,
colorful history, terrific shopping, and lively nightlife.
If
art is of interest, explore some of Tulsa’s nationally recognized museums
such as the Gilcrease, which contains one of the world’s largest and most
comprehensive collections of fine art, artifacts, and archives of the
American West. Or stroll through an Italian-style villa that was once home
to a millionaire oilman and is now the renowned Philbrook Museum, filled
with Italian renaissance art, ancient and classical pieces, and extensive
Native American collections.
When the sun goes down in Tulsa, the city lights up with virtually any
activity the visitor could image. Whether it’s a night at the opera, or a
visit to one or more of the trendy bars of Brookside and the Brady District,
there’s something for everyone. Get lucky at bingo or the horse
races, laugh it up at a comedy club, cheer on a ball team, ride a roller
coaster, feast at a four-star restaurant, or get messy at a barbecue joint.
The choices are endless, and whatever the choice, the result is an
experience to remember.
What gives Tulsa its distinctive flavor? Its distinctive mix of true
southern charm, eastern elegance, and western flair. The
city’s unique history plays a major role. Some of our native American
ancestors, forced in the 1800s along a “trail of tears” from the
southeastern United States to what is now eastern Oklahoma, brought Southern
traditions along with their native culture. Visit the Creek Council
Oak Tree, Tulsa’s birthplace, which still lives as a symbol of the
settlers’ strong spirit. Under the tree, in 1836, the Lochapoka Creek
Indians kindled a ceremonial fire using live coals they had carried from
their Alabama homeland. It was there that they gathered to start a new life
and to establish Tulsee Town.
African-Americans also brought Southern culture when they came to Tulsa to
start new lives. Oklahoma was one of the first places in which they had a
fair shot at the American dream. Land runs and freedmen allotments offered
blacks the opportunity to quickly become land owners, farmers and
businessmen. Tulsa’s Greenwood became known as the “Black Wall
Street,” with shops bustling by day and clubs wailing blues and jazz by
night. In 1921, Greenwood was also the site of one of the most infamous race
riots in American history. Today, the Greenwood Cultural Center, Oklahoma
Jazz Hall of Fame, and the Mabel B. Little Heritage Center attest to the
history of the district. Two major music festivals: Juneteenth on
Greenwood and the Greenwood Jazz Festival in August fill the streets with
food, people and soul.
Tulsa’s
Western style was born when early settlers discovered that the city sat in
some of the best cow country in the land. Many quickly became ranchers, and
some of their descendants today are still working cowboys who actually have
a reason to wear chaps and cowboy boots. Just north of Tulsa at the
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, the buffalo still roam and visitors can look
across the vast land and imagine being back in the Wild, Wild West.
In the early 1900s, the discovery of oil, and the dreams of those who came
in search of it, fueled Tulsa. Many of the risk-takers—with names like
Rockefeller, Skelly and Getty—came from places such as New York,
Pennsylvania and Connecticut. They brought Eastern elegance and a taste of
culture and refinement. Oil brought the wealth that turned Tulsa from a cow
town to a cosmopolitan city with luxurious homes, extravagant hotels, and an
appreciation for the arts.
Tulsa continues to grow and position itself as a “City For the Future”.
Today, T-Town stands for Technology Town. The rusting old pipelines Tulsa
pioneers built to take their black gold across the country now carry
fiber-optic cable and transport data to fuel the Information Age.
Tulsa takes great pride in keeping itself clean and beautiful.
Visitors will be impressed by its graceful, green, tree-lined neighborhoods.
It’s fun to drive through the historic areas and look at the vintage oil
barons’ mansions and dream of what it would be like to live there. It is
the best time ever to visit Tulsa! Enjoy the clean air and
beautiful city on the River Parks Trail, or get wild at the Tulsa Zoo. Hug a
tree at the Oxley Nature Center or follow local tradition and kiss your
sweetheart on the bridge at Woodward Park.
Wherever visitors go in Tulsa, it is sure to be a pleasant experience and
one that won’t soon be forgotten. And, as the folks of Tulsa say,
“We do take kindly to strangers here, and people don’t stay strangers
for very long.”
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