OKC Plan, 2000-2020 - City of Oklahoma City

Most Oklahoma City residents know the basics of our city’s history—a quiet railroad station
on the morning of April 22, 1889, a bustling tent city of several thousand by nightfall. We know too
of our city’s dramatic and successful effort to become the capitol city after statehood in 1907. Many
citizens also know of significant properties across the city and the story behind their construction or
demolition. Downtown Oklahoma City also has many wonderful buildings which are representative
of particular historic architectural styles or periods. We have a significant collection of historic
commercial structures and landmark buildings, including the Skirvin Hotel, the First National
Building, the Braniff Building, and the Colcord Building. Oklahoma City has real strengths in
historic preservation in the residential properties found in many of our neighborhoods. Thousands of
homes that were built during the rapid growth of the 1910s and 1920s, still stand today. Large and
small well-constructed houses of masonry and/or wood line many of our city’s streets.
Residential neighborhoods have distinguished themselves as historic districts and are
experiencing their first population growth since the 1950s. Commercial districts such as
Stockyards City, Capitol Hill, and Automobile Alley, guided by Main Street Programs, have
benefited from a significant increase in reinvestment due largely to the practices of historic
preservation as implemented by local design review bodies. The map on the facing page shows
existing and potential historic districts in Oklahoma City.
The value of historic buildings has been recognized and appreciated during the planning and
construction of the Metropolitan Area Projects, several of which are based in historic districts or
centered around historic buildings. The cultural community has also demonstrated the value of
adaptive use by renovating the historic Center Theatre as the centerpiece of its new art museum.
And all around the Murrah Memorial, historic structures have been rehabilitated using federal design
guidelines.
Historic preservation is about educating a property owner on the appropriate solutions for
repairing intact historic fabric and altering his/her building to accommodate the modern function.
Historic preservation is used as a tool for the revitalization of Oklahoma City’s older districts.
Additionally, historic preservation is about teaching our children about their heritage. Like most
disciplines, preservation practice has matured. Initially, towns like Williamsburg were frozen in
time or reconstructed for educational purposes to offer a setting in which visitors could imagine
living in another place and time without any visual reference to modern life. The National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, legislated programs for preserving our heritage and defined a
new direction based on the idea that historic places enrich our quality of life and provide a sense of
stability for communities. The Preservation Act advises us to retain significant historic fabric as a
living part of our daily life. Historic preservation allows us to live in a community with visual
reminders of our past. It offers us a sense that our values expressed in the built environment are part
of a continuum influenced by those who have gone before us and provide the foundation for future
development.
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