Historic Tulsa

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Top, left: One of the most popular
entertainers to call Tulsa her home was
Anita Bryant, Miss Oklahoma, and runnerup
Miss America, who was a major
recording star in the 1950s and 1960s.
COURTESY OF THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHING COMPANY.
Top, right: Leon Russell of Tulsa became a
megastar of rock music.
COURTESY OF THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHING COMPANY.
Bottom, left: Matthew Bridwell, as the
Cavalier, dips his Dew Drop Fairy, danced
by Cynthia Crews, in Tulsa Ballet Theater’s
“Nutcracker” in 1984.
COURTESY OF THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHING COMPANY.
a goal of creating thirty-six thousand new jobs
within a decade. By the end of the 1980s the
plan was working—ten thousand jobs had
been created by high-tech and manufacturing
companies that had relocated to Tulsa County.
Officials cited the addition of another thirty
thousand jobs created through the expansion
of existing businesses and development of
home-grown small businesses.
The transformation from an oil-based
economy to a wide range of industries was
profound. One company that had been in the
oil field supply business began making fitness
machines. Because of Tulsa County’s low cost
of living and highly qualified labor force, city
and county leaders were able to convince
national and international companies to
locate plants and divisions in the county.
Older Tulsa County companies had to
reinvent themselves. An example is the
Williams Brothers Companies that had its
roots in concrete construction in 1908, and
Bottom, right: The third Tulsa Countian to
serve as governor of Oklahoma was
attorney Frank Keating, shown here with
his wife, First Lady Cathy Keating, at a
2000 millennium party held at the
governor’s mansion in Oklahoma City.
COURTESY OF FRAN GROUNDS.
CHAPTER V
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