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A marker on the 13th step of the Colorado capital building in Denver, Colorado is precisely 1 mile above sea level.

The Space Needle, built in 1961 in Seattle, Washington is the first revolving restaurant.
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City History
Historic People


City History

Tulsa was originally part of Indian Territory and was first settled by the Lochapoka and Creek tribes in 1836.They established a home under a large oak tree and named their new settlement "Tallasi," meaning "old town" in the Creek language, which later became "Tulsa." On January 18, 1898, Tulsa was officially incorporated.

A small town near the banks of the Arkansas River in 1901, Tulsa's first oil well, named, was established that year. By 1905, the discovery of the large Glenn Pool nearby prompted a rush of entrepreneurs to the area's growing number of oil fields; Tulsa's population swelled to over 140,000 between 1901 and 1930. Known as the "Oil Capital of the World" for most of the 20th century, the city's success in the energy industry prompted construction booms in the popular Art Deco style of the time. Profits from the oil industry continued through the Great Depression, helping the city's economy fare better than most in the United States.

In the early 20th century, Tulsa was home to "Black Wall Street," one of the most prosperous African American communities in the United States at the time. Located in the Greenwood neighborhood, it was the site of the Tulsa Race Riot, one of the nation's costliest acts of racial violence and civil disorder.

In 1927, Tulsa businessman Cyrus Avery, known the "Father of Route 66," began his campaign to create a road linking Chicago to California by establishing the U.S. Highway 66 Association in Tulsa, earning the city the nickname the "Birthplace of Route 66." For the remainder of the mid-20th century, a master plan called for the construction of parks, churches, museums, improved infrastructure, and increased national advertising. In the 1950s, Time magazine dubbed Tulsa "America's Most Beautiful City."

A national recession greatly affected the city's economy in 1982, as gas prices and a mass exodus of oil industries was one of the hardest hit cities by the fall of oil prices. By 1992, the state's economy had fully recovered.

In 2003, the "Vision 2025" program was approved by voters with the purpose of enhancing and revitalizing Tulsa's infrastructure and tourism industry. The keystone project of the initiative, the BOK Center, was designed to be a home for the city's minor league hockey and arena football teams, as well as a venue for major concerts and conventions.In 2004, the city was selected as the site for the world's largest free-standing statue, to be constructed on Holmes Peak near downtown, developers in 2007 pledged an unveiling in 2011. "The American," will stand 217 feet, or about 60 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York City. The 21-story monument is anticipated by developers to be a national icon similar to the Gateway Arch, Mount Rushmore, and the Statue of Liberty.

Historic Figures

Paul Harvey Aurandt (born September 4, 1918)



Paul Harvey Aurandt (born September 4, 1918)
Born in Tulsa OK and better known as Paul Harvey, is an American radio broadcaster for the ABC Radio Networks. He broadcasts News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays, as well as his famous The Rest of the Story segments. His listening audience is estimated at 22 million people a week. Harvey likes to say he was raised in radio newsrooms. The most noticeable features of Harvey's idiosyncratic delivery are his dramatic pauses, quirky intonations and his folksiness. A large part of his success stems from the seamlessness with which he segues from his monologue into reading commercial messages. He explains his enthusiastic support of his sponsors as such: "I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is." Harvey is the second-oldest syndicated radio personality in America; the oldest is George Putnam.

March 28, 2024

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