The Riverside Historic Residential District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. [†]
Description
The Riverside Historic Residential District is located about one and one-third miles south of downtown Tulsa. The Riverside historic district encompasses just over sixty-three acres, runs in a north/south orientation, and lies directly east of the Arkansas River. Specifically, the Riverside Historic Residential District boundaries run from the center of the intersection of East 21st Street and the Midland Valley Railroad (MVR) Bicycle Path, south along the path to an intersection with the southern edge of the Riverside View Addition. The boundary proceeds west along the addition's southern boundary until it intersects with the eastern boundary of the Riverside Drive Addition where it continues south and then to proceed west until it intersects with the center of Riverside Drive. From Riverside Drive it proceeds north until it reaches the intersection with the center of 24th Street where it proceeds east until it reaches the center of South Boston Avenue where the boundary proceeds north until it reaches the intersection with East 21st Street where it turns east to the point of origin. The district has irregular boundaries but retains a unified setting, housing stock and historic character which contrasts noticeably with the high-density residential area which is excluded nearby to the north and east, and the open space to the south.
The Riverside Historic Residential District is included in the "Tulsa Historic Preservation Resource Document" as part of the broader Maple Ridge neighborhood which includes listed National Register districts to the north and east of Riverside.[1] The district's boundaries were determined, however, by the results of an intensive level survey conducted by the City of Tulsa Urban Development Department in 2003. While the survey included the once single-family residential area between East 21st Street, South Boston Avenue, East 24th Street and Riverside Drive, the area now lacks historic integrity and significance as a redeveloped, high-density, multi-family apartment area. Harwelden, a dwelling listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is within the excluded locale.
The Riverside Historic Residential District illustrates typical suburban land use from the 1920s to 1950s resulting from Tulsa's population trends, economic status, and the community's and nation's architectural tastes.
The district includes one hundred and forty-eight residential properties and fifty-one ancillary structures in approximately fifteen city blocks, of which one hundred fifty-four (77%) are contributing to the historic character of the district. The majority of homes were constructed during the district's period of significance for architecture, and community planning and development between 1920-1956, and the properties have not been seriously altered.[2] The end of the significance period, 1956, was chosen because of the obvious breaks in construction periods that occurred in the district. There are a rather steady number of housing starts up to 1956, but there is an eleven year gap before infill construction begins in 1967. This break in construction creates a viable end for a period of significance.
Fifty-three houses were constructed between 1920 and 1929; fifty-six were constructed between 1930 and 1939; eleven were constructed from 1940-1949; and ten were constructed from 1950 to 1956. Eighteen residences were constructed after the period of significance, with most in the 1980s. The majority of the properties are single-family residences, however historically, duplexes and a garden apartment complex intermixed with single-family residences. Some duplexes have been converted now into single family dwellings. There are thirteen dwellings which have significant alterations and therefore are noncontributing, and eighteen are non-contributing because they were constructed outside the district's period of significance.
There are also fifty-one structures in the neighborhood of which fifty are detached garages; one is an entrance gate to a garden apartment complex. Of these structures, thirty-seven are contributing and fourteen are noncontributing. The non-contributing are garages that have been replaced or modified so that they no longer have a strong association with a residence in age, appearance and materials.
The Riverside Historic Residential District is composed of two additions. Patrick J. and Ruth Hurley platted Riverside Drive in 1920. The Hurleys amended the plat later again in 1920 and the amendment moved South Boston Avenue slightly to the east at East 26th Place, and extended it to 2800 South Boston Avenue. They also further divided blocks 15 through 18 to provide more land for the Hurley's home at 2700 South Boston Avenue, in lot 17.[3] The amendment also provided medium lots in block 15 and eliminated block 18. In 1923 the addition was sold to Farmer and Duran, an insurance/real estate and brokerage company, and was then amended a second time the same year to expand lots in block 5, re-subdivided blocks 12, 13, and 15 into smaller lots, and reconfigured block 14 to make larger lots.[4] The third amendment in 1924, reconfigured blocks 5, 8 and 9 into larger lots.[5] Today, lots 5 and 8 have multi-family dwellings which are outside the district.[6]
The Tulsa Exchange Company platted Riverside View in 1929 with six irregularly shaped blocks. This added the East 24th Street cul-de-sac, South Boston Place and East 26th Court.[7]
These additions are somewhat different in their appearance and layout. In the Riverside Drive Addition, houses face mainly north and south along streets which are divided into a gridiron pattern. Lot sizes vary from larger, especially along East 26th Place (once 27th Street), to more moderate-sized with most blocks having between ten and fifteen structures. South Boston Avenue between 21st and East 26th Place is mainly a north/south access street, with overhead wiring along the east side.
Riverside View Addition lots are of nearly similar size, but mostly follow angles derived from their relationship to the 24th Street cul-de-sac, South Boston Place and 26th Court. The 24th Street cul-de-sac drive is landscaped with a circle grass with a tree, and the 26th Court is a short drive with a cul-de-sac divided by a grassy median with trees. Although most of the district's streets are grid based, there is limited access via connecting streets especially on the east and south to bordering neighborhoods. On the eastern boundary there is only one street that crosses the MVR Bike Path south of East 21st Street, and there are no connecting streets on the southern boundary.
In the Riverside Drive Addition original lots have been divided and shared with adjoining lots in many cases to provide larger construction sites. For example, where there were originally twelve lots in Blocks 7 and 10, and today there are only nine. This division and reformation of lots was aided by the amendments made to the original plat, but it occurs in almost every block within the addition. In Riverside View Addition no new lots were lost or created, although lot lines have moved slightly as neighbors purchased narrow strips of another's property.[8] Housing setbacks are almost identical in both additions; houses tend to be closely aligned as they face the streets.[9]
The Riverside Historic Residential District is designed for residents' automobile use with curbs cut for access to porte cocheres and detached garages to the rear or side of the houses, therefore little attention has been paid to pedestrian needs with the exception of sidewalks from the front entry to curbside. The Riverside Historic Residential District has no sidewalks otherwise except for a short distance of walk in front of houses between 2501 and 2509 on South Boston Place.
The topography of the Riverside Historic Residential District is mixed with flood plain in the first block east of the Arkansas River. A progressive incline then begins going eastward and northward with the highest point in the district near 23rd Street and Boston Avenue where the land begins to flatten out as it gets closer to the MVR Bike Path.
The topography causes steep building lots in some cases, where houses are constructed in layers, or garages were moved to the street side in hillside locations.
Another result from such topography is that builders created platforms to level sites for houses. This is evident particularly on 26th Street where these platforms set houses up and away from the street which in effect enhances their individuality. (Although noncontributing, the house at 123 East 26th Place is also an example.)
The Riverside Historic Residential District has a heavy foliage canopy of elm, maple and oak trees on most streets and while it has taken years for the trees to mature, these provide the district with a settled, stable and mature setting (such as landscapes at the south side of the 10s block of East 25th Street and at 2731 South Boston Avenue).
There are many large yard trees and it appears they are being replaced as is needed. Front yards have significant landscaping of grass, flowering trees, bushes and evergreens common to the temperate growing zone in Tulsa, so that residents call this district an "urban garden" or "garden district."[10] It is not uncommon to find additional landscape features such as masonry yard walls and gates (such as at 2101 South Boston Avenue, 123 East 25th Street, and 116 East 26th Street.) The gate at 2101 South Boston Avenue is an outstanding example.
Trees, shrubs, and other plantings in the form of lawns, shade trees, hedges, foundation plantings, and gardens often contribute to the historic setting and significance of neighborhoods such as Riverside. By the 1930s neighborhood planting was considered important nationally for maintaining long-term real estate value.[11]
One transportation factor that has affected the neighborhood is the Inner Dispersal Loop (IDL), planned in the 1920s, but unfunded until 1957, when a bond passed for the expressway construction. It rings the original town plan, and in effect separates surrounding neighborhoods from normal direct access via grid streets to the city core. Neighborhoods such as Riverside were developed with that connection to a centralized work place. While the neighborhood has maintained its own identity, the lack of association now has helped isolate the town core. Riverside Drive borders the district on the west, yet the large volume of traffic has not yet substantially affected the neighborhood because there are few streets that enable expedited connections for drivers going north or east. These factors have helped the neighborhood maintain its historic identity.
Architectural Style and Type
The residential designs that comprise the Riverside Historic Residential District include several architectural styles. This is expected when it took nearly forty years to complete most of the building stock. While the buildings in the district reflect this change, the years of overlapping popularity for architectural styles, and the relationship between dwellings based on location, streetscape, building materials, workmanship, mass and scale, create a district with a strong and distinct neighborhood identity.
The Riverside Historic Residential District is dominated by Eclectic architectural styles: Colonial Revival examples number thirty-eight, Tudor Revival examples number thirty-three, and Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival examples number thirteen. These Revival houses are period styles which became popular after World War I. Between 1920 and 1951, eighty-seven Eclectic style houses were built which is 60% of district houses. Changes in construction technology allowed for brick, stone and stucco to be applied as a facade over wood-frame construction. This technological change, in turn, allowed such period houses to dominate housing styles especially during the 1920s and 30s. There are also Prairie (1), Craftsman (1) and International Style(1).
Colonial Revival examples include houses at 2619 South Boston Place, 104 East 26th Place, and 102 East 26th Place.
Tudor Revival examples include 123 East 25th Street, 24 East 24th Street, and 118 East 24th Street.
With arrival of the depression in the 1930s and new housing policies and housing guidelines from the federal government, a compromise between an elaborate architectural period piece with decorative detailing came with subdued expectations in the form of the Minimal Traditional house, a simplified period style. Between 1929 and 1958, thirty-two Minimal Traditional houses were constructed and these compose 22% of the district's housing. Other style choices in the district are Ranch (12) and a Split Level (1) which were built mostly in the 1940s and 50s. Newer non-contributing houses are Neo-Colonial (3), Neo-Tudor (8) and Neo-Eclectic (1).
Examples of Minimal Traditional houses are at 2937 South Boston Place, 138 East 26th Court, 135 East 24th Street, and 134 East 24th Street.
Eleven Ranch houses in the Riverside Historic Residential District and are represented by 32 East 26th Place and 25 East 25th Street.
Slightly more than half of residences are two-stories in height. Most are built with brick foundations and have cross gable or side gable roofs shingled with asphalt. Houses are clad mostly in brick, stone or stucco and have double hung windows and entry panel doors of wood which are glazed. The use of automobiles was expected in the district and most houses have drives with detached rear garages; some houses have porte cocheres. The contributing buildings retain architectural features and physical forms that reflect the design trends and styles popular during their period of construction.
Age/Alterations
The Riverside Historic Residential District retains a high degree of integrity with one hundred fifty contributing resources of one hundred ninety-five district resources or 77%. Each resource was considered for its retention of original street side character. The types of alterations made to historic buildings vary but the most common is the application of vinyl or asbestos siding. The application of such material alone was not a determining factor in contributing or non-contributing status. Additions were viewed on an individual basis, however, and if they had little impact on the house's integrity of design, feeling and association they were considered sympathetic to the original character and therefore contributing.[12] This addition assessment included however, placement, scale, mass, materials, and stylistic configuration. Most buildings retain their original windows and doors, although some have been covered with metal storm windows or screen doors.
The forty-five non-contributing resources constitute 23% of the district. However, it is important to draw attention to these. Most dwellings were non-contributing because they were constructed after the Riverside Historic Residential District's period of significance. Some new houses, however, are reminiscent of Revival styles such as the house at 116 East 26th Place, or 2660 South Boston Avenue.
Only thirteen houses were deemed non-contributing because of significant alterations such as the inappropriate new bay windows at 2657 South Boston Place, or a loss of historic characteristics in an extensive remodel at 138 East 24th Street.
Significance
The Riverside Historic Residential District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its community planning and development significance. The neighborhood developed over a nearly forty-year period during the height of the oil related expansion of the city, and for a period after World War II when established suburbs were filling with newer housing. It is a neighborhood district which expected residents to own and use automobile transportation, but it is situated close to the town's original town plat.
It is also listed on the National Register for its architectural significance as an upper middle-class neighborhood dominated by Eclectic Revival styles and Minimal Traditional houses which are representative of national and local architectural taste during time periods in which they were constructed. While these were popular elsewhere in Tulsa, Riverside has excellent examples of these house types, and they demonstrate the shift in popular taste for housing styles as the community and the nation faced hard times, World War II and the 1950s.
Historic Background
Tulsa's early history is tightly aligned with the displaced Native American emigrants who arrived in the area from states such as Florida and Alabama in the 1830s. Groups sometimes shared lands such as the Creek and Seminole who lived in the area between the South Canadian and Cimarron Rivers. The Creek rebuilt their traditional communities in the Tulsa area after being driven from their homes. One community they reestablished was Tallasi, a settlement along the Arkansas River, which eventually became the city of "Tulsa." By 1878, a post office was established in "Tulsey" Town. With the arrival of the railroad in 1882, Tulsa began to grow as a ranching community that included residents who were Creek, mixed blood and white and Tulsans shipped thousands of cattle eastward on the Frisco Railroad. Though still somewhat a settlement community in nature, the town was platted in 1897 and incorporated in 1898. The original town plan was skewed to align with the Frisco tracks.[13] Within six months of incorporation, Congress passed the Curtis Act which terminated all tribal governments and provided for the disposal of all their lands, which signaled the loss of their control over their adopted western lands.[14] As land ownership changed hands from the Creeks to others, the large ranches were broken up and previous owners turned to opening businesses or farming and the cow town days of Tulsa were over.[15]
There was probably no more important event in Tulsa's history than the discovery of oil in 1901. The town was then a rather small community of about 1,390 residents. The first oil well, located in Red Fork, was just across the Arkansas River from Tulsa, but its location put Tulsa in the center of the oil boom. In 1905, the Glenn Pool strike added to Tulsa's value as the centralized business location where one could get leases, obtain bank loans, hire drillers and find equipment for the oil fields. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas (Katy) (1903), Midland Valley (1903), Frisco (1904), and Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe railroads (1905) brought their tracks into Tulsa and the city flourished, as the oil companies did.[16]
Tulsa grew wildly in ten years as the population in 1910 reached 18,182. Even by 1904, the town had outgrown its original plan and to reach the oil fields in Red Fork and west Tulsa, a toll bridge was constructed over the Arkansas River in 1904.[17]
Oklahoma, assisted by the growth of Tulsa, was granted statehood in 1907. Such growth created demand for goods and services, housing and city infrastructure. Tulsa experienced a building boom in hotels, office buildings, and a strong demand for residences. For a period, oil worker homes were tents, or shacks and sheds. Some companies built temporary company towns of tents and eventually houses to help and keep their workers.
In 1920, the population reached 72,075. By 1930, it had nearly doubled to reach 141,258 as it became the second largest city in Oklahoma.[18] Tulsa's leadership group worked to bring other oil company interests into the community and it was successful. Companies such as Texaco, Gulf Oil, Prairie Oil (a J.D. Rockefeller company), Standard, Sun, Sinclair, and Skelly, and a host of other companies of various sizes such as Roxana (a branch of Royal Dutch and Shell) were involved in the state's oil industry building pipelines, or as suppliers or producers. Families associated with these companies moved to a logical place associated with the industry — Tulsa, which declared itself to be the oil capital of the world. Success within a community draws new residents, and Tulsa's success attracted people from all over the United States; those who believed they could improve their lives.[19] When a million dollars per month was being spent on building construction downtown in 1927, it was easy to make such assumptions.[20]
The Great Depression affected Tulsans as it did others in the nation. When oil was discovered in Texas and elsewhere, Tulsa also had another significant problem because of its one industry dependence. With an oversupply from wells in both Oklahoma and other states, prices fell in 1933. Residents in working class neighborhoods suffered the most during these hard times such as those in West Tulsa, or in the Black community. Without jobs in the troubled oil economy or in jobs as butlers, porters, yardmen, maids, nannies, and laundresses for the white community, many families lived in troubled conditions.
The depression, problems with the supply of oil, and low prices did bring regulation to the oil industry. Working with F.D. Roosevelt, oil producing states finally agreed to extract oil based on projected need, and that they would pro-rate oil production among various oil companies. This agreement stabilized the oil market between 1934 and 1940 and kept overproduction from financially ruining the industry. While some families associated with the oil companies fared better toward the end of the '30s after the production agreement was completed, some left the oil business and the population of Tulsa stagnated. By 1941, Tulsa had almost the same number of residents that it did in 1930 — 142,157.[21]
When World War II began abroad, its effects on the economy helped bring the nation out of the Depression but prior to Pearl Harbor, most defense related contracts went to the east and west coasts. Recruiters lured away workers from Tulsa initially. The city's shortage of working-class homes did not help since companies had no place to house workers. In 1941, however, Tulsa was chosen as a potential site for Douglas Aircraft Company for the production of bombers, and by 1942, 15,000 were employed. By 1945, about 42,000 were employed in non-oil related manufacturing which signified the end of a dependence on a single economy of oil.[22] By 1945, Tulsa was among the top three cities strongly affected by wartime industrial expansion and by 1945, the town's population was 185,000.[23]
Following the end of the War, Tulsa enjoyed prosperity once again as consumers bought what they could not during war restrictions, such as houses. Consumer demand helped stimulate industrial development. Further boosting the city's economy was the continued spending by the Federal Government on military-related industries during and then after the Cold War. The variety of industrial activity helped continue Tulsa's growth through the 1950s and 1960s.[24] As it did, automobiles allowed residents to live further and further away from the central city. The rise of shopping centers and parking provided a convenience with which the more pedestrian downtown could not.
Historic Significance
Native Americans, Ranching and Railroads (1830s to 1900).
The area known at the Riverside Historic Residential District during this period belonged to Native Americans. In 1852, the United States granted the land to the Creek Nation and the Lochapoka Creek established homes, farms, early schools and engaged in commerce. Under the Dawes Commission, the historic district area was allocated to Moses Coney. In 1900, Mr. Coney described this property and the one house on the allotment when he received it, and it belonged to John Perryman, one of Tulsa's early families with a diverse background which included Creek ancestry.[25]
Early transportation was difficult until the railroads arrived. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, the east/west railroad franchise, (reorganized as the St. Louis and San Francisco, or Frisco) reached near Tulsa in 1882 and it allowed the exploitation of native grasses by both Native Americans and incoming whites through ranching. An unbroken string of massive ranches lay to Tulsa's southwest and east, with many thousands of acres leased to out-of-state cattle companies. With the arrival of the railroad which was critical to the ranching industry, need to ship entire herds east, the once small town of tent structures and rough residents began to transform its built environment into more substantial wooden structures.
Along with the Frisco, the Missouri Kansas and Texas received a franchise for a north/south line after the Civil War, but it did not reach Tulsa until 1903. The Midland Valley Railroad laid tracks in Tulsa in 1903, and its track bed eventually would become the eastern boundary of the Riverside District. In 1905, the Santa Fe Railroad recognized the value of Tulsa for transportation demands, and it arrived in Tulsa in 1905 as the town was experiencing a growing oil economy.
The influx of new families brought churches, schools and Tulsa's eventual incorporation as a city. While some Native Americans resisted the rising importance of Tulsa, others did not. The sale of city lots began in 1902, lots whose orientation was the railroad.[26]
Normally, town streets were laid out by compass points as was the land survey, by Section, Township and Range. The plat's firm attachment to the railroad's northwest-southeast direction further emphasized the significance of the railroad to the town. With the tracks hugging the downtown core, until bridges were built over them, the railroad dominated commerce, movement through town, as well as communications with the surrounding area. Railroads were a thread of vitality for Tulsa and connected it to the outside world for many years. They still organize the city landscape somewhat today and claim an importance by location that has, in actuality, given way to the automobile.
An outgrowth of rail development was early trolley service. In July of 1906, with only a few paved roads within the city limits, trolley service began in Tulsa. By the end of that year, service was offered along Main, Third, and Fifth Streets. The service concentrated primarily on downtown and in an area just south of downtown at a time when the city was located mostly between railroads on the north and east and by the Arkansas River on the west.[27]
The first company to institute trolley services was the Tulsa Street Railway (TSR).[28] The availability of mass transportation such as the trolley line, made it possible to live in the newer developing subdivisions which were expanding Tulsa's city limits. Without it, those workers who did not drive had to live near work, walk to work from a distance or find a means of transportation.
Population Figures for Tulsa[29] — 1900, 1,390; 1910, 18,182; 1920; 72,075; 1930, 141,258; 1940, 142,157; 1950, 182,740; 1960, 261,685.
A One Industry Town — Oil (1901-1930)
The history of the oil industry is tightly integrated into the history of the Riverside Historic Residential District. While most early settlement communities populate slowly over time; Tulsa did not. With a slowly growing population, lots in early additions remained available for the construction of new houses over decades, but Tulsa was different. Much like the California Gold Rush, the town experienced an "Oklahoma Oil Rush" of new residents after 1901, and by 1912, Tulsa became the leader among oil-producing communities in Oklahoma.[30] The need for housing was tremendous so instead of taking decades to grow, the demand for housing overwhelmed the availability of building lots in the original town plan. By 1904, the town had already outgrown itself, and by 1918, a Bird's Eye View of Tulsa shows that the town had by then incorporated land west to the Arkansas River, about six blocks north, and approximately 12 blocks east and south of the town plan.[31]
Of all the historic neighborhoods noted in Tulsa's Historic Preservation Resource Document, approximately two hundred twenty-five plats were filed between 1900 and 1949. Of those plats, thirty-five or about 16% were filed between 1900 and 1910, and one hundred seventy-nine, or about 80%, were filed between 1910 and 1930.[32] During this twenty year period, the population ballooned from 18,182 to 141,258 residents. Many of the plat developers sold lots to either to home owners, or occasionally builders who built homes for the working classes, such as in the Yorktown neighborhood. Other neighborhoods, such as the Riverside District were marketed to upper and upper middle class families.
The interest and growth of subdivisions even before 1900 was an established value in the United States, not just in Tulsa. The plethora of city additions fit into early 20th century residential patterns nationally. A proper home for the ideal family had been a well-developed cultural value held long before Tulsa's subdivision rush. From about 1870 to 1900, national values about the ideal home and lifestyle had well crystallized: homes should be single family, should be located away from the city core and freestanding on some amount of land.[33]
The Riverside Drive plat was filed by Patrick J. Hurley and his wife Ruth on May 13, 1920. Even before the plat was official filed, advertisements in the May 12th Tulsa Tribune touted its lots with views and graded roads. Other ads noted the availability of graded or established roads, "80 acres restricted," large lots that would ensure beautiful homes, and that it was directly south of Stonebraker Heights, the desirable place to live during the nineteen-teens.[34] The Hurleys amended their plat before the end of the year and extended Boston Avenue to the property boundary at 2800 S. Boston Avenue (excluded in the district area), and further divided blocks 15 through 18 to provide more land for the Hurley's home at 2700 S. Boston. The amendment also provided medium lots in block 15 and eliminated block 18.
Hurley, the principal behind the new addition was a lawyer, a politician, and a real estate investor and he built a large house at 2700 South Boston Avenue. He sold his interests in the addition in 1923 to the insurance, real estate, and brokerage firm of Farmer and Duran who established ownership through the Sunset Gardens Company.[35] The firm began marketing and selling the lots to the Tulsa community in 1924, as "the most magnificent piece of ground any where around Tulsa for a really fine residential district." The brochure, called "Riverside Drive, The Distinctive Addition of Tulsa," claimed the addition an elite area, a "blue ribbon district" closely located near downtown for those interested in refinement, and for leaders in social and civic affairs. The brochure they produced was filled with sketches of houses that had already been built as examples of housing hopes and expectations.[36]
Farmer and Duran amended the Riverside Drive plat again in 1923. This amendment expanded lots in block 5, re-subdivided blocks 12, 13, and 15 into smaller lots, and reconfigured block 14 to make larger lots. They made a final amendment is 1924 which reconfigured blocks 5, 8 and 9 into larger lots. Today, lots 5 and 8 have multi-family dwellings which are outside the district.[37]
Oil men, bankers, merchants, and lawyers were some of the businessmen who first settled in the Riverside Drive neighborhood. Prominent settlers included Clarence. J. Wright (attorney), Harry Sinclair and P.J. White (Sinclair Oil), Robert McMann (McMann Oil), Joseph Sanders (Sanders Oil and Gas) and Flint Moss (attorney). Not to be too particular or elite though, Sunset Gardens Company placed an ad in the Tulsa Tribune, June 22, 1924, noting that the addition was ideal for good homes, large or small.
While Hurley and his wife had begun the developing process for populating the Riverside area with mostly large and expensive homes such as their own (2700 South Boston Avenue), it appears that Farmer and Duran changed tactics to sell more lots (with the plat revisions), or perhaps they wished to receive a larger or quicker return on their investment. They were competing with other emerging elite neighborhoods such as the Maple Ridge area and parts of which were platted in the late nineteen-teens and continued during the same time period as Riverside Drive Addition.
Farmer and Duran did everything to ensure success selling lots. In 1925, they along with the Tulsa Tribune sponsored a contest in home design to stimulate the building of moderate cost houses in the Riverside neighborhood. The rationale was that such a contest would "advance the standard for the design and construction of moderate-priced homes," and that Farmer and Duran saw the opportunity to dot the addition with attractive new homes.[38] This idea of moderately priced and sized houses was evolving nationally as a movement that favored these criteria. From 1910 to about 1945, "Better Homes Week" competitions were held nationwide which featured the work of architects whose small house designs helped influence national style tastes, particularly for the Colonial or Mission/Spanish Revival house. Probably the most popular small house was, however the Tudor Revival.[39]
The results were written about in the Building Age National Builder and Builders' Journal in January, 1926.[40] The Eclectic revival style houses in Tulsa followed national trends. The houses which won distinction in this contest are at 118 E. 24th Street, 25 E. 26th Street, 26 E. 26th Street, 109 East 26th Street, 116 East 26th Street, 10 East 26th Street, and the prize winner at 122 Woodward Boulevard. The houses had to cost no more than $12,500. A total of sixteen houses, however, were entered by builders.
The Riverside Historic Residential District has mixed housing both large and houses such as the Mayo house at 2301 South Boston Avenue or the more modest contest houses. Regardless whether large or small, about half of the Riverside Drive lots had houses by 1930.
An important part of subdivision development was availability of transportation from subdivision or outlying areas to city core. While Tulsa had a trolley system that started in 1907 and continued to thrive through the early 1920s, competition from jitney cars, taxis, and the private automobile led to its decline and a replacement with busses in 1935.[41] The 1911 Sand Springs and the 1918 Sapulpa interurban railroads however, brought workers into to Tulsa. The Sand Springs interurban left Tulsa every twenty minutes and in 1923, carried 3.7 million passengers.[42]
In Tulsa County, roads had not been legal to plat until after statehood, so it has been difficult to maintain or improve the roads that existed. It was not until 1916 that voters passed a bond to upgrade and construct, and hard surface roads in the county. Most of the work was not completed even by 1920 when there were still only about 78 miles of hard surfaced roads within the entire county.[43]
It was apparent in growing traffic in Tulsa demanded more streets, so in 1921, Tulsa planned a boulevard system which added several parks to the community. Main streets were to be upgraded as part of a plan that included Memorial Drive, now Riverside Drive. Along the drive, for beautification, the city planted trees for every Oklahoma soldier who had been killed in France during the Great War.[44]
Traffic on the 11th Street bridge was so heavy in 1928, that the 21st Street bridge was constructed to help relieve congestion. In the Riverside District, cars were expected to be part of daily life. Within the Riverside neighborhood, garages were at nearly every home; there were curb cuts from the streets to driveways that sometimes served porte cocheres and garages at the rear of the properties. This neighborhood was not dependent on public transportation and automobile usage was high. Tulsa was one of many cities in which the number of personal vehicles climbed upward toward the number of licensed drivers before World War II.[45] Knowing how construction was financed prior to the Great Depression helps explain housing patterns in Tulsa's 1920s subdivisions. Around 1900, most people paid outright for their homes instead of financing them. Mortgages for those with less cash were available only for a short term and holders had to renew them every three, five or sometimes ten years. If mortgages were renewed often, the holder could be subject to changes in the money market, which is what happened during the Great Depression. When there was no money available for lending from banks or savings and loans, mortgage holders were foreclosed. They found themselves unable to renew their mortgages or make the final large payments which would have allowed them to keep their homes. It was not uncommon for people who had their homes mostly paid for to lose them in foreclosure under these circumstances.[46]
If one could get a first mortgage, they were still less than fifty percent of the value of the property so the amount of up-front cash required was still substantial. This made it difficult to undertake financing a complete subdivision unless you owned the property to begin with. If those subdividing had to buy land, they would do so with cash or a short-term mortgage but they could not afford to hold the property and invest in housing too, which may have been the case for Farmer and Duran as they changed lot size for more moderate houses. Since those selling lots were generally responsible for installing sewer and water, roads and street, lights, their investment was already substantial without building houses. Farmer and Duran noted in their promotional brochure that they had improved Riverside Drive investing in sewers, curbs and paving; improvements that apparently were not available when Riverside Drive was first platted.[47] Lots were most frequently sold to prospective owner residents, who would then contact a builder, or sometimes speculators would build houses to sell, or sometimes builders who could afford to do so would purchase a few parcels, building only a few houses at a time.[48]
Such small speculative or income generating ventures did occur in Riverside Drive and Riverside View additions. At 2101 South Boston Avenue, for example, there is a complex of garden apartments built in 1926. Patrick Hurley financed duplexes at 2501-2503, and 2505-2507 South Boston Place.
Several more duplexes were built along South Boston Place, for example at 2625 and 2629 South Boston Place, although these have been converted now into single family dwellings.[49]
Regardless, it took cash or the creative use of mortgages for home buyers to find adequate financing. Sometimes individuals would put a down payment on a lot with a mortgage and, after paying off the lot in several years, they would use the lot for collateral for a mortgage to construct a house. But this meant subdivisions would usually take some time to fill completely with houses.
Great Depression and World War II (1931-1945)
The Federal Housing Act, passed in 1934 during the Great Depression, changed the financing and purchasing of homes. Meant to stimulate employment in the building industry, its provisions made long-term amortized mortgages with low down payments possible to both home owners and builders. It also allowed income tax deductions for mortgage payments. With insured deposits in savings and loans (FSLIC), financial institutions were less reluctant to lend money for mortgages lest they jeopardize their depositors' money.[50] This encouraged large scale projects such as neighborhood subdivisions. Down payments decreased from more than thirty percent of the project to about ten percent. After the Federal Housing Administration came into being, mortgage interest rates also dropped.[51] In the Riverside District, between 1935 and 1939, in only five years, forty-one houses were constructed (about 30%), which is partially the result of the Federal Housing Act. All combined, by the time World War II started, these conditions encouraged more and more Americans to consider home buying.
Another effect caused by FHA was its minimum and small house program. It emphasized five house types as part of publication, "Principles of Planning Small Houses," published in 1936. Each house plan stressed avoiding nonessential spaces, picturesque features and unnecessary items that would add to cost. The designs were based on principles of expandability, standardization and variability. These simple, one-story "minimum" houses were a starting point for multiple variations including simple stylistic appointments, which are seen in the district's Minimum Traditional styles.[52]
While the FHA was very successful at changing suburban development, at the same time it also was responsible for encouraging restrictive covenants to maintain homogenous populations within subdivisions. These were upheld and became a norm in even though in 1948 the U.S. Supreme Court determined restrictions based on race were unenforceable.[53] Discrimination in housing effectively continued until the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which effectively forbid discrimination in the sale or rental of practically all U.S. housing.[54]
The district's second plat was registered just at the beginning of the Great Depression, in April 1929, by the Tulsa Exchange Company and it was called the Riverside View addition. This plat added six irregularly shaped blocks and Boston Place, 26th Court, and a cul-de-sac on 24th Street to the area between the Midland Valley Railroad bed and Riverside Drive. The landowners associated with the plat were Jeff Nix, J.M. Maurer, Elizabeth Harber Smith, Fay Johnson, Paul Edwards, and J.A. Chapman.
This plat came with an attached covenant, restricting lot splits (other than those designated on the plat), dictating setbacks for houses and garages, height requirements, size of garages, size of first floor square footage, restricting residents to Caucasian residents (except for domestic servants), and prohibiting moved structures. The covenant also dictated minimum cost of houses constructed in the subdivision. As noted, restrictive covenants such as those for Riverside View addition which included race were not unusual at the time.
This plat was filed not only at the start of the Depression, but perhaps even more importantly it was a period when overproduction significantly depressed the oil industry. These conditions are reflected in the number of houses built in both additions when in the first years of the decade, few houses were built. After the oil economy stabilized in the later years of the 1930s, housing starts began again so that by the beginning of World War II, the district was three-fourths filled with houses. Several empty lots may have also been sold as owners planned and saved to begin construction.
Residential construction during the war stopped as building materials were channeled into the defense industry's needs. As the break in construction began, the community refocused its interests in helping with the war effort. While in the war's earliest days, most war production was located on the east or west coasts, the oil related industries made Tulsa attractive for defense plants. Machinery needed for oil equipment was in place and could be adapted to production of war materials. Defense workers swarmed to Tulsa.[55] Many of these industries converted to peace time industries as the war's short supply of goods prevented people from consuming so that by the end of the war there was substantial pent-up demand for housing and a supply of money.
There are some slight differences in the subdividing of Riverside Drive and Riverside View additions which should be noted. While both additions were platted by locals, a standard practice during the 1920s, Riverside View depended upon a number of interested parties, the Tulsa Exchange Company, rather than a single investor such as Patrick Hurley or the firm of Farmer and Duran. The differences between these two were also seen elsewhere in the United States, but more often after World War II than before. Before the war, subdivisions such as Riverside Drive and Riverside View were usually small local endeavors rather than large housing developments encouraged by the federal government in their planning documents.
Dispersed Tulsa and an Economy of Aircraft Industries (1946-1960)
The defense industries that Tulsa had nurtured during war times, converted into peacetime industries. For example, Spartan School of Aeronautics trained mechanics in the United States and from other nations; Douglas Aircraft continued building bombers, as well as Nike, Thor and Minuteman missiles. Douglas merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 and grew even more in size. North American Aviation arrived in 1962, and American Airlines began concentrating all its maintenance operations in Tulsa in 1950. These production and manufacturing giants, along with the side industries that supported them, made Tulsa the state's leader in manufacturing.
The war was also a boon to builders. They learned new skills during the war to build faster and at less cost. They learned to use prefabricated products, heavier and more efficient power tools, prepackaged windows and doors and factory built cabinets. They embraced new building products such as asphalt shingles (which dominate roofing choices in the Riverside District now). When the war was over, they were ready to build more standardized houses with mass produced and prefabricated components.[56]
Such growth in the aircraft industries meant that demand for housing stock grew once again, and developers responded by platting new subdivisions further away from the city center. The rise in automobile use aided the spread of Tulsa, particularly to the south and east. Tulsa was dispersing outward into a town of many parts. With shopping centers such as Utica Square begin to appear in May 1952, they offered a highly sought after amenity — parking and drew consumers from the nearby neighborhoods who began to avoid shopping downtown. Other shopping centers followed and as housing areas continued to move outward, strip malls added to shopping with convenience and served the customer with an automobile. As the transition from town center to dispersed community occurred, the city core began to see mostly office buildings left. In the later 1960s, the rest of the decade would be spent by succeeding mayors adjusting and reacting to a community of residents who might work in the town core, but who, is essence, lived and shopped somewhere else.
For the Riverside District, there were some building lots without houses after the war's end. Of the remaining thirty-seven lots, eighteen houses were constructed from 1945 and 1956. Many of the other houses were Minimal Traditional and Ranch styles, as architectural tastes again evolved when owners chose to move from the more compact houses of the 30s and 40s to the single story larger Ranch style which incorporated garages. The Ranch house would become the popular house of the 50s elsewhere so its construction in the district was possible on larger lots. The district remained attractive to new residents because of location and its distinct neighborhood identity, directly the World War II and through the 50s. In 1967, only two new houses were constructed but fifteen were added in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Riverside Historic Residential District has a history closely tied to the history of Tulsa's community planning and development, especially during its heyday as an oil community when its population doubled between 1920 and 1930. The growth and oil created wealth. Even during the 1930s depression days, construction continued in the district, especially toward the end of the decade when oil prices had stabilized and those in the business had either left during the oil depression in the early 30s or had hung on and prospered. The neighborhood was born when the city spun outward with a spiral of subdivision growth, as developers tried to fulfill the demand for single family residences. Tulsans wanted an ideal home and lifestyle in a residential neighborhood; this crystallized cultural value was shared by the nation and is represented in the Riverside neighborhood. The Riverside District remains an attractive place to live because of its maturity, landscaping and settled neighborhood feel. The hopes that Farmer and Duran had for the neighborhood appear to have been mostly fulfilled. "Riverside Drive is only one and one-half miles from the heart of the business district...[there are] no traffic problems, no railroad or car tracks, no bridges or subways, just a pleasant drive down wide, shaded, quiet streets."[57]
Aarchitectural Significance
In addition to the Riverside Historic Residential District's significance for community planning and development, it is also significant for an outstanding group of Eclectic Revival and Minimal Traditional houses. The Riverside Historic Residential District is dominated by Eclectic architectural styles: Colonial Revival examples number thirty-eight, Tudor examples number thirty-seven, and Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival examples number thirteen. These styles nationally can be found generally from before 1900 to the 1920s for Mission/Spanish Colonial; to the 1940s for Tudor Revival; and to the 1950s for Colonial Revival. A number of these houses were designed by noted local architects.
The Eclectic movement draws on a spectrum of architectural tradition from Classical, Medieval, Renaissance Classical and even Modern for inspiration. The Eclectic movement stresses relatively pure copies of these traditions as originally built in different European countries and in the New World colonies. While the movement appeared first in houses for wealthy clients in the 19th century, after World War I, fashions in domestic architecture shifted to these period styles. Changes in construction technology are partially responsible as they allowed for brick, stone and stucco to be applied as a facade over wood-frame construction. This technological change, in turn, allowed such period houses to dominate housing styles during the 1920s and 30s, regardless of house size or cost.[58] The most popular of the revivals in Riverside is Colonial Revival. Eclectic styles were constructed in the district from 1920 to 1951. Other Eclectic styles include Prairie (1), Craftsman (1) and International Style (1).
With arrival of the depression in the 1930s, a compromise between the architectural period piece with decorative detailing, and more subdued expectations brought on by hard times, resulted in the Minimal Traditional house, a simplified period style. The break in building which occurred between 1941 and 1945 aided the change in housing taste from those based on historical precedent to those of which were variations based on more "modern" styles that had appeared just before the World War II.
The Minimal Traditional house, which can be found nationally from about 1935 to about 1950, was a simplified form of period house, and frequently exhibits Tudor Revival characteristics. They usually have close eaves and an intermediate slope roofs instead of steep roof pitches, and they have less decorative detailing than their Eclectic revival predecessors. Often these houses keep a large fireplace, and some are two-story, which can be seen in the Riverside neighborhood. These two-story houses are more often associated, however, with Colonial Revival.[59] There are thirty-two examples of the Minimal Traditional house which were built between 1929 and 1956. Other Modern style choices in the Riverside Historic Residential District are Ranch (12) and a Split Level (1) which were built mostly in the 1940s and 50s.
Newer non-contributing houses are Neo-Colonial (3), Neo-Tudor (8) and Neo-Eclectic (1).
Riverside has an association with the Maple Ridge Historic Neighborhood but the neighborhood is divided into four parts. North and Central (from about 14th street to Hazel Boulevard) are on the National Register of Historic Places (Maple Ridge Historic Residential District). The South and Southwest are not. Together these four areas make up Oklahoma's largest intact residential area.[60] The north neighborhood is composed of six subdivisions dating from 1907 to 1916. This area is the oldest of the four and has largely two-story, brick and clapboard mansions dating from about 1912. Building lots in the northern part of Maple Ridge are very large when compared to ones from the Central area. The area has had an association with well-known residents in the oil business and was known as "Black Gold Row." There are grand housing examples of revival styles.
The central section was established later with two subdivisions that date from 1916 to 1923. The landscape is also filled with very large homes, not unlike those to their north, although lots are slightly smaller in size. However, the landscape layout is distinctly different. Countering the grid's predictability, streets are curving and winding and triangular medians are frequently at street intersections. This area was subdivided by Farmer and Duran, as they did the Riverside area later, but it was done with assistance from landscape architects from the well-known firm of Hare and Hare in Kansas City, Missouri. Hare and Hare were unusual in the role they played in site planning in cooperation with real estate developers and architects of buildings, and were particularly influential with their community and city planning work. In particular, Hare and Hare were known in creating gardens, estate, and city plans in the Midwest and are for their subdivisions, gardens, and their designs for public and private spaces.[61]
The southern part of Maple Ridge dates from platting in the mid-1920s to 1938. It is an area where lots are smaller than those to the north and central parts and streets are a bit narrower. The landscape is a modified grid although with some distinctive landscape attributes such as triangular landscape medians and some curved street intersections. The landscape is mixed, however, with the grid in the southern most blocks, and the area's topography tends to undulate and rises as it goes east and north. This area has not been surveyed, but a majority of housing appears to have been constructed when minimal traditional houses were popular.
Riverside by contrast has its own distinct topography which gave the area its "river side" description. The flood plain and the river are elemental in defining this district. Its differences from and association with the rest of Maple Ridge are determined by the presence of the Midland Valley Railroad tracks. The tracks are a defining characteristic which divides Riverside from the rest of the area. The tracks create a physical, visual, and psychological barrier between these areas. In fact, it was not until the 1970s that Riverside began an association with Maple Ridge when the residents of the entire area joined efforts to stop a planned expressway which would have gone down the railroad track right-of-way.
Along with its boundaries, Riverside was a product of real estate development in Tulsa with its history tied to how its roads and infrastructure developed, the changing economic conditions of Tulsa, and the architectural tastes of the building periods. It was a neighborhood that exemplified suburbanization trends nationally as the 1925 local building contest held demonstrates.
While Maple Ridge Historic Neighborhood (and Riverside) is also closely entwined with Tulsa's historical development and period of community wealth which came from an oil economy, Riverside maintains its own distinction in its physical features, topography, functions and land use.[62] Riverside conveys a sense of historic and architectural distinction that reflects the time and place it developed. The Riverside Historic Residential District is a context for the community's history of the oil boom days and it has a high degree of its own integrity in location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and the association of houses.
Overall, the Riverside District has a significant group of both Eclectic Revival and Minimal Traditional houses (total 119) which compose 83% of the district's 144 residences. These houses may also be found elsewhere in Tulsa, but these stand out as a cohesive collection which spans a period of changing architectural tastes.
Endnotes
[1]Tulsa Historic Preservation Commission and the City of Tulsa Urban Development Department. Ed. Kent A. Shell (Tulsa, OK: September 1997), 53-63.
[2]Some resources within districts that were built within the last 50 years do not require a justification of exceptional importance. This period of significance ends in 1956, where this construction date is consistent with neighborhood historic plan and character. See David L. Ames and Linda Flint McClelland, Historic Residential Suburbs: Guidelines for Evaluation and Documentation for the National Register of Historic Places. (Washington, DC: National Park Service, 2002), 96.
[3]Plats 402 and 442. Land Office, Tulsa County Court House, Tulsa, OK.
[4]Plat No. 630. Land Office, Tulsa County Court House, Tulsa, OK.
[5]Plat No. 697. Land Office, Tulsa County Court House, Tulsa, OK.
[6]Simmons, David A. "Intensive Level Historic/Architectural Survey of the Riverside Neighborhood, Tulsa, Oklahoma." Prepared for the Tulsa Preservation Commission, May 15, 2003, 23-24. David Simmons is a planner with the Tulsa Urban Development Department.
[7]Plat No. 974. Land Office, Tulsa County Court House, Tulsa, OK.
[8]Lot size has remained consistent because the addition had a protective covenant which prohibited lot splits.
[9]Lot lines are from GIS maps provided by Indian Nation Council of Governments (INCOG) of the district's housing footprints. INCOG GIS staff figured the district acreage and provided a scale to measure distance.
[10]The author interviewed neighbors while walking the district, and these were frequently used terms to describe the neighborhood.
[11]Historic Residential Suburbs, 12-13.
[12]Additions can also be historic, if made sufficient years ago to have gained their own significance.
[13]As land was annexed to Tulsa, however, platting occurred along the north/south cardinal points, rather than the skewed railroad alignment. The plat is from Donald A. Wise, Bird's-Eye View Prints of Oklahoma Communities. 1877-1918, (Tulsa, OK: Gilcrease Museum, c.1986), 41.
[14]Goble, Danney. Tulsa: Biography of an American City. (Tulsa, OK: Council Oaks Books, 1997), 26-37,46; also see Cynthia Savage. National Register Nomination for Yorktown Historic District. On file at the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 2002, 91.
[15]Debo, Angie, From Creek Town to Oil Capital (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963), 85.
[16]Goble, 58.
[17]Debo, 84, 87.
[18]Savage, 92.
[19]Goble, 91.
[20]Federal Writers Project. Tulsa: A Guide to the Oil Capital. (Tulsa, OK: Mid-West Printing, 1938), 44.
[21]Savage, 92.
[22]Goble, 167-171.
[23]Savage, 93.
[24]Ibid, 93.
[25]Simmons, 23. Copies of these Department of Interior Records from the Muskogee Land Office are at the Tulsa Urban Planning Department in the research notes for the Intensive Level Survey of the district. They are unpaged and not cited.
[26]Goble, 33-47.
[27]On a 1922 subdivision map of the general vicinity, it appears that the street car may have reached as far south on Main Street as 18th Street. The map was included in research notes for the Intensive Level Survey of the district. They are unpaged and not cited.
[28]"Tulsa's Historic Preservation Resource Document." Tulsa Preservation Commission and the City of Tulsa's Urban Development Department. Ed., Kent A. Shell. (Tulsa, OK: September 1997), 25.
[29]Morris, John W. Charles R. Goins, and Edwin C. McReynolds. Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986), 83.
[30]Goble, 56.
[31]Wise, Donald. A. Bird's-Eye View Prints of Oklahoma Communities. 1877-1918. (Tulsa, OK: Gilcrease Museum, c.1986), 40.
[32]Land annexations Tulsa has made have not been listed or mapped, but the number of plats per decade helps demonstrate the rate of suburb expansion. The listings of the plats for each neighborhood in the Tulsa's Historic Preservation Resource Document provided the numbers.
[33]Sies, Mary Corbin. "Toward a Performance Theory of the Suburban Ideal, 1877-1917," Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. IV. (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1991), 199. Also see, Historic Residential Suburbs, 52.
[34]Tulsa Tribune, May 9 and 13, 1920. Stonebraker Heights, according to a 1983 Subdivision List, published in Tulsa by City Map Service, began just south of the original town plan at 16th and Elwood and ran south from this location. The area subdivision map is at the Tulsa Urban Planning Department in the research notes for the Intensive Level Survey of the district. They are unpaged and not cited.
[35]Arthur Farmer was also president of Sunbeam Petroleum Company, and director of various other businesses. See Clarence B. Douglas. History of Tulsa Vol. 3, (Chicago, IL: Clarke, 1921), 183. The firm was also instrumental in developing several other subdivisions such as Sunset Park (1916), and Sunset Terrace (1923), in the Maple Ridge neighborhood. Farmer's residence was at 2222 South Madison Avenue, in Sunset Park.
[36]This 1924 promotional brochure on the addition has been reproduced by the AIA Eastern Oklahoma, Harwelden Carriage House.
[37]Simmons, David A. Intensive Level Historic/Architectural Survey of the Riverside Neighborhood, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Prepared for the Tulsa Preservation Commission, May 15, 2003, 23-24.
[38]Wheeler, Crawford. "Stimulating the Building of Moderate Cost Homes in Progressive Oklahoma. The Story of the Tribune-Riverside Prize Home Contest," 89-95. Wheeler was associate editor of the Tulsa Tribune.
[39]Historic Residential Suburbs, 59.
[40]Ibid.
[41]"Tulsa's Historic Preservation Resource Document," 25. Also see Tulsa. A Guide to the Oil Capital, 40.
[42]Everly-Douze, Susan. Tulsa Times: A Pictorial History: The Boom Years. (Tulsa, OK: World Publishing Company, 1987), 88-89.
[43]Douglas, 587, 633-34.
[44]Ibid., 587-8.
[45]Goble, 252.
[46]Historic Residential Suburbs. 29
[47]"Riverside Drive — The Distinctive Addition in Tulsa." Because it had been four years after platting, Farmer and Duran felt the need to explain the slowness with which the addition developed. They explained that "the delay in getting Memorial Drive (Riverside Drive) and Cheyenne Avenue open to the property was the prime cause of delay in development."
[48]Historic Residential Suburbs, 26.
[49]Residents of these homes, which are now single-family, related their past as duplexes.
[50]Mitchell, J. Paul. "The Historical Context for Housing Policy." Federal Housing Policy and Programs. Past and Present, edited by J. Paul Mitchell. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers — The State University of New Jersey, 1985).
[51]Goldfield, David R. and Blaine A. Brownell, Urban America: A History, (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1990), 343.
[52]Historic Residential Suburbs, 60-62.
[53]www.cr.nps.gov/NR/publications/bulletins/01workshop/sub_landsc.htm Suburban Landscapes: The Federal Housing Administration's Principles for Neighborhood Planning and the Design of Small Houses.
[54]Mason, Joseph B. History of Housing in the U.S., 1930-1980, (Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing CO.,1982), 135.
[55]"Tulsa's Historic Preservation Resource Document," 28.
[56]Mason, 46-47.
[57]Riverside Drive — The distinctive Addition of Tulsa.
[58]McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. (New York, NY: Alfred Knopf, Inc. 1984), 319.
[59]Ibid., 478.
[60]"Tulsa's Historic Preservation Resource Document," 54.
[61]The reference to Hare and Hare's work in Sunset Park and Sunset Terrace is from an exhibit at the Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma, which describes the design of the Philbrook, its grounds and the neighborhood. Referenced September 27, 2003.
[62]"Tulsa's Historic Preservation Resource Document." 54.
References
Ames, David L. and Linda Flint McClelland, Historic Residential Suburbs: Guidelines for Evaluation and Documentation for the National Register of Historic Places, Washington, DC: National Park Service, 2002.
Department of the Interior Records from the Muskogee Land Office, 1900, and 1915, Tulsa Urban Planning Department.
Debo, Angie. Tulsa: From Creek Town to Oil Capital. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.
Douglas, Clarence B. History of Tulsa, Vol. 3, Chicago, IL: Clarke, 1921.
Everly-Douze, Susan. Tulsa Times: A Pictorial History: The Boom Years. Tulsa, OK: World Publishing Company, 1987, 88-89.
Federal Writers Project. Tulsa: A Guide to the Oil Capital. Tulsa, OK: Mid-West Printing, 1938.
Goble, Danney. Tulsa: Biography of an American City. Tulsa, OK: Council Oaks Books, 1997.
Goldfield, David R. and Blaine A. Brownell, Urban America: A History, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York, NY: Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1984.
Mason, Joseph B. History of Housing in the U.S., 1930-1980, Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing Co., 1982.
Mitchell, J. Paul. "The Historical Context for Housing Policy." Federal Housing Policy and Programs, Past and Present, edited by J. Paul Mitchell. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers — The State University of New Jersey, 1985.
Morris, John W, Charles R. Goins, and Edwin C. McReynolds. Historical Atlas of Oklahoma. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
"Riverside Addition: The Distinctive Addition of Tulsa." Reproduced Brochure, AIA Eastern Oklahoma, Harwelden Carriage House, Tulsa, OK
Savage, Cynthia. National Register Nomination for Yorktown Historic District. On file at the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 2002.
Sies, Mary Corbin. "Toward a Performance Theory of the Suburban Ideal, 1877-1917," Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture. Vol. IV. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1991.
Simmons, David A. "Intensive Level Historic/Architectural Survey of the Riverside Neighborhood, Tulsa, OK." Prepared for the Tulsa Preservation Commission, May 15, 2003.
Subdivision List, Tulsa by City Map Service, Tulsa, OK, 1983.
"Tulsa's Historic Preservation Resource Document." Tulsa Historic Preservation Commission and the City of Tulsa Urban Development Department. Ed. Kent A. Shell. Tulsa, OK: September 1997.
Wheeler, Crawford. "Stimulating the Building of Moderate Cost Homes in Progressive Oklahoma. The Story of the Tribune-Riverside Prize Home Contest," Building Age National Builder and Builders' Journal, 1926.
Wise, Donald. A. Bird's-Eye View Prints of Oklahoma Communities, 1877-1918. Tulsa, OK: Gilcrease Museum, c.1986.
NEWSPAPERS
Tulsa (Oklahoma) Tribune, May 9, 12 and 13, 1920, and June 22, 1924.
MAPS
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Map, 2003, Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG), Tulsa, OK.
Recorded Plat No. 402, Riverside Drive Addition, 1920. Land Office, Tulsa County Courthouse, Tulsa, OK.
Recorded Plat No. 442, Amended Plat of Riverside Drive Addition, 1920. Land Office, Tulsa County Courthouse, Tulsa, OK.
Recorded Plat No. 630. Riverside Drive Addition, 1920. Land Office, Tulsa County Courthouse, Tulsa, OK.
Recorded Plat No. 697. Third Amended Plat of Riverside Drive Addition. Land Office, Tulsa County Courthouse, Tulsa, OK.
Recorded Plat No. 974. Riverside View Addition, 1929. Land Office, Tulsa County Courthouse, Tulsa, OK.
1922 Tulsa Subdivision Map of the Riverside Neighborhood and Surrounding Area. Tulsa Urban Development Department.
Information about the involvement of the landscape firm Hare and Hare is given in an exhibit at the Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma, describing the development of the Maple Ridge area and the individuals involved. Referenced September, 27, 2003.
† Adapted from: Cathy Ambler, Ph.D., preservation consultant, Riverside Neighborhood Association, Riverside Historic Residential District, Tulsa, OK, nomination document, 2005, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.
Nearby Neighborhoods