Yesterday, it was my pleasure to accept the invitation of Alaina Harris, Account Executive with Saxum, handling public relations for the First National Center, and Emily Dobson, Property Manager for Milbank Real Estate Services which manages the First National Center, to pay a visit and look through some of the archived photographs which are still present in the 1st National Center ... and, of course, I was more than delighted to do that!

My First National Archive article is here: Doug Dawgz Blog: First National Archives (http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2008/05/first-national-archives.html) and some of the images I snarfed up appear below:

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The radio station, KFNB-FM, was Oklahoma's 1st stereo station and was owned by the First National Broadcasting Company from 1962 until it was sold to San Antonio investors in 1979.

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During the current renovation of the entry area and arcade, underneath some removed tile was an old newspaper, in bad shape, but good enough to identify when the tile was placed there ... 1950, the same year that the escalators were built to the Great Banking Hall ... which, of course, means that concerns about the recent round of renovations "doing away with history" were misplaced.

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I was furnished several PDF files, too, from which I extracted several images ... below, three of the 4 murals painted by Edgar Spier Cameron (1862-1944) which are at the 4 corners of the Great Banking Hall ... the images below are from a 1949 brochure which commemorated Oklahoma City's 60th birthday ...

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Images in other PDF files show the various coin facsimiles which adorn the banking lobby ... here are 4 of the 14 ...

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Of course, I took some pics while there ... I also learned that overhead was originally a skylight but that in 1959 the skylight was covered with a tar and gravel roof, that decision being made in lieu of replacing the 4,000 lights that comprised the skylight.

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And I got some pics of the murals ...

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There's much more in the article. It was a great, fun afternoon!

Awesome!

What a treasure that place is! I still have high hopes that Milbank will methodically bring it back to it's full glory.


It always amazes me to see photos of these huge structures that were engineered and built in an era where automobiles were still a relatively new invention!

Excellent work Doug! I'm jealous.

Caption for Photo #3. Today, I consider myself to be the luckiest man on Earth.

Caption for Photo #3. Today, I consider myself to be the luckiest man on Earth.

Is that Charlie Wilson? LOL

It is indeed a magnificient place. If the tower were turned into a hotel, say the "Ritz Carlton at First National", the banking hall would make a hotel lobby without comparison, perhaps in the entire United States!

I also learned that overhead was originally a skylight but that in 1959 the skylight was covered with a tar and gravel roof, that decision being made in lieu of replacing the 4,000 lights that comprised the skylight.

I don't understand. How could there have been a skylight there, when there's 30 floors above it?

That puzzled me, too, JBrown, and, frankly, still did until taking a look at the County Assessors aerials a few minutes ago ...

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Apparently, the Great Banking Hall sits is far enough east of the tower, proper, that it doesn't have floors above it but is instead located in a "cavern" formed between the north and south wings which adjoin the tower on its east side. At least, that's the only way it makes sense to me.

On further looking, JBrown, these images from Terry Griffith's Oklahoma City: 1930 to the Millennium show the "U" shaped elements on the east side of 1st National during construction ... notice the scaffolds between the n/s parts ...

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Apparently, the Great Banking Hall sits is far enough east of the tower, proper, that it doesn't have floors above it but is instead located in a "cavern" formed between the north and south wings which adjoin the tower on its east side.

This is absolutely correct.

That skylight does have open sky above it.

That u-shape was very common in the era not only for natural light but to allow air into the middle of the building, as there was not a/c at the time.

Many buildings constructed around the same time (the Skirvin, Robinson Renaissance) had a similar configuration.

This is absolutely correct.

That skylight does have open sky above it.

That u-shape was very common in the era not only for natural light but to allow air into the middle of the building, as there was not a/c at the time.

Many buildings constructed around the same time (the Skirvin, Robinson Renaissance) had a similar configuration.

The Colcord would have had the same, if fully completed.

Thanks Doug. I had no idea it was U-shaped. You learn something new everyday.

So let me see if I have this right. It was a skylight, but then they covered it with tar and put in light bulbs instead?

Another great job! Thanks Doug for all you do in documenting the history of our city.

Thanks Doug. I had no idea it was U-shaped. You learn something new everyday.

So let me see if I have this right. It was a skylight, but then they covered it with tar and put in light bulbs instead?
That's the way I read it, except the way it was described to me it already had 4,000 lights (to augment the skylight on dark days, I guess) ... so they may have cut back on the # of lights in the revision, I'd suppose.

And thanks, Solitude ... I couldn't do much without people volunteering to help, like the ladies did at 1st National. It's a total pleasure to put stuff together!

Didn't KFNB become KTOK? Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought it originated downtown.

And on a side note...Thank you, Doug, for all of your hard work concerning OKC's history. I'm a new member on this site, but I've been a longtime lurker and I've visited your blog on numerous occasions. I've lived in OKC my entire life and I had no idea that we had such a rich and interesting history.

Thanks again for making me appreciate our fine city even more!

Baby Boomer Sooner

Thanks, BBS. Our city does indeed have a fine history with lots of interesting nooks & crannies! I'm learning as I go ... no expert, just an enthusiastic amateur!

No, no KTOK link that I know of. KFNB was Oklahoma's 1st FM Stereo station, beginning in 1962 (licensed in 1961) ... it became KLTE and then KTST today. KTOK AM is much older ... I've not located its license date but articles in the Oklahoman in April 1937 indicate that it existed at least by that time. If KTOK's website contains its historical data, I didn't see it there.