All my life, and going to Bomber Field all the time, Lions Park, and the original shopping center on 29th ... I never lived or thought much about the Original Mile ...
But last year I bought a house here and among a few neighbors , I heard some stories about the houses here in the Original mile and the early MWC dignitaries who lived here, built the houses, etc.

I had heard that when MWC was begun, that this was called the Model City because the way the neighborhood and convenience was designed... I believe there were even stories written about the Model City ...

I don't know alot about what it takes to make any neighborhood considered and designated as a "Historic Neighborhood" but I"m wondering the pros and cons of the Original Mile being given the Historical Neighborhood recognition.

If you aren't familiar, this is from Midwest Blvd on the east, Air Depot on the west, SE 15 on the north, and SE 29 on the south.

Thx
Julie

Hi Julie,

I'm also a home-owner in the Original Mile and you are correct- the history of our neighborhood is the history of MWC.

There were tons of stories written about the Model City - Bill Atkinson was a genius in design and marketing.

Here (if you or someone else hasn't seen) is a brief history of MWC (http://www.midwestcityok.org/history.htm). Googling will get you a lot more.

Also - another link with promise - a study of the MWC Original Mile (http://www.crossroads.odl.state.ok.us/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/stgovpub&CISOPTR=3545&CISOBOX=1&REC=6)for historical purposes. I'ms still going through the hundreds of links from this one!

Here is the jackpot - a 50 page study, in .pdf, concerning the recommendation for the OM of MWC to be made a Historical Neighborhood.

The Study (http://www.crossroads.odl.state.ok.us/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/stgovpub&CISOPTR=3545&filename=3728.pdf#search=%22Neighborhood%22)

If designated. I'd like to see a few improvements first, and perhaps a few city ordinances on property upkeep and so forth.

I agree - plus since the 29th Street improvements/Town Center, I'm not sure we meet the requirements now.

Just reading the history in full - with the dates and plans for each addition, the type of construction and why, etc, was fascinating. I found out my house was built with oak floors! Who knew?

It's a long read, but a great one for anyone who lives or has lived in the OM. Now we know why the Gaylord family doesn't like the Atkinson clan.

Yeah, I think it's awesome that a small MWC newspaper fought so hard against the Gaylords and pissed them off so much. The Oklahoma Journal was never really a toure de force, but it made it's impact for sure.

I would really love to see that designation as well, but I agree that the city needs to step in and do some ordinance work to clean parts of it up. It's still a VERY large area of development, even with 29th chopped off, so I'm pretty confident that it would be able to still meet the requirements. Plus, 29th did incorporate some of the old design concepts into it. You definitely can't speed through Towne Center, which is the whole reason why that neighborhood has such crazy streets.

You can speed through towncenter... it's called hauling butt across the parking lot.

So you're apparently running all the stop signs and jumping the speed bumps huh?