What was OKC like when it was young? I was just wondering, and what would a map of the city have looked like then? I know the North Candian River was lot bigger. I also know that North Broadway was like Westheimer in Houston, the focal point of activity in the city, and also a traffic migraine. I know that Capital Hill was THE suburb, and that the north side was just swell. It sort of resembled S. Tulsa before the area around the Paseo went downhill. But, beyond this, what was our city like? Why do I ask? The reason is because I also have an affinity for playing those sim city games (blame my son, lol) and I would like to recreate OKC, and I think that would be an excellant discussion here too. Just save your comments for the chat session later tonight, and do not post in here.

Thanks.

http://webinfo2.mls.lib.ok.us/okimages/okimages.asp

Look there. Great pictures.

http://www.okc.gov/planning/history/index.html

Also there.

Thanks for the link midtowner!! I still think the downtown area looks cool with the First National the tallest building. If I am not mistaken it looks like I-40 being built at the bottom of this pic.

http://webinfo2.mls.lib.ok.us/okimages/okimages.asp?WCI=ViewImage&WCU=000000232

No... that is rail. The Crosstown Expressway was built abouit 20 or 30 feet above those tracks. We have been discussing whther or not we will be screwed once they are demolished w/ the Crosstown Expressway. I don't really they are used much though.

Yes, that is I-40, assuming I am looking at the same picture (c. April 1964). That is about the time that it was built. There were quite a few at-grade railroad tracks next to the elevated portion back then. I beleive that is why they elevated the freeway, since going under so many tracks would have been very expensive. Steel prices and environmental awareness were also not the big factors that they are now.

You can also recognize the Santa Fe station and the building that now houses U-Haul.

I once saw a photo of what may have been a postal card, circa 1890, with a drawing of the nascent city, (NW) 7th and Santa Fe in the foreground. If you count the streets, the western boundary in those days was Walker, and the southern boundary was either (SW) 6th or 7th (hard to tell with my eyes and this old photo). Half a square mile, or about 1/1200th the size of the city today.

Last year I got to see a 1907 township map - the legally-defined township runs from Reno north to Wilshire, and Bryant west to May - and pretty much all the land was claimed, though only a small fraction of it was developed. I do know that the guy who owned the quarter-section where I live was still listed as a farmer in the 1925 city directory; my neighborhood wasn't developed until after WWII.