Little Flower

[Doug Loudenback]

I've just seen the pics of the lights on the Oklahoma River bridges in another post ... truly wonderful ... and there are some "old" things that are, too, that are often overlooked.

In connection with a blog article I'm working on for the Oklahoma City Legacy of the Reinhart family ... http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...ys-legacy.html ... I've done some "field research" on some of that company's projects that are still standing.

One is Little Flower Church at 1125 S Walker built in 1927 ... Reinhart & Donovan were the contractors. I've always heard how beautiful the church was inside but not until yesterday when I was allowed permission to take pictures inside the church did I know what an absolutely stunning jewel that I'd been missing all these years ... I'd never been inside until yesterday.

So, if you haven't either, perhaps you will enjoy these images that I took yesterday (except the exterior pic which I took on Sunday). Enjoy the beauty!

Click on a link for a larger image ...

Outside looking southwest
Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49..._7_2007_02.jpg



Inside at ground level looking west
Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_01.jpg



Same view but from the choir loft
Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_02.jpg



At ground level looking at the altar & reredos
Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_04.jpg



Left from the altar
Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_05.jpg



Right from the altar
Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_06.jpg



Closer views of the altar & reredos
Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_07.jpg



Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_08.jpg



Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_09.jpg



Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...0_2007_04a.jpg



Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...0_2007_04b.jpg



Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...0_2007_04c.jpg



Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...0_2007_04d.jpg

[karlanee]

Wow!! What a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing that Doug!

[Karried]

That's is stunning.. I'd never seen it before..

Doug, thank you so much!

[Pete]

Thanks so much Doug!

I've been by there several times but at some point will make a special point to go inside.

[Doug Loudenback]

Thanks so much Doug!

I've been by there several times but at some point will make a special point to go inside.

My experience was that the church is not generally open. To get in during the day, go to the back of the church before 3:00 p.m. and ring the buzzer ... someone, probably a lady named Anna, will let you in.

[CCOKC]

Thank you for the pictures Doug. When I stayed at the Skirvin in April there were some old b&w pictures on our floor. I had no idea of the historical significance of this beautiful church until this year. In some of the preliminary plans of Core to Shore there was talk of putting a Mercado near the church and really making it a centerpiece for that part of downtown. I hope that can happen.

[Doug Loudenback]

Thank you for the pictures Doug. When I stayed at the Skirvin in April there were some old b&w pictures on our floor. I had no idea of the historical significance of this beautiful church until this year. In some of the preliminary plans of Core to Shore there was talk of putting a Mercado near the church and really making it a centerpiece for that part of downtown. I hope that can happen.

Yes, that would be nice. The facilities were built to serve the Latino community and what you suggest would be a worthy focus on this part of Oklahoma City's heritage and history. The facilities were managed by the Discalced (shoeless) Carmelite Order ... see The Carmelites

While the interior of the 1927 church is quite beautiful, and a new parish hall which serves overflow parisioners at Sunday mass has been built west of the old building, and while its grounds are kept up nicely, it strikes me that the parish itself has little wealth. It once had a school but that closed in the mid 1950s, and it originally had a clinic, also. The nuns and the male religious order that cared for the campus are long gone.

Norman Thompson (benefactor of my Springlake and Leo Sanders articles) allowed me to copy a 33 page original booklet which commemorated the opening of Little Flower on March 24, 1927. The booklet is pretty worn by age but is in reasonably good shape. I've scanned it and used the images to make a PDF file which can be downloaded by those interested ... but the file is quite large, about 21 MB, since I used high quality scans in putting it together. But, for those interested, here's the link: http://www.dougloudenback.com/misc/l...dedication.pdf

A few excerpted pages, but not as good quality as those in the PDF file (either in the small images below or in the 1024 px wide linked-to images), appear below.

Cover Page
Link for 1024 px wide image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_01.jpg



Looking Southwest
Link for 1024 px wide image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_12.jpg



Inside the church before the altar & reredos were built, showing a drawing where it would come to be
Link to 1024 px wide image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_15.jpg



Home of "Little Flower," a magazine published there
Link to 1024 px wide image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_16.jpg



The school
Link to 1024 px wide image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_20.jpg



School playground & an Okc support group
Link to 1024 px wide image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_21.jpg



The clinic with kids dressed up to look injured & the doctor that served them
Link to 1024 px wide image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_26.jpg



Other pages in the booklet show Bishop Kelley and various priests and nuns who were involved and give a history of the facility as well as a few pages of ads by those who helped complete it, such as the one below for T.E. Braniff, Braniff Investment Company, who built the Braniff Building downtown and who was a co-founder of Braniff Airlines. See T E Braniff for more about that.

Link to 1024 px image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_25.jpg



As I said, the small and medium sized images of the booklet are not as good a quality as those in the PDF file, but they are all at this photobucket address: DougLoudenback/catholicchurches/littleflowerbooklet - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

[so1rfan]

Great stuff Doug. I always enjoy your posts.

I find it so interesting that shurches and cathedrals here in Oklahoma City are so often locked up during the week and harder to get into than a bank vault.

Whereas in other parts of the country and the world, they are tourist attractions.

[Misty]

I enjoy your posts too Doug, but when I saw the picture of the nuns I started having flashbacks of Sister Fulgencia and my childhood! Yikes! Great pics.

[Doug Loudenback]

Thanks, guys! Misty, just for you (!) here's a pic of the nuns in the 1927 booklet ...

Click the link for a 1024 px wide version: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...eflower_13.jpg



So1rfan, about the churches being "open" or not, since I rarely venture into a church except when doing research for articles to do picture taking expeditions (I'm a lapsed Episcopalian) ... I can't really say which are commonly "open" or not during non-church times.

I can understand about Little Flower ... very valuable stuff inside in an area that isn't exactly "upscale" with only one or two staff people on duty ...

... but I found the same to be true when taking pictures of Our Lady of Perpetual Health, the RC cathedral, which is hardly impoverished ... 3214 N Lake Ave (its east side fronts Western) on the same day I took the Little Flower pics in mid-afternoon. Its beautiful "front doors" on Lake Ave were locked but when checking about entry and picture taking at the admin building, I was told to enter a "side door" which was open which I did. I was there because Reinhart & Donovan were the contractors for this 1923 structure also. Take a gander at the beautiful doors & the rose window on the west side ... simply beautiful! Click the links for better views ...

West side of Our Lady's showing the main entry
Click link for larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49..._7_2007_02.jpg



The main entry doors
Click link for larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49..._7_2007_03.jpg



Mosaic near side entrance on the south side
Click link for larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_02.jpg



The nave looking east to the altar ... it was dimly lit with 1 guy sitting in a pew
Click link for larger image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_04.jpg



One of the stained glass windows
Click link for larger view: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_03.jpg



The rose window looking west into the choir loft
Click link for larger image: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...10_2007_07.jpg