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What Have We Been Up to This Month?
We were able to get everything ready for the Holidays! We are preparing for our Christmas Open House: "It's A Frankoma Christmas" coming up on Thursday, December 1st! We have a festive time! Come learn about Sapulpa township and how one of our beloved industries, the Frankoma, helped building Sapulpa! We will be having our Volunteer Luncheon next month, on Wednesday, December 7th. The museum will be closed during this time, as well. We have had a lot of amazing visitors coming into our museum! Some have come from all over the world, others have come from just out of town, wanting to learn more about the Christmas Chute, and had decided to stop by! Tourism: Furthest visitors from outside of Sapulpa:
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Then and Now Images of Sapulpa:
Located at 103 S Main St, a restaurant, inside the Kinley Building, operated and owned by Elizabeth Sapulpa, daughter-in-law to Sapulpa, the one our town is named after. Her restaurant was called Indian Café, and she served meals for .25 cents (approx. $6.51 today). The image may not actually be of the Kinley Building nor the restaurant, but its in the correct location around the right time period.
This Month in History:
Private First Class Phillip Coon, a decorated World War II veteran who survived the infamous Bataan Death March, was the Honoree during Sapulpa Freedom Parade in 2003. Coon was part of the Bataan Death March in April 1942, when a captured Allied force of 75,000 were marched more than 60 miles in sweltering jungle heat to Japanese prison camps. An estimated 21,000 died en route. Coon, a Sapulpa native and Muscogee (Creek) Native American, died in 2014.  Artifact of the Month:
In 1937, a time capsule was placed at the Washington School (now Admin Building). Within the capsule, many items were placed inside. One item was the beadwork made by an Euchee Boarding School student, Babe Harjo. Harjo made the beaded belt in April 1936. The beadwork is still attached to the paperwork that gave the description of the artifact placed in the capsule. The capsule was opened in 2007. We had three class reunions join us this month: Class of ‘62, ‘63, and ‘65. Thanks for coming in and visiting with us!
We’ve also have had many tourist around the world! Visitors from as far as England, Czech Republic, Poland, South Africa, and many others! Introducing “Sapulpa Founding Feathers” with Young Minds Big Ideas. It’s a scavenger hunt! Look for the blue feathers within the museum(s) and around town! Explore! Have you explored Sapulpa? The Sapulpa Founding Feathers is a project by Young Minds Big Ideas. Some of Sapulpa's youngest got together and decided to create a family, friendly scavenger hunt that would showcase what our town has to offer. What started as a group of kids cleaning up and volunteering around town has turned into a fun club for kids to get to know their town and learn about giving back. There are THIRTY 12-inch metal blue feathers hidden around town, with an 8-foot feather at Sapulpa City Hall. Tourism: The furthest visitors outside of Sapulpa are from:
Then and Now Images of Sapulpa:
J.R. Holmes joined the staff as principal at Sapulpa High School around 1919. Holmes would be appointed to be the next school superintendent in 1924. The new Holmes football field was dedicated in October 1927. “The field is one of the finest high school athletic grounds in the state. Its dimensions are 600x320 feet. In addition to the gridiron, the field can be used for baseball and track events. Sapulpa is one of the few high schools in Oklahoma which can boast a stadium of its own. Appreciation of the new field and athletics in Sapulpa was shown by the large crowd attending the dedicatory game.” In September 1942, a new field house would be open. “The new native stone structure is equipped with locker rooms for both the local grid squad and visitors. Shower rooms, a coach’s instruction room, ticket offices, and other conveniences are incorporated in the new building. The field house is pictured as an answer to a long felt need by the athletic department of the high school. It was constructed under the supervision of the WPA, Works Progress Administration.” In 2011, a new Sapulpa school, Holmes Park Elementary, combined Washington and Woodlawn Elementary schools. “The entryway is the centerpiece of the building, with stained glass and colored tiles made by the now-closed Frankoma Pottery, a Sapulpa landmark.” Another landmark“was taken apart, stone by stone, numbered and then put back together and now serves as the entryway to the playground area.” The stones belonged to the Holmes Park archway. This Month in History:
The U.S.S. Sapulpa was launched on October 1, 1919 in Oakland, California. Mrs. J.W. Hoover, wife of Dr. J.W. Hoover, traveled to California to perform the christening of the ship’s launch*. It was announced that “three cities in Oklahoma to receive the honor of naming one of Uncle Sam’s ships. Sapulpa is the one in her class, the other honors going to Vinita and Oklahoma City.” These three towns were the “first city in its class to complete the Fourth Liberty Loan and also to show that more than 20% of the population bought bonds.” *Note: The vessel never served in the Navy. Little is known what happened after the Sapulpa vessel was launched. A report came in on June 1, 1923, from Washington, D.C.: “The steel tanker ‘Sapulpa’ named after the county seat town of Creek County, Okla has been sold by the United States shipping board to the Cape Steamship Company of Philadelphia. The ‘Sapulpa’ is 9,759 deadweight tons.” Artifact of the Month:
Within our Creek County Courthouse display, there is a special display for lawyer, Thomas Blakemore, Jr. He graduated from Sapulpa in 1932, then he went on to Oklahoma University. For his graduate studies, he went to Cambridge University. This is his graduation cap from Cambridge in 1939.  What Have We Been Up To This Month?
We had a great turn out for the Cook Out during Cruise Night! Thank you for coming in and joining us for the wonderful evening. We also were blown away by the turn out during the annual Blowout Car Show. Thank you all for the amazing support and love you have shown us! We also have a new intern this semester! All our interns have been from either OU, UCO, TU, TCC, all either pursuing their undergrad or grad level degrees. In fact, our youngest intern was a Freshman at TCC - our very first intern. But now, our intern this semester is our youngest worker yet. She is a senior in high school. At the Sapulpa High School, there is a certain time period where students can go to work or take an internship or work on community service hours. Most of our interns take on one project given to them during their time here. One person worked on cataloging the yearbooks and city directories. Another person worked on the clothes in the storage room. Another person took on the task to research and update an exhibition. And others have chosen to work in archives. Our high school intern is working on photographs. The project is to scan the photos, digitize them, and catalog them in the computer. This way, if we needed to find a person or a certain building in a particular time, we will be able to simply type in that person's name or business, and be able to pull up all images with the corresponding keyword. This will help a great deal when it comes to research! Tourism: Furthest visitors from outside of Sapulpa:
Then and Now Images of Sapulpa:
The IOOF building on the corner of Dewey and Park. (Then, circa 1910; Now, 2021) IOOF stood for Independent Order of Odd Fellows which was a men's organization which promotes social and personal growth. The women's organization, Rebekah's, would later form with the same framework. The building had a cone that stood above the entrance corner is believed to have been made of copper. It is unknown when or why the cone was removed. |
DISCLAIMER
The information found on this page has been researched through Sapulpa (and area) newspapers, Sapulpa Historical Society archives, books, and photographs, Sapulpa yearbooks, city directories, and other local authors. Any other sources will be labeled and named as the research continues. Any mistakes will be noted and adjusted as needed. |
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