Society Sights (May 2020)

Then and Now Images of Sapulpa​

This month we like to show the then and now images of the Sapulpa Fire Museum, which this time last year, was affected by the Memorial Weekend 2019 tornado.

Insurance Commissioner Surveys Sapulpa Tornado Damage
Wednesday, June 5th 2019, 1:29 PM CDT
Updated:
Wednesday, June 5th 2019, 7:32 PM CDT
By: Amy Kauffman
SAPULPA, Oklahoma - Commissioner Glen Mulready, along with state and local leaders, is getting a first-hand look at tornado damage in Sapulpa. The EF-1 tornado ripped through the area last month causing major damage to trees, power lines, and homes.
One of the insurance commissioner's stops was to the Sapulpa Fire Museum. The entire roof of the 100-year-old building was torn off. Some of the debris and bricks are still left on the ground and because of all the rain, there's a lot of water damage inside.
Volunteers from the historical society are still working to move some artifacts out of the fire museum. The building is about 100 years old but was purchased by the historical society about 7 years ago.
They say they bought it so they had a place to store a 1938 retired Sapulpa city fire truck and a 1949 hook and ladder truck. There is also an old apartment upstairs that sustained the most damage because the roof was torn off.
The roof is tarped right now but there are still parts on the second floor where you can see the entire way through. The building does have insurance and there are a lot of donors, so the director of the historical society says they are in pretty good shape to start rebuilding, but with such an old building, it does come with some risks
"We will take a little bit of a hit but we will work on it over time. We have a lot of volunteers who work every day. We are a completely volunteer organization so we will be okay," said Sapulpa Historical Society Director Mike Jeffries.
The Sapulpa Fire Department says they had about 500 reports of damage from the tornado and that can be anything from a broken window to tree limbs down to a damaged roof.

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The Museum on the News