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Tulsa in the Teens: From Boomtown to Oil Capital

Home » Exhibits » Tulsa in the Teens: From Boomtown to Oil Capital

Although the decade of the 1910s was consumed with the oil business there was certainly much more to everyday life than petroleum production. Tulsans built houses, established businesses to support their growing city, founded churches and schools, and began cultural organizations. The “Tulsa in the Teens” exhibit showcases both the industrial and domestic sides of life as well as the photographs

and artifacts that represent the two. The gallery is filled with large-scale, historical images, clothing, home furnishings, objects from local businesses, and artifacts from the city’s educational, cultural and religious institutions. All of these items work together to help visitors experience what life was like in the early years of Tulsa.

NOW CLOSED – Open 2012-2013

View of downtown Tulsa from the southeast corner of 3rd & Main, c 1931
Tulsa women at the launch of the S.S.  Tulsa on July 26, 1919. The ship't sponsor, Lulu Crosbie, is third from the left.
1910s exhibit Model Ts
Tulsa children pose with their snowman and dog, 1910
Participants in the U.S. Boys Working Reserve
Cylinder record player
Looking west on 4th Street from Cincinnati, 1917
Family posing in front of their temporary oilfield house, 1914
Items related to Tulsa hotels
D. D. Wertzberger Cadillac dealership, c 1916
Tulsa street paving, c 1910
Central National Bank, 1910
Artifacts related to the Tuesday Book Club
Holmes Motor Sales Company, 1918
Looking south on Main from the Frisco Tracks
Items related to the S.S. Tulsa
Lilly Bakery and Lind's Market
Main Street Arch, 1910
Oil rig workers, c 1910
WWI uniforms
Construction workers pose in front of Pioneer Building, 4th & Boston, following its completion, 1911
Photograph of oil tank on fire. Inscription reads: "The Texas Co. - 37500 Barrel Tank on Fire. Struck by Lightning October 6th 1913."
stereoscope & cylinder record player in exhibit
Mowbray Undertaking & Funeral Home, northwest corner of 2nd & Cincinnati, 1912

10am – 4pm, Tuesday – Saturday
2445 South Peoria, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74114

918.712.9484

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Website Photography Credit: Jason Carrison