The Colcord Building

The Colcord Building was the vision of pioneer Oklahoma City resident Charles F. Colcord. Designed in the Chicago Style by William Wells, the Colcord was one of the first concrete and steel buildings in the city. Construction began in 1909 and completed in 1910. One of the first jobs held by Ralph Ellison's father, Lewis, was on the construction crew for the Colcord.

Lewis Ellison, Ralph Ellison’s father, found one of many jobs in the blooming new state of Oklahoma in construction of the Colcord Building. Erected by 1910, just three years after Oklahoma became a state, the Colcord was a building project with high aspirations that might very well have suited a man who had begun his youth with lofty ambitions. The structure itself had ambitions, too, namely, to withstand the kind of apocalyptic fires that had beset San Francisco in 1906. That fire had melted steel frame structures, and Charles Colcord hired workers experienced in concrete and steel work, many of whom were veterans like Lewis.“...[My father] worked as a construction foreman…and had a part in building the first steel and concrete building in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. Despite the ravages of Urban Renewal, some of the buildings are still standing in Oklahoma City, notably the Colcord Building, of which I possess a photograph of the topping-off ceremony. It was all of twelve stories, but in those days a miracle on that flat land…As a foreman he was to hire a number of boys who’ve now become prominent businessmen as water boys.”

Callahan, John F.. Conner, Marc C.. The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison. New York City, New York. Random House, 2019.

Lawrence Jackson. Ralph Ellison: The Emergence of Genius. New York City, New York. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002.