Institution

“J. E. O’Neil is known as a man who can get things done.”When the Oklahoma Railway Company’s University Line was built through this area the curved turn of the tracks on Highland Circle created this elongated triangular patch of land. Originally, it was little more than a scraggly weed patch neglected by the streetcar company. But J. E. O’Neil, who had moved to Oklahoma City a few years before, considered it an eyesore. He had come from Kansas City with its famous parks and gardens and he knew what needed to be done to this overlooked piece of land. O’Neil launched a one-man campaign to convince Anton Classen, who owned the Oklahoma Railway, to donate the land to the city for use as a park. Thanks to O’Neil’s perseverance Classen finally weakened and donated the land to the city.The park was intended to be ornamental and there was a decorative arch with the name of the park at NW 13 and Shartel which led to gravel walking paths through the plants, shrubs, and flower beds that adorned the park. You can still see the arch tucked into the trees on the north side of the beds. In 1955 the Oklahoma Art League donated a sculpture called “Indian Boy with Rabbit” by Joe Taylor which was carved from stone taken from the ticket office of the Oklahoma Railway terminal downtown. The statue was the target of vandals many times and was finally removed in 1967. Today it resides in the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee.John Emmit O’Neil was a member of the park board and the city planning commission for many years after this park was created. It was named in his honor just months after the land was donated in 1914.

O'Neil Park View Northeast from NW 13 and Shartel

The curved turn of streetcar tracks on Highland Circle created this elongated triangular patch of land. Originally, it was little more than a scraggly weed patch neglected by the streetcar company but resident J. E. O'Neil convinced streetcar owner Anton Classen to convert it into a garden park for the area in 1914.

O'Neil Park

Director

Hello and welcome to a cycling tour of Northwest Oklahoma City parks. This tour will cover Douglas, Crown Heights, Edgemere, Sparrow, Goodholm, Winans, O'Neil, Florence, Alice Harn, Pearl Mesta, Military, and Memorial Parks. You can begin your tour anywhere and follow the route along. At each park, stop and click the pin on the map to access a short recorded history of the park and pictures of the park, if applicable. Please exercise caution on this trip. Some parts may be on major streets or street crossings.

This park was originally part of a school land section that funded public schools by leasing the land to private individuals. About 1906, Grace L. Douglas held the lease on the quarter section between NW 43 and NW 50, Western and Walker, and she lived in a country house at NW 48 and Western with her three boys. In 1911 the state Land Office converted the land into an addition to Oklahoma City and, following established practice, they created Douglas Park in the Douglas Place addition, both named after Grace Douglas.Grace Douglas was a strong and industrious woman. She operated the farm on the school lease and she worked as a freelance draftsman in a time when women were discouraged from pursuing a career. Her mother-in-law, Julia Douglas, was a tireless civic leader who founded the first women’s club and was instrumental in creating the city’s first high school and the public library. Grace continued Julia’s civic work in the women’s club and volunteered for the Red Cross during the devastating influenza pandemic of 1918.Its sharp features have been smoothed by landscaping now, but this park was originally a natural draw which drained water into the Deep Fork River about a half mile north. The Deep Fork and its feeders made the landscape all around this area much different than that of the rest of the city. The playground area today was the top of a small bluff and the north and south sides formed a banked slope which formed the draw. In the 1940s an anonymous photographer documented this neighborhood on film when it was still scarcely developed and the area east of Walker was still wild country. In his notes, he described the area as, “the canyons and valleys of my youth.”

This park was originally part of a school land section that funded public schools by leasing the land to private individuals. In 1911 the state Land Office converted the land into an addition to Oklahoma City. They created the Douglas Place addition and included land for Douglas Park, both named after Grace Douglas who had held the lease on the land.

Douglas Park

If you look around this park and think that it reminds you of a golf course, you’re onto something. The land for this park was originally school lease land, but when the school land passed into private ownership, the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club landscaped one of the city’s first golf courses here. The clubhouse stood at NW 40 and Western and there were parts of three golf greens and tee boxes in the area of this park. When it was built in 1908, the club was considered very far from Downtown so members would ride the streetcar to the Belle Isle Station and waiting cars would whisk them over to the clubhouse.Eventually the city grew to encompass the club and developers like G. A. Nichols had a strong desire to use the land for housing. In 1930, Nichols offered the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club an offer they couldn’t refuse. He offered to trade the club this land for land he owned far away from the city at NW 63 and Western where he was building an addition of country estates called Nichols Hills. He sweetened the deal by offering to build a large and magnificent clubhouse as well.Nichols called this new neighborhood Crown Heights and he sold this land to the city for use as a park in 1931.

The land for this park was part of the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club and one of the city's very first golf courses. In 1931, this park that straddles both sides of N Shartel Ave was created from an area that encompassed parts of three golf holes and a natural ravine that drained the area.

Crown Heights Park

We commonly refer to this as Edgemere Park, but it was renamed Guy H. James Park in 1966. He lived for many years in a home he built on the edge of the park. James was an accomplished civil engineer who built dozens of dams, bridges, and highways all around the state. He was dedicated to improving Oklahoma City and served as a city councilman for Ward Two in the 1960s until his death in 1966. His passing led to the council appointing the first African American councilman in the city’s history to fill James’ term, Dr. Charles N. Atkins.Although the Edgemere Park addition was developed in the late 1920s, nearby Edgemere School opened in 1912. In the springtime, teachers had trouble keeping schoolchildren focused on their learning because of the enticing stream and large grove of oaks and cottonwoods that covered the park area, so class was often held outside if the weather cooperated. For that reason, the school was lovingly referred to as “the nature school”. An article from the Daily Oklahoman in 1915 described the park area as "flowered commons and groves of huge trees" where classes were held in the open and students took "great delight in their work in the shade of the giant oaks and cottonwoods which line the small streams."

Although the Edgemere Park addition was developed in the late 1920s, nearby Edgemere School opened in 1912. In the springtime, teachers had trouble keeping schoolchildren focused on their learning because of the enticing stream and large grove of oaks and cottonwoods that covered the park area, so class was often held outside if the weather cooperated.We commonly refer to this as Edgemere Park, but it was renamed Guy H. James Park in 1966.

Edgemere Park

Edwin Fontaine Sparrow was raised in Virginia, but around the turn of the twentieth century he won a government contract to operate as a merchant in Pawhuska in the Osage Nation. He soon moved to Oklahoma City in 1903 and invested in many business interests including meat packing plants, oil leases, and he was even president of a mining company in Arizona. On arriving in the city, he entered into a partnership with mill owner Andrew Goodholm to develop property. In what was considered a bold move at the time because it was so far from downtown, Goodholm and Sparrow developed this section of the Jefferson Park neighborhood between Robinson and Hudson.Goodholm &amp; Sparrow made use of a natural ravine running through the area to define the layout of streets and lots which created the unusual shape of this park and its sister, Goodholm Park. Originally, Goodholm Park was a “play” park with a baseball diamond, tennis courts and playground equipment and Sparrow Park was a “garden” park covered with flower beds and a large rose garden. The developers donated the land for these two parks to the city in 1909 on the condition that the parks would bear their names. But in 1927 a dispute arose among neighbors over the actual name of this park - some residents thought the actual name was Jefferson Park and not Sparrow Park. It took intervention by the city clerk to confirm that Sparrow Park was indeed the name and that Jefferson Park was only a development name and there had never been a park by that name in this city.

Sparrow Park makes use of a natural ravine running through the area to define the layout of streets and lots which created the unusual shape of this park and its sister, Goodholm Park to the south. Originally, Goodholm Park was a “play” park with a baseball diamond, tennis courts and playground equipment and Sparrow Park was a “garden” park covered with flower beds and a large rose garden.

Sparrow Park

Goodholm Park takes its name from Andrew Goodholm who was born in Filipstad, Sweden in 1861. Goodholm immigrated to Kansas in the 1880s and then to Oklahoma City in 1894 when he established the Acme Milling Company, the largest flour mill in the city. Goodholm also served on the city council and later formed a real estate company with partner Edwin Sparrow. For many years, long after the family had left Oklahoma City, the Goodholm residence stood at the fairgrounds and operated as a history museum.In what was considered a bold move at the time because it was so far from downtown, Goodholm &amp; Sparrow developed this section of the Jefferson Park neighborhood between Robinson and Hudson. The developers made use of a natural ravine running through the area to define the layout of streets and lots which created the unusual shape of this park and its sister, Sparrow Park. Originally, Goodholm Park was a “play” park with a baseball diamond, tennis courts and playground equipment and Sparrow Park was a “garden” park covered with flower beds and a large rose garden. The developers donated the land for these two parks to the city in 1909 on the condition that the parks would bear their names.

Goodholm Park takes its name from Andrew Goodholm who was born in Filipstad, Sweden in 1861. Goodholm immigrated to Kansas in the 1880s and then to Oklahoma City in 1894 when he established the Acme Milling Company, the largest flour mill in the city. For many years, Goodholm’s family home stood at the fairgrounds and operated as a history museum. Goodholm also served on the city council and later formed a real estate company with partner Edwin Sparrow.

Goodholm Park

John Franklin Winans lived on his Land Run homestead for nearly 50 years. The Civil War veteran of the Battle of Gettysburg lived to the age of 93, which he attributed to a 5 am jog around the farm, two vegetarian meals a day, and never consuming coffee, tea, alcohol, or tobacco. By the time Winans was ready to retire from farming and converted his land to a housing addition in 1907, the city had grown to the edges of his homestead between NW 16 and NW 23, Walker and the railroad.The park is in this unusual location away from the center of the addition because it forms the southern end of a planned string of neighborhood parks stretching from Winans to Goodholm, Sparrow, and Edgemere parks further north. It was once a wooded grove on Winans’ land and was known to be a favorite picnic spot for the 1889ers with plenty of shade and a cold water well for refreshment. Before the fire station was built in 1951 (rebuilt in the 1990s), this was a busy park with swing sets, a wading pool, tennis court, and bathhouse but today it’s an island of green near a busy intersection on a main pathway in and out of Downtown. You can still see the original sign that has amazingly stood the test of time for over 100 years.The land for this park was donated to the city by John F. Winans in 1910 and named in his honor.

This park was once part of a farm owned by John Franklin Winans who lived on his Land Run homestead for nearly 50 years. It was once a wooded grove on Winans’ land and was known to be a favorite picnic spot for the 1889ers with plenty of shade and a cold water well for refreshment.

Winans Park

This tree-lined parkway is the sister park of Alice Harn Park located at the western end of NW 15 street. Both parks were design features of the Harndale Addition developed by William Fremont Harn in 1910 and intended to slow traffic and add to the peacefulness of the neighborhood. Original plans called for this park to be an ornamental park with a flower garden, but today the most notable feature is the stone top from one of the towers of the Baum Building which formerly stood at Sheridan and Robinson downtown. Another piece of the building is located three blocks north at NW 18 and Shartel across the street from Perle Mesta Park.Florence Park is named for Florence Ogden Wilson who was the niece of William and Alice Harn. Florence never married and spent much of her life caring for her aunt and uncle before inheriting their substantial fortune. She became a generous philanthropist supporting education and the arts. She is also remembered for establishing the Harn Homestead as a history museum and education center for Oklahoma City.

Florence Park is named for Florence Ogden Wilson who was the niece of William and Alice Harn. Original plans called for this park to be an ornamental park with a flower garden, but today the most notable feature is the stone top from one of the towers of the Baum Building which once stood Downtown.

Florence Park

“The day is not far away when Alice Harn Park and Florence Park will be show places in this wonder city.”Alice Harn was the wife of William Fremont Harn, one of the most important real estate developers in early Oklahoma City, but she was a civic leader in her own right. She was a leading figure in the city’s early art scene as well as active in beautification efforts in the city. Alice Harn’s artistic influence can be seen in the development of the Harndale Addition west of Shartel between NW 13 and NW 16. There are landscaped streets on NW 14 and NW 15 and an unusual reverse Z-shaped street through the neighborhood. But the centerpiece is Alice Harn Park whose dogbone shape is unique among the city’s parks.The Harns donated the parkland to the city in 1910 on the condition that a memorial to Alice would be included at some time in the future. The round shape at each end of the park provides a natural brake for traffic driving through the neighborhood which adds to the peacefulness of the park. The original plan from 1911 called for the eastern end to have an open-air pagoda-like structure built over a sunken garden and the western end to be open play space. These features were never fully realized, but even so, in 1919 Alice Harn Park was considered one of the city’s “postal parks” because it looked beautiful on postcards of the city.Alice Harn died in 1931 and in 1936 the city fulfilled its promise to the Harns by employing the WPA to landscape the park and construct the distinctive red stone features seen on the eastern end of the dogbone. A monument was built with a plaque honoring Alice overlooking three stone circles. The center circle was a fishpond and the other two were for a terraced sunken garden surrounding the pond. Even though these features were never fully achieved, Alice Harn Park still fulfills its original design as an elegant, peaceful island in the city.

Alice Harn was a leading figure in the city’s early art scene as well as active in beautification efforts in the city. Her artistic influence can be seen in the development of the surrounding Harndale Addition. In 1919 Alice Harn Park was considered one of the city’s “postal parks” because it looked beautiful on postcards of the city.

Alice Harn Park

“You go to Perle’s and you know it’s going to be fun.”Those are the words of one of the many who attended Perle Mesta’s parties. For thirty years, beginning in the 1940s, Perle Mesta reigned over Washington, DC society, hosting expensive parties which brought together a mix of people with the sole purpose of having fun, “Whether I give a party in New York or London or Hollywood or Washington, I like to have guests who are in the thick of things,” she said.She was born Pearl Mesta (she changed it to the more exotic Perle later in life) in Michigan in 1889 and moved to Oklahoma City with her father William Skirvin, oilman and owner of the Skirvin Hotel which was also their family home. She left town in 1917 and married steel baron George Mesta who soon left her widowed with a substantial fortune which, when combined with her father’s inheritance, made her one of the wealthiest women in America.Perle moved to Washington because she was active in women’s rights and empowerment and she quickly learned she could increase her influence by bringing important people together in a relaxed atmosphere. She became very close to Presidents Truman and Eisenhower and Truman even made her Ambassador to Luxembourg. Her place in history was assured when legendary composer Irving Berlin created a Broadway musical based on her life, Call Me Madame, in which she was declared “the hostess with the mostes’.”This neighborhood was originally called University Addition beginning in 1902 but had fallen on hard times by the early 1970s. Neighbors came together then to form the Comeback Neighborhood Association to aid them in improving living conditions and in historic preservation. Each home received a plaque for the front porch when it was renovated and a quilt was sewn with a square representing each home. In cooperation with the City, Perle Mesta Park was created in 1975 on ground occupied by derelict homes. And in 1977 the Comeback association acknowledged that the neighborhood had indeed come back by officially adopting the name of the new park for their neighborhood association. Today Mesta Park is a visible reminder of what neighbors can accomplish when they work together.

“You go to Perle’s and you know it’s going to be fun.”This park and the surrounding neighborhood are name for Perle Mesta who was the daughter of William Skirvin and an activist for women's empowerment in Washington, DC. She was known for parties that brought together the most interesting people from around the world and was immortalized in song by Irving Berlin as the "hostess with the mostess'."

Perle Mesta Park

Real estate developer Israel M. Putnam didn’t plan for it to happen but the neighborhoods and parks he created in the early 1900s evolved into a compelling symmetry over 100 years later. Putnam was attracted to this area of the city during the construction of the streetcar line that ran along today’s Classen Blvd. around 1903. About one mile north of here he created Putnam Heights and built Putnam Park (now Memorial Park) next to it. South of that he built Military Park Addition, which got its name from the Oklahoma State Military Institute, a boys’ military school, at NW 36 and McKinley. This large neighborhood stretched all the way to Western Ave. and included a street that Putnam named Military Ave. which ran from Putnam Park to NW 23. After just two years the military school closed in 1905 but its namesake neighborhood and street live on.When the city renamed Putnam Park to Memorial Park to honor war veterans in 1928, people found it fitting that Military Ave. led to Memorial Park. About the same time, the land for this park was donated to the city and park officials followed tradition by assigning the name of the adjacent street to the park, thus this park became Military Park. This park served the surrounding neighborhoods for many decades, never more so than after the arrival of the Vietnamese community following the Vietnam War in the 1970s. The park became an important place for the community as they worked hard to make a new life in a new land and many residents still refer to the area around Military Park as “the Vietnamese heart.”As the neighborhood prospered and became known as the Asian District, Military Park was transformed into a memorial plaza to honor Vietnam War veterans from America and South Vietnam. The Vietnamese American Community of Oklahoma City raised funds to provide a statue called “Brothers in Arms” that depicts American and Vietnamese soldiers standing in solidarity. Today, over 100 years after I. M. Putnam developed this area Military Avenue appropriately connects the Vietnam War memorial in Military Park with Memorial Park.

“We want people to know in the future where the first Vietnamese settled when they came to Oklahoma. We want them to come here and see the best of Vietnam with the best of America.”Established in 1928, Military Park has from an irrelevant slice of land to a neighborhood park and ultimately the heart of Oklahoma City's Asian District.

Military Park

Throughout its life Memorial Park has shown great adaptability and resilience in serving Oklahoma City residents. It looks vastly different today from its beginnings as Putnam Park in 1902. Prominent attorney and real estate developer Israel M. Putnam created the park that bore his name at the end of new the streetcar line.Originally a playground for residents of his Putnam Heights addition, the park was just open prairie in those days. But Putnam provided a boating lake, gazebo, and picnic area for residents to enjoy. As the northwest side of the city grew rapidly, this large park became an important recreation area.As one of the oldest parks in the city, Memorial has changed and adapted alongside it. In the 1920s, the city debated the best way to honor the sacrifice of World War I soldiers such as a grand boulevard or a decorative arch near the Capitol. Finally, in 1928, it was decided the most fitting tribute would be to remake Putnam Park into Memorial Park to honor “soldiers of all wars and those of future wars.” The lake was replaced with a fountain that represents life and rejuvenation.In the 1930s, the Shakespeare Club created the stone monument that features a bust of the great writer. Originally the concrete oval nestled in the monument was a lily pond. In the 1950s the Kiwanis Club constructed the recreation center that now houses the Boys and Girls Clubs. In the 1960s and 1970s Memorial Park took on a new character as a center for the counterculture and it was not unusual to see hundreds of young people camping, protesting and demonstrating in the park. Now one of the oldest in the city, Memorial Park has an enduring place in the hearts of Oklahoma Citians.

Throughout its life Memorial Park has shown great adaptability and resilience in serving Oklahoma City residents. One of the oldest parks in the city, Memorial looks vastly different today from its beginnings as Putnam Park in 1902. Originally a treeless spot with a small lake the park evolved into a memorial for fallen soldiers and later a WPA show piece.

Northwest OKC Parks Historical Tour

O'Neil Park

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources