The title of "Oil Capital of the World" is often used to refer to Tulsa, Oklahoma. [1] [2] Houston, Texas, the current center of the oil industry, more frequently uses the sobriquet “The Energy Capital of the World.” [3]
In mid-19th century, when Pennsylvania was the first center of petroleum production, Pittsburgh [4] and Titusville [5] were considered oil capitals. In the later 19th century, before oil was discovered in Texas, Oklahoma, or the Middle East, Cleveland, Ohio had a claim to the title, [6] with 86 [7] or 88 [8] refineries operating in the city in 1884.
Tulsa claimed the name early in the 20th century, after oil strikes at Red Fork (1901) and Glenpool (1905) in Tulsa County. Many prominent oilmen lived in Tulsa at some point, including Josh Cosden, [9] William Skelly, [10] Harry Ford Sinclair, [11] Waite Phillips, [12] Thomas Gilcrease, [13] George Kaiser, [14] and J. Paul Getty. [15] Many corporations producing, refining or transporting petroleum had at some point their headquarters or major facilities in Tulsa including Texaco, [16] BP-Amoco, [17] Cities Service Company, [18] Sinclair Oil and Gas Company, [19] Skelly Oil Company, [10] Warren Petroleum Company, [20] the Williams Companies, [21] and Kaiser-Francis Oil Company. [22] In 1923 a group of Tulsa oilmen organized the first International Petroleum Exposition and Congress (IPE); among the IPE's stated purposes was to "firmly establish Tulsa for all time to come as the oil center of the entire world." [23]
Tulsa continued to be known and promote itself as the "oil capital of the world" into the 1950s [24] and 1960s. The IPE grew and reached its peak attendance in 1966, when the Golden Driller, a large statue symbolic of Tulsa's historical importance in the oil industry, was erected in front of the new IPE Building, then said to be the world's largest building under one roof. [25] By the 1970s, however, the IPE's success, and Tulsa's role in the international oil industry, had both eroded: Tulsa's last IPE was held in 1979, [26] while Houston has become the most prominent hub of the oil industry in the United States. In more recent times, Tulsa's continued use of "oil capital of the world" is often characterized as nostalgic or historical. [27] [28] But even today, energy is one of Tulsa's major industries, [29] and many of the city's professional sports franchises have petroleum-related names such as the Tulsa Oilers (ice hockey), Tulsa Oilers (indoor football), Tulsa Drillers (baseball), and Tulsa Roughnecks (now FC Tulsa, men's soccer).
In 2010, Tulsa officially designated the central part of its downtown as the "Oil Capital Historic District" for the purposes of a proposed registration in the National Register of Historic Places. [30] The district, at 36°09′04″N95°59′24″W / 36.151°N 95.990°W , is bounded by Third Street on the north, Cincinnati Avenue on the east, Seventh Street on the south and Cheyenne Avenue on the west. It was officially listed on December 13, 2010, under Criterion A for significance in Commerce. Its NRIS number is 10001013. [31]
The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to the Presbyterian School for Indian Girls, which was established in 1882 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, then a town in Indian Territory, and which evolved into an institution of higher education named Henry Kendall College by 1894. The college moved to Tulsa, another town in the Creek Nation in 1904, before the state of Oklahoma was created. In 1920, Kendall College was renamed the University of Tulsa.
Tulsa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 669,279, making it the second-most populous county in the state, behind only Oklahoma County. Its county seat and largest city is Tulsa, the second-largest city in the state. Founded at statehood, in 1907, it was named after the previously established city of Tulsa. Before statehood, the area was part of both the Creek Nation and the Cooweescoowee District of Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory.
Okmulgee is a city in and the county seat of Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area. The name is from the Muskogee word okimulgee, which means "boiling waters". The site was chosen because of the nearby rivers and springs. Okmulgee is 38 miles south of Tulsa and 13 miles north of Henryetta via US-75.
Burbank is a town in western Osage County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 141 at the 2010 census, a 9 percent decrease from the figure of 155 recorded in 2000.
Tulsa is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and is the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa metropolitan area, a region with 1,034,123 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Tulsa County, the most densely populated county in Oklahoma, with urban development extending into Osage, Rogers and Wagoner counties.
Sinclair Oil Corporation was an American petroleum corporation founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916. The Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation amalgamated the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corporation, Sinclair Oil reincorporated in Wyoming in 1976. The corporate logo featured the silhouette of a large green Brontosaurus dinosaur, based on the then-common idea that oil deposits beneath the earth came from the dead bodies of dinosaurs.
George Bruce Kaiser is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman of BOK Financial Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As of September 2021, he is the 476th richest person in the world and was, in 2012, one of the top 50 American philanthropists.
Harry Ford Sinclair was an American industrialist, and the founder of Sinclair Oil. He was implicated in the 1920s Teapot Dome scandal, and served six months in prison for contempt of Congress. Although this harmed his reputation, he returned to his former life and enjoyed its prosperity until his death.
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 45th-most populous city in the United States.
Robert M. McFarlin was an American oilman, cattle rancher, philanthropist, and businessman who is best known for amassing a fortune by drilling for oil near Glenpool, Oklahoma, with his nephew and son-in-law, James A. Chapman. He was among the early pioneer oilmen who established the state of Oklahoma as a center of the oil industry in the early part of the 20th century.
The Mid-Continent Tower is a 36-story skyscraper located at 401 South Boston Avenue in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. At 156 meters (513 ft) in height, it is the fourth-tallest building in Tulsa and fifth-tallest in Oklahoma. Faced with bright white terra cotta and crowned with a distinctive copper roof, it is one of the city's most recognizable buildings. The design is unique because the first 16-story structure was built in 1918. The top 20 stories comprise a separate structure, cantilevered over the first 66 years later. The architects of the addition matched the design of the original structure so carefully that the result is considered a single structure. It is included as a contributing structure in Tulsa's Oil Capital Historic District.
Gilcrease Museum, also known as the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, is a museum northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma housing the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West, as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America. The museum is named for Thomas Gilcrease, an oil man and avid art collector, who began the collection. He deeded the collection, as well as the building and property, to the City of Tulsa in 1958. Since July 1, 2008, Gilcrease Museum has been managed by a public-private partnership of the City of Tulsa and the University of Tulsa. The Helmerich Center for American Research at Gilcrease Museum was added in 2014 at a cost of $14 million to provide a secure archival area where researchers can access any of the more than 100,000 books, documents, maps and unpublished materials that have been acquired by the museum.
Skelly Oil Company was a medium-sized oil company founded in 1919 by William Grove (Bill) Skelly, Chesley Coleman Herndon and Frederick A. Pielsticker in Tulsa, Oklahoma. J. Paul Getty acquired control of the company during the 1930s. It became defunct when fully absorbed by Getty Oil Company in 1974, and the disused Skelly brand logo was revived by Nimmons-Joliet Development Corp. in 2012.
William Grove Skelly was an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the oil business. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, he moved to Kansas in 1916, then to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1919, where he founded Skelly Oil Company. By 1923, his company was one of the strongest independent producers of oil and gasoline in the United States. He helped organize the first International Petroleum Exposition in Tulsa in 1923 and became president of that organization, a position he held for the rest of his life. He was a founder of the Kansas-Oklahoma branch of the United States Oil and Gas Association, then known as Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States.
The International Petroleum Exposition (IPE) was a specialized trade fair held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at varying intervals from 1923 to 1979. Its main purposes were to display the latest oil industry technology, sell equipment and services, and to educate industry workers and the general public about the production of oil.
The Oil Capital Historic District (OCHD) is an area in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma that commemorates the success of the oil business in Tulsa during the early 20th century. During this period, Tulsa was widely known as "The Oil Capital of the World." The area is bounded by 3rd Street on the north and 7th Street on the south, Cincinnati Avenue on the east and Cheyenne Avenue on the west.
The discovery of the Glenn Pool Oil Reserve in 1905 brought the first major oil pipelines into Oklahoma, and instigated the first large scale oil boom in the state. Located near what was—at the time—the small town of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the resultant establishment of the oil fields in the area contributed greatly to the early growth and success of the city, as Tulsa became the petroleum and transportation center of the state, and the world.
Ketch Ranch House or Ketch Ranch was private property located in the Wichita Mountains of Southwestern Oklahoma. During the early 1920s, the forest reserve residence was established as a working ranch and vacation home for Ada May Ketch and Frank Levant Ketch who served as mayor of Ringling, Oklahoma.