Clayton Vaughn

You Said We Couldn’t Do It, But...

Former broadcast journalist Clayton Vaughn, now executive director of the Tulsa Historical Society, challenged summit participants to rekindle the art of “boosterism” that was so evident during Tulsa’s early days. “History teaches us that wondrous things are possible for those who would boost their community,” Vaughn said in recounting the early tactics used by Tulsa and other communities to build their towns.

Vaughn noted that Tulsa native and Pulitzer Prize winning historian Daniel Boorstin — in tracing American development after the Civil War — said a defining trait of settling the American west was “Boosterism.”

“In what would become city after city, a settler or small group of settlers would stop on the trail or the rail line, announce they had started a community, and invite others to join,” said Vaughn. “So it was with Tulsa.”

One who heeded the call and came to Tulsa around the turn of the 20th century was businessman George Williamson. Vaughn recalled that an oil field at Red Fork in what is now West Tulsa had just come into play. A railroad bridge crossed the Arkansas, but the men from Tulsa who worked in the oil field had to ford the river. There was no roadway across the water and Williamson felt Tulsa was limited. When he and his two partners made no headway in getting the city to construct a bridge, they got a federal franchise to build a toll bridge, formed the Tulsa Commercial Bridge Company, sold shares at $25 each, and raised $75,000. The bridge, Vaughn said, opened in early 1904 near 11th Street.

“Glenn Pool, the big oil strike, came in 1905,” he added. “Roughnecks and wildcatters riding trains in from the east could have gone on to Sapulpa, which was closer to the Glenn Pool, but the trains stopped here first, and Tulsa had that bridge across the river.”

Vaughn said he’s convinced the inspiration is here to make great things happen “if we will just remember George Williamson, who built his bridge over the Arkansas River and then put a sign on it that said, “You Said We Couldn’t Do It, But We Did!”

Boosting Tulsa Through Art Deco

The power of boosterism can and should be used today, and a prime example is “something Tulsa already has, Art Deco,” Vaughn said.“Sixty thousand Americans are expected to visit Switzerland this summer to stroll around four lakeside towns near the French border and look at architecture, specifically, the Swiss National Exposition,” Vaughn said. “Architours today are taking the place of the eco-tours of yesterday. Architects such as Gehry, Koolhaas, and Calatrava are ascribed the status of rock stars, and the trend has spawned a new growth industry.”

Citing statistics that said there’s a large clientele interested in looking at architecture, Vaughn said the architecture doesn’t have to be new, and Tulsa’s sizable collection of Art Deco buildings can compete easily with those of other cities such as the Art Nouveau and Art Deco in Havana, Cuba and Miami, Florida.

“There’s so much Art Deco in Tulsa that this city was host last year to the Sixth World Congress on Art Deco. Those gatherings started in Miami, where there’s no more or better Art Deco than here, but promoted so much it’s a major tourist attraction.”

Download the Printer Friendly version

Contents

Introduction

The Mayor’s Objectives

Small Group Discussions & Questions

Glen Heimstra
The Shape of Things to Come

William Hudnut III
A Vision for Urban America

Q&A: Hudnut and Heimstra

Clayton Vaughn «
You Said We Couldn’t Do It, But...

Rodger Randle
The Demographics of Today’s Tulsa

The Branding of Tulsa

Robert LaFortune
Investing in the future generations of our city

Mollie Williford
Volunteerism and the Arts

James Goodwin
Leaving No One Behind

Kathy LaFortune
Continuing the Vision

Credits