KTUL /CH 8 / COAL MINES/21-31-HARV TO YALE

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by booWorld

I've read that one of Bruce Goff's Art Deco buildings fell victim to a mine collapse at the fairgrounds.  A portion of the building began to subside into an abandoned mine.  The damage was significant, and the remaining portion of the building was demolished.

Merchants Exhibit Building, designed by Bruce Goff of Endacott & Goff, 1930:

Photo source:  Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library, Tulsa Historical Society

That is a wonderful picture booWorld, one of the best I have ever seen of the old grandstand at the fairgrounds.  I was only 2-3 years old when this grandstand was demolished, but I recall my dad (may he RIP) telling me stories of it and that part of it sank into coal mines on the fairgrounds. I think this structure was demolished around 1958-1959.  It was built surrounding the orginal fairgrounds racetrack.  The structure under the stands behind the art deco facade housed cafeteria, dormitory, and exhibit spaces.

[booWorld]

Merchants Exhibit Building, designed by Bruce Goff of Endacott & Goff, 1930:

Photo source:  Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library, Tulsa Historical Society

Steve:  It's the best photo I've seen, also.  The building description sounds interesting.  I'd like to see more photos, especially color photos.

quote:From Tulsa Art Deco, published by the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture, 2001, page 92:

The Merchants Exhibit Building (Endacott & Goff, 1930) was a new structure that was built beneath the existing grandstand of the fairgrounds.  The grandstand seats were the demarcation point, the building having to conform to the circumscribed space.  The grandstand was 685 feet long and 100 feet wide, and bore the distinction of being the longest building of its kind west of the Mississippi River.

The superstructure for the two-story building was of brick, concrete, and steel.  The unusual brickwork in alternating layers of dark and light tan was outlined in stone trim...The main entrance was dramatically [stepped] in a Mayan corbelled pattern...

Ornamental metal work and the specially designed light fixtures were made of stainless steel.  Lights were recessed into niches between each of the thirty-eight panels that made up the modernistic exterior.  Lights were also built into the stonework above the main entrance and the six supplemental entrances, and turquoise blue glass was used to create a dramatic effect.

The first floor of the building provided space for the exhibits, booths, wide aisles, and a spacious lobby.  The second floor was devoted to quarters for the exhibitors, dormitories, showers, and space for a later cafeteria...It was built near a coal mine, where mining activities had allegedly been confined to an area far removed from the site.  But the building was lost when half of it settled into the mine.

[buzz words]

how do you post those huge pictures?

[booWorld]

quote:Originally posted by buzz words

how do you post those huge pictures?

They aren't that huge, so I didn't try to re-size them.  I think Admin will scale down the size if they are too large.  I don't link to anything if I can't see the entire image on my screen.

It's been so long since I've read the procedure for posting images that I've forgotten the exact guidelines.  You should contact Admin, and they probably will post a sticky refresher.

[booWorld]

Aerial View of Fairgrounds, looking north:

Photo source:  Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library, Tulsa Historical Society

Here's another photo showing the Merchants Exhibit Building beneath the grandstand seating.  I'm assuming this photo was taken sometime after 1942 or so when the Armory building was completed but before 1958 or 1959 when Steve remembers the Merchants Exhibit Building demolition.

It appears as though the north portion of the 1930 Art Deco building had been removed by the time this photo was taken.  Perhaps that's the half which sank into the mine and the south half was demolished later.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by booWorld

Aerial View of Fairgrounds, looking north:

Photo source:  Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library, Tulsa Historical Society

Here's another photo showing the Merchants Exhibit Building beneath the grandstand seating.  I'm assuming this photo was taken sometime after 1942 or so when the Armory building was completed but before 1958 or 1959 when Steve remembers the Merchants Exhibit Building demolition.

It appears as though the north portion of the 1930 Art Deco building had been removed by the time this photo was taken.  Perhaps that's the half which sank into the mine and the south half was demolished later.

Another magnificent historic photo post BooWorld.  Although I was an infant when the original grandstand existed, I recall my dad telling stories of its demise.  I clearly remember when the IPE building was constructed (I refuse to call this structure the "Quik Trip Center" as it will always be the IPE building in my mind!)  My family, including myself, attended the original IPE building dedication in 1966; my father was in the insurance property/casualty busines, his main client being Kerr McGee Oil of OKC and other oil/gas interests.

The old Merchants/Exhibit grandstand was located approximately where Big Splash and the Microtel is today.  I have not heard of any problems they have had with excessive foundation settling, so I assume the coal mine issue is not much of a factor today for fairgrounds development.

As an historic note, at the bottom of the picture where the residential lot photo is cut off, is the location of the original Lortondale neighborhood model homes, at Pittsburgh & 21st Place.  You can just see the north swatch of these lots in the photo.  The original Lortondale model homes still stand today at 21st Place & Pittsburg as constructed in late 1953, although some are much altered from the original, and they were the original test/model homes for the modern Lortondale subdivision  built at 26th St. & Yale by famed Tulsa homebuilder Howard Grubb.  A way cool pic. Thanks.

[kennedy]

World prices for thermal coal, used in power stations, are likely to rise sharply in the next few years as China becomes a net importer of the fuel earlier than expected, says Mineweb. European coal prices have already risen to about $70 a tonne from $52 at the end of 2005, it adds. This should benefit mining companies such as Xstrata, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Meanwhile China's rush to produce the coal it needs from its own ramshackle mines is having tragic consequences.
Follow the link:http://www.lincenergy.us

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by kennedy

World prices for thermal coal, used in power stations, are likely to rise sharply in the next few years as China becomes a net importer of the fuel earlier than expected, says Mineweb. European coal prices have already risen to about $70 a tonne from $52 at the end of 2005, it adds. This should benefit mining companies such as Xstrata, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Meanwhile China's rush to produce the coal it needs from its own ramshackle mines is having tragic consequences.
Follow the link:http://www.lincenergy.us

[Michael71]

Anyone find it odd that Argus started this thread & never posted again?

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by MichaelWayne_71

Anyone find it odd that Argus started this thread & never posted again?

It was an active thread, but at one time the moderators would take old threads and delete all but the first response to save a few megabytes of space.  Very confusing when you want to research older topics.