Springfield Missouri to Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City, it’s oh so pretty, as Bobby Troup’s 1946 Route 66 song lyrics told us. So the town had a lot to live up to for our arrival at this leg of the journey.

Well, according to our discussions with local folk, Oklahoma City was far from pretty at the time of the song and for many decades later, prior to much investment and redevelopment. But what we have found from our stay at the 21C Museum Hotel in the Arts District is that many of the personnel are ‘oh so pretty’ and delightful. This establishment clearly goes out of its way to employ a diverse range of people: well presented wine waiters with trouser hems finishing 6 inches above bare ankles, waiters with short hair one side and long curly hair the other, nose bones, lip jewellery, extra long false nails, see-through tops for the men and Dr Martens boots for the women. The creativity has been a joy to view, as has our hotel.

Our hotel, once a Model T Ford assembly site

The hotel building was once the most successful assembly plant for the Model T Ford car from 1916, designed by industrial architect Albert Kahn. By 1924 the Oklahoma City site was producing 200 automobiles a day, and employing several hundred workers. The Great Depression that followed from the 1930s hit the automobile industry hard and the decision was made to change production to small car components. This continued under the Ford Motor Company until 1967 when employee Fred Jones took over the building, running it as a wholesale parts distributor for Ford. By 2013 the Fred Jones Manufacturing Company vacated the premises and it became abandoned.

But all has not been lost. The 21c (21st century) Museum Hotel chain took over the building, retaining much of its original design, including its huge metal windows, brutalist interiors, industrial lifts that once transported completed vehicles, concrete columns, exposed painted brick walls and concrete ceilings. These features have been successfully combined with luxurious, light, bright, boutique guest rooms. It is now on the US National Register of Historic Places.

Columns have been retained throughout the building
Industrial lifts retained

To complement this, the hotel has continually changing modern art displays, most of which are designed to make viewers think and, on occasions, move out of their comfort zones, such as the taxidermied chicken wearing an angora rabbit fur, by artist Sarah Garzoni. But this all sits well with the ethos that lets the staff express their artistic nature too.

Taxidermy set to shock

When not touring around the inside of the hotel, we took ourself off to explore some areas of this vast Oklahoma City, some 621 square miles. Many of the visitor locations were spaced wide apart and we chose to view the nearby Botanical Garden. The indoor plant area was closed for renovation but the gardens were nicely planted with ‘right plant, right place’ advice helpfully placed around the walkways. The flowing waters made this a restful place to be around.

So taken were we with the water that we moved on to the nearby manmade canal, for a boat ride. This had been dug to 4 feet deep purely as a visitor attraction and we found out it was just a small, but attractive, part of a multi-million dollar investment in the town to turn the city’s fortunes around. From 1993, residents agreed to invest in the city via a MAPS project (Metropolitan Area Projects) which comprised a ‘penny sales tax’ which would be used to fund transformational projects, all debt free. More than $3 billion was raised by 2018, and the scheme continues today.

During the 45-minute canal ride we passed some of the most impressive sculptures we have ever seen, and later went for a closer look. The sculptures represented the first Land Run and comprised 45 larger than life bronze sculptures by artist Paul Moore.

Some of the action represented in the Land Run 45 bronze sculptures
Even a lost hat makes its way into the sculptures
Women were part of the Land Run. This lady holding her flag to stake her claim for land

The notorious and chaotic Land Run of 22 April 1889, saw 50,000 people rushing across unassigned lands of Oklahoma territory to stake their claim, via small hand-held flags, for free land. At the sound of a cannon blast at noon the prospective settlers surged forward on horses and in wagons to make their claim. For some it was not a good result, people were crushed in the melee, horses toppled and wagons turned over. This was the first of several Land Runs in the area over the years. The excitement and chaos has been so well represented in Paul Moore’s huge display.

Tomorrow we head for to Amarillo, some 300 miles from Oklahoma City.

Copyright: Words and photos Sue Barnard 2022