FRN of Tulsa LLC history

In 1930, the Library established the first bookmobile in Oklahoma.

In 1932 the North Boston Branch opened.

Florence Park opens in new building, expanding service begun with trailer in 1951.

Note: In late 1952, a small group of veteran actors from Tulsa Little Theatre began meeting.

“Library of the Future Is Here Today” exclaimed the Tulsa Tribune when the Florence Park Library opened in January of 1955.

1957 — Tulsa takes its first halting steps to desegregate its schools in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education.

The two-story building was leased to the Tulsa City-County Library (TCCL) system when the system was started in 1962 and continued to serve as the downtown community library for many years.

When it opened in 1963, the Nathan Hale Library was the largest branch in the city.

In 1964, The Woodland View Library opened in a strip center at 61 st & Lewis with Pat Woodrum as the Librarian.

Both Apache Circle and Greenwood closed when Seminole Hills opened in 1967.

Note: Alwilda Millikin Owings was a former Tulsa philanthropist who died January 21st, 1973 in Santa Barbara, California, where she had lived for 27 years.

A group of twenty-four civic-minded ladies and Claude Miller, the spokesperson, formed the Sperry Friends of the Library Group in 1975.

A larger building, formerly a feed store at 228 E. Rogers, became available in 1976.

Bates/LZW, Architects, designed the 6,100 sq. ft. building and it opened in 1994.

My Life and An Era: The Autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin (1997) by Buck Colbert Franklin

The Page Memorial Library was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

TCCL built a new 5,300 sq. ft. brick building in the wooded setting in 2001 and named it the Charles Page Library.

2005 — The United States Supreme Court refuses to hear a case filed by race massacre survivors seeking reparations.

In December 2007, TCCL staff successfully completed the Centennial Project.

2010 — John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park opens, detailing Tulsa’s violent racial history.

Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District (2014) by Hannibal Johnson

28, 2018 — The Washington Post publishes a front-page article about the unresolved questions about the rampage, prompting Tulsa’s Republican mayor, G.T. Bynum, to reopen the investigation into whether there are mass graves.

23, 2019 — Tulsa begins searching again for evidence of mass graves, with scientists, including forensic anthropologists, using ground-penetrating radar at Oaklawn Cemetery.

3, 2020 — Tulsa announces it plans to dig for suspected mass graves in Oaklawn Cemetery, but delays the excavation because of the coronavirus pandemic.