Showing posts with label Tulsa Oklahoma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tulsa Oklahoma. Show all posts

Monday, August 14, 2023

Tuesday, August 14, 1923. The Kemmerer Mine Explosion.

Today In Wyoming's History: August 141923  An explosion at the Frontier Mine in Kemmerer killed 99 people. 

The explosion was caused, it is believed, by a fire boss attempting to relight his flame on a safety lamp by striking a match.


The death toll was smaller than initially feared due to quite a few workers being out for vacation.

The British Marine Air Navigation Co. Ltd. commenced the world's first flying boat passenger service.  The flight was from Woolston, Southampton to the Channel Islands.

Martial law was declared in Tulsa due to a KKK murder of an accused drug peddlar.

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Friday, July 27, 1923. Casper living on Tulsa Time?


The analogy wasn't as wacky as it might seem.  

I've been to Tulsa, FWIW, and I don't dislike it. A typical Midwestern city.

Or perhaps more accurately an Oklahoma, north Texas city.

I would not care to live there, mind you, but Tulsa is not a bad city.

Courthouses of the West: Tulsa Municipal Building, Tulsa Oklahoma:

This is the Tulsa, Oklahoma Municipal Building which housed Tulsa's government between 1917 and 1960.  While I'm not certain that it housed a courthouse, it has that appearance, and I strongly suspect that the city's municipal courthouse was located here.  This building no longer houses Tulsa's city offices.

President Harding arrived in Seattle and gave a speech at the University of Washington's Husky Stadium.  

It would be his last.

FWIW, I have not been to Seattle, save for McChord AFB, and only briefly.

The Republican Party, anticipating another speech, announced that Hardin's speech from San Francisco, scheduled for July 31, would be broadcast nationwide on the radio.

The Federal Archives list these photos of a Martin MS-1 that the Navy was experimenting with.  The concept was to carry the biplane on a submarine, something that proved viable, and while the U.S. Navy gave up on it by World War Two the Japanese did not.


The Imperial Japanese Navy would, in turn, use submarine born monoplanes to attack the U.S. West Coast, albeit with no success.

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

June 2, 1921. Riding the tiger.

The United States Naval Academy's Class of 1921 graduated on this day.  Dignitaries included President Harding and Gen. Lejeune.






The class was the last of the Great War accelerated classes to graduate and, given the date of its graduation, those who remained in the service were right at the twenty year mark, when military retirement was first changed to allow for retirement at that age in an effort to encourage the retirement of older officers as the US built up its military for World War Two.  Not surprisingly, therefore, this class saw a significant number of combat losses due to World War Two, although it also saw a surprisingly large number of losses due to interwar accidents as well.  

The disastrous violence in Tulsa hit the news everywhere on this day in 21.  

The IRA emerged victorious from one of the numerous raids that were a feature of the Anglo Irish War, a guerilla campaign that saw more raiding than Customshouse burnings.  In this instance, the Royal Irish Constabulary suffered 8 killed and 16 surrendered.

On the same day J. C. Leyendecker's Life magazine illustration featured a comely lady wearing what we'd call a bikini top, sitting on tigers.  Ostensibly an animal trainer, the riding the tiger and salaciously depicted female figure seems now like a sign of the oncoming, and long range, times.

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

June 1, 1921. The Second Day of the Tulsa Massacre.


On this day in 1921 marks the second day of the rioting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1920.  It was the day that fires destroyed what was labeled Black Wall Street.


The event, which began two days prior, has been termed the Tulsa Massacre.  We discussed the origins of this event in our post on 1921 yesterday.

Monday, May 31, 2021

May 31, 1921. The Tulsa Riot.

On this day in 1921 two days of disastrous rioting occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma, directed at the city's prosperous African American community.


The nightmare commenced when a young black man, Dick Rowland, age 19 was briefly arrested the day prior on suspicion of the assault of Sarah Page, maybe age 17. 

The originating event remains obscure as Rowland, a shoeshiner, and the Page, an elevator operator, were present in an office building which otherwise seems to have been supposed to have been closed for Memorial Day.  What's clear is that Rowland was taking the elevator to a floor of the Drexel Building, where Page worked, as it was the only nearby restroom that accommodated blacks.  What happened isn't clear, but the most common theory is that Rowland lost his footing in the elevator, with elevators of the era being somewhat difficult to operate, and that he reached out to Page to steady herself.

A woman's scream was heard and the young man ran from the building.  Somebody reported the incident to the police, but it isn't clear whom it was.  Rowland was arrested but the police later released him as they did not find anything supporting a charge.


While released, the young man took refuge in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, sometimes billed "The Black Wall Street" due to its prosperity, in the home of his mother or step mother.  The event hit the press and black residents soon feared for the results. Dick Rowland was arrested again and a local newspaper claimed he would be lynched, a reasonable fear. Armed black residents took up positions to protect him against a feared assault at the courthouse.


With this having occurred, large numbers of white Tulsa residents also took up arms and ultimately confronted the black residents trying to provide security at the courthouse.  Shots were fired and the riot commenced, resulting in the attack upon the city's Greenwood district.  Early in the morning of June 1 fires were started in the district and it seems that private aircraft, some potentially carrying policemen, circled overhead with some of the planes having passengers who may have shot at Greenwood residents and dropped Molotov cocktails.  The number of people killed in the riot has not been precisely determined.  The devastation to the district was massive.

Oklahoma National Guard truck with wounded.

Ultimately, order had to be restored by the Oklahoma National Guard, which was done with some difficulty.  Around 6,000 black residents were detained and numerous black residents of Greenwood left homeless.  No whites were arrested or prosecuted, although the Tulsa chief of police did lose his position as police inaction was a final straw on a long list corruption complaints against him.  

Rowland was released from custody in September after Page wrote a letter to authorities noting that she did not want him prosecuted.

Of Rowland and Page nearly nothing is known.  There's been speculation over the years if they knew each other, and if they even had a relationship of some sort, although there's nothing to support that. Rowland was well liked and known to local lawyers who did not believe the charges against him.  After the event, he simply disappeared from history.

About Page, this was her only entry into history.  Normally noted as being 17 years old there's even speculation that she was a 15 year old divorcee.  She simply showed up as an unknown figure in this tragic event, and then disappeared again.

The US Railway Labor Board announced that railroad employees would face a 12% reduction in income.

The Arapahoe Peaks in Colorado were photographed.

Arapahoe Peaks and Glacier.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Tulsa Municipal Building, Tulsa Oklahoma

Courthouses of the West: Tulsa Municipal Building, Tulsa Oklahoma:

This is the Tulsa, Oklahoma Municipal Building which housed Tulsa's government between 1917 and 1960.  While I'm not certain that it housed a courthouse, it has that appearance, and I strongly suspect that the city's municipal courthouse was located here.  This building no longer houses Tulsa's city offices.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Monday, March 8, 1909. Hold up on those Navy Yards.

Tusla, March 8, 1909.

President Taft rescinded President Roosevelt's executive order closing the Navy Yards at New Orleans and Pensacola.

California's new Bank Act was signed into law. The act contained a bizarro loophole that gave the Bank of Italy an advantage in opening California branches, which it exploited to create the gigantic Bank of America.

We just noted National Women's Day, but on this day, the first International Women’s Day was celebrated in New York, again sponsored by the Socialist Party.

Messenger boys, New Haven.   March 8, 1909.

Last prior:

Thursday, March 4, 1909. Taft inaugurated.