Year 2 In Review

The Articles. Here’s a synopsis of articles posted since July 15, 2007, through July 11, 2008.

THE CENTENNIAL. First and foremost, Oklahoma’s Centennial occurred during the past 12 months, and was it grand! I certainly was not able to cover it all, but several articles had the Oklahoma Centennial as their focus:

• The 10/14 Centennial Parade
• A 3-Day Centennial Tour in the Oklahoma City metro, as follows:
• The 11/15 Sunset Ceremony event in Guthrie
• The 11/16 Centennial Spectacular in OKC
• The 11/17 State Art Collection Opening
• The 11/17 Oklahoma River Parade

NBA In OKC! After a couple of years of false hopes and expectations, the “impossible” did occur — Oklahoma City did become a “Major League City!” Even if bordering on the surreal, and even if I keep pinching myself to be sure, it did happen! Last year’s blog articles focused upon our Hornet’s Legacy, Sleeping in Seattle, and such. Self-proclaimed writers, such as the self proclaimed ultra-wise Greg Doyel said in 2006 that it would never happen — Oklahoma City would never, never, never become an NBA city. “It’s not gonna happen,” he said. His counterpart in that article, Greg Wyshynski, was proven more prophetic, because it did happen!

These developments received Doug Dawgz insatiable interest in this topic vis a vis the following articles during the past 12 months:

• After PBC’s purchase of the Sonics and the 10/31/2007 passing of its drop-dead-date for getting an up-to-date-arena in the Seattle area, and while the Hornets were still on shaky ground in New Orleans, I wondered, “Where are we?” in this article
• Then, after Mayor Mick’s announcement which proposed a referendum on improving the Ford Center and building a practice facility, I went ape-shit crazy about that: here (discussing the proposed ordinance), here (in this unabashed pro-vote video), here (in this exposé of a non-Oklahoma website acting as though it wasn’t), here (at the Buffalo Wild Wings All-Star Watch Party), here (on why Berry Tramel finally got it right), here (Roy Williams making his pitch at Café do Brazil) was then posted, here (at the pro-vote Bricktown Bash), here (at the Chamber’s “Breaking Through” luncheon featuring Rick Horrow), here (wondering out loud, “Can it fail,” giving Tulsa as an example as to how that was possible), here (relishing in the Tuesday vote, “We Are The Champions”), here (detailing the vote precinct by precinct), here (looking at a 2004 study evaluating OKC’s NBA viability and PBC’s 3/14 Letter of Intent), here (press conference after the NBA relocation subcommittee gives OKC glowing marks), here (giving special thanks to non-Okies (e.g., Chris Van Dyk) for helping us Okies out), here (discussing closely the Howard Schultz litigation), here (discussing OKC’s mayoral history about how this all happened), and here (showing off OKC’s team players).

SOME GREAT MAPS. I’m a map lover, to be sure, and during the year I posted a few that I either planned, owned or came across, they being …

• the still undone “vintage downtown map” I hope to produce, OKC street map history, presenting several vintage maps, a 1905 high-resolution map from the Library of Congress, and an 1892 high resolution map, also from the LOC.
• Oklahoma’s Centennial Highway Map, an interactive clickable road map of the entire state

ARTS STUFF. Arts and arts-related projects are part of what makes a city “a city” and gives it soul and character. A few such events were covered during the past twelve months:

• The State Arts Collection at the Capitol (with video)
• The Art Train traveling exhibit of Native American art
• The downtown Arts Festival

BUILDINGS. Several historic, and planned for, buildings were covered during the year. They were:

• St. Anthony’s Hospital (and other early hospitals, too)
• Fidelity Bank’s history
• OKC’s downtown library history
• Tall Buildings, showing 100 past and present 8-story or higher buildings
• First National Center and First National Archives & Today
• My Postcard Collection (mostly buildings)
• The Gladish Building — a mystery solved
• Major upgrade to Downtown Theaters (still not quite done)
• March Madness, focusing on Devon’s planned skyscraper

AREAS OF THE CITY. A few articles focused on important historical areas of Oklahoma City, past and present.

• Oklahoma River — Centennial Regatta
• Mesta Park video & history, and the tour with larger images: NW 16th & 17th Streets, NW 18th & Mesta Park’s Park, NW 19th & NW 20th Streets, and NW 20th & NW 21st Streets
• Myriad Gardens — History & Today
• Council Grove

TRAINS & TROLLEYS. Oklahoma City’s trains and trolley history is a work-in-progress and will be substantially expanded after this post, including updates to at least a pair of posts and the final installment of OKC Trolleys. But, a lot was done during the past twelve months:

• Trains & Trolleys Introduction
• Trains Part 1 — the earliest days & train maps
• Trains Part 2 — more train maps; 1920s through present; a downtown divided; the 1923 great floods; Union Station; Santa Fe Station; No Trains; Trains Return (Amtrak); Remnants & Train Museum
• Part 3 — my introduction to the Dean Schirf Collection, his articles, Greater Chamber of Commerce photos of Union Station and Rock Island images, and Amtrak
• Part 3A — Photos & history by Dean Schirf, train afficionado extra ordinaire (to be updated in a few days)
• Trolleys & Interurbans Part 1 — from the earliest days to around 1910 or so; Part 2 will be done during blog year 3

BIOGRAPHIES & SUCH. Sometimes famous, sometimes not, these stories focus on people who have significantly contributed to Oklahoma City’s history. This past year, these items were done:

• Anton Classen mini-biography
• John Shartel mini-biography
• The Reinhart Family Legacy, Part 1 — Introduction and Part 2 — Martin Reinhart with more on him and his sister, Theresa, to come in the upcoming months

MISCELLANEOUS OTHER STUFF. Articles not falling into any of the above particular groups were done, also. They include:

• Chicken-in-the-Rough update
• OKC history book update
• Ed Overholser & his dad update
• Preview of my upcoming Springlake book (Arcadia) and thanks to those who helped with their own anecdotal memories
• The Wichita Mountains — an off topic look at the Wichita Mountains near Lawton, complete with topo maps
• A major ice storm that shut the city down
• The NEW Downtown Guy — Steve Lackmeyer’s new downtown blog
• My Jib-Jab Christmas Card to OKC, a parody of It’s A Wonderful Life featuring faces familiar to Oklahoma City

That’s about it for Year 2 in review, and my thanks go out to those of you who visit and comment and have supported this endeavor. The past twelve months have been a heck of a great year for Oklahoma City’s history, past, present, and that which is yet to come! By the time Year 3’s summary is posted, the OKC “somethings” will have enjoyed its first NBA season, we’ll have an image of that great new Devon skyscraper, biggest in the state, and much more! Stay tuned … Doug Dawgz prediction is that Year 3 will be even better than this fantastic year has been, and that’s saying a heck of a lot!