Vintage Downtown Map

... is in the works! (Update note 8/29/2009 ... see the new Vintage Map which is developing nicely.)

Since OkcHistory.com has "honored" Doug Dawg by linking to my now "stale-dated" clickable "Vintage" map of Downtown Okc (located in my website, not here in my blog ... unfortunately blog limitations make it impossible to place that clickable map here) ...

Click on the map to enter the clickable map page


... Steve Lackmeyer & Jack Money (owners of that website) have at the same time "shamed me" (not by their criticism but only by Doug Dawgz self-imposed analysis) into making that "Vintage Map" into more of what it really ought to be!

Soooo ... I've started to remedy that! My goals are (1) use a more accurate map and not just the one that I "drew up" myself (for this, I'm using a 1957 map which shows Okc as it existed before E.K. Gaylord was constructed on the east side of downtown and before Interstate Highways were in place); (2) expand the map's area to cover a much larger region than before (13th on the north, Wheeler Park on the southwest, Klein on the west and Stonewall on the east); and (3) in the expansion, show LOTS more "vintage" buildings and areas of "central-city" than I've shown before.

So, this new project is intended to be much more than simply "Downtown" but will include near-downtown stuff, as well, including all of "Midtown" and "Deep Deuce."

For example, on the west and southwest, Delmar Garden and Wheeler Park will be included ...


On the east, the relocated Douglass School (at NE 5th & High) will be; in "Bricktown", historic buildings like the original Douglass Schools will be; on the north the former Colcord Home and other buildings along 13th Street will be; and on the south the (still existing but unused, as such) Union Station will be shown.

Far from being "finished" but only in the works, this project will hopefully be done within 2 weeks' time. When finished, you will be able to "click" on any building identified in the new map and a separate web page will open showing the building and giving a brief description.

For accuracy, the new map is based on a "real" 1957 map I located at Doug Hamilton's booth at Antique Avenue Market. A preview of the new clickable map is shown below:

Click on the image for a full view


Building "color" will indicate its "use," e.g., "aqua" means a public building of some type -- schools, government, transportation, other public. This all may change before the "final" version is done, but you get the idea.

Because the map covers a much larger area than my "old" vintage map, it won't be possible to have readable "descriptive text" on the map but I'll find some other solution ... certainly as you "hover" your mouse over a building, a short description will appear, but I'll try to make something else that will work, also, such as a "list" of buildings or something else more user-friendly.

Sooo ... stay tuned ... this post will be updated as developments occur!