A Tale of Two Energies

I took a number of photographs to see and show the status on goings-on downtown this morning, Saturday December 18, 2010 — one set to view what was going up and the other to view what was coming down. These are they, without much particular comment other than links to what has been said before.

In this post, click any image for a larger view.
Going Up      Coming Down
GOING UP — DEVON ENERGY TOWER. There was probably not one Oklahoma City citizen who was not busting his/her vicarious city-pride buttons when Devon Energy Corporation announced its intention on August 20, 2008, to build its new corporate headquarters tower on downtown space formerly occupied by nothing other than a parking garage and spaces, if city authorities agreed. This would not be just any other building but it would be the tallest building in the state and, without serious challenge, the most beautiful. Some skeptics did doubt, though, that it would ever get built.

Devon Energy has proven good to its word. Groundbreaking did occur on October 4, 2009, and construction progress has been nothing short of amazing. The photos below begin with the groundbreaking, another about a year later on October 9, 2010, and then those taken this morning on December 18, 2010. The project is on-schedule to be completed in 2012, a year and a few months after the date that today's photos were taken.

Groundbreaking on October 4, 2009


Progress since ground breaking has been chronicled well in OkcTalk.com's construction cam thread and its ongoing construction thread.

Progress as of October 9, 2010

Photos on December 18, 2010

COMING DOWN — SANDRIDGE DEMOLITION. The establishment of the SandRidge Commons proposal met with less enthusiastic community support for various reasons, not the least of which being that it would authorize the destruction of several historic downtown buildings, including the oldest still standing. Nonetheless, the project was approved and several historic structures have been and are being demolished as part of the plan. The photos below show the almost complete demolition of the Oklahoma City Savings & Loan Building and empty spaces where the old Kermac and YMCA buildings once stood. The soon to be razed 1902 India Temple is shown in the background of the 2nd and 3rd photos, below.

I've already added my observations about this project and no useful purpose is served by repeating them here. At this point, the best that can be hoped for, now that the damage has been and is being done, is that SandRidge Energy will finish what it has irrevocably started even though it is under no obligation to do so.

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2010 Paseo Arts Awards

Fourth Annual
Paseo Arts Association Awards

This reports and gives photos of the Fourth Annual Paseo Arts Association Awards Ceremony & Banquet held at the Oklahoma History Center on November 11, 2010 — though I'm tardy with this, it was a great event and I'm pleased to have been a guest of one of the recipients. More about that shortly.

Click Here To Jump To The Awards
All of us know full well the Paseo Arts District and neighborhood bounded by NW 27th & NW 30th Streets and Lee and Walker Avenues — though its formal boundaries may extend a bit beyond that — and we certainly know about its Annual Art Festival held every Memorial Day weekend. For more about The Paseo, visit its own website or read more of what I wrote in 2007 in this article. Heck, great stuff goes on at The Paseo all year long.

The esteem given The Paseo isn't just local, either — it received the American Planning Association's "Great Places in America -- Neighborhoods" in 2010, one of only 10 neighborhoods so honored and the only Oklahoma neighborhood ever chosen for the APA award. See Steve Lackmeyer's October 20, 2010, article for more about that.

But, until this year, I was unaware that the Paseo Arts Association also gives annual awards, the event on November 11, 2010, being the fourth year for such awards to be given. Probably I would have continued in that ignorance but for the fact that my wife, Mary Jo Watson, received one of this year's awards. Of course, I attended and went camera in hand.

I apologize to all of you shown below for not naming you, especially those that I met that evening but have since forgotten your name. I'm not as good a reporter as Steve Lackmeyer is but Steve didn't make this particular event.

Click on any photo for a larger view.

Steve's article was prominently displayed'
John Belt, The Paseo's Contemporary Developer
Music By Pianist Joel Forlenza
Paseo's Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan Greeters Casey Tisdale & Patrick Wilson
The Reason I Am Here
Carol Beesley & Joy Reed Belt	Carol Beesley & Joy Reed Belt
Carol Beesley
Doris Bewley (right)	Mary Jo Watson & Doris Bewley
Milo Borges, Amber Sharples, Netha Cloeter	Netha Cloeter & Mary Jo Watson
Malia Bennett	Mary Jo, Malia & Steve Bennett
Meg Salyer & Gary Marrs
	Julia Kirk & Mary Jo Watson
These three are for Dustbury's Chas. Hill, if he is watching

The 2010 Award Winners. After socializing, it was time for a sumptuous dinner and presentation of the awards. I'm using images from the event's booklet for these pictures.

Romy Owens Emerging Artist	Steven Kovash Volunteer Service	Gayle Curry Michi Susan Award
Laura Warriner Lifetime Achievement	Ken Busby Lifetime Achievement	Mary Jo Watson Lifetime Achievement
Katherine Liontas-Warren, Artist of the Year

I did, however, take one last photo,
this one of my very happy wife wearing her prize ...



Previous years' award winners are:

1. 2007: Michi Susan, Artist of the Year; D.J. Lafon, Lifetime Achievement
2. 2008: Sue Clancy, Artist of the Year; Mark Lewis, Artist of the Year; Sue Moss Sullivan, Michi Susan Award; Betty Price, Lifetime Achievement; Tom Lee, Special Recognition
3. 2009: Sandy Martin, Volunteer Service; Carl Shortt, Volunteer Service; John Seward, Michi Susan Award; Bert Seabourn, Lifetime Achievement; Regina Murphy, Lifetime Achievement

The event was attended by Susan Shannon of KGOU-FM, the University of Oklahoma's National Public Radio station. Part of her November 22, 2010, "Indian Times," a regular production of the station, included her interview of Mary Jo's daughter, Malia Bennett. I have cropped that 2 minute 22 second program segment for your hearing, below.

It was a wonderful evening and, like Mary Jo's daughter, I'm very proud of my beautiful wife, as well.

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Maps and History of Oklahoma County 1830-1900.2

Part 2: Noonish on April 22, 1889 — 1900


Part 1 of this article, 1830-noonish 4/22/1889, is done. This Part 2 continues the development of Oklahoma County through 1900.

As this post is written on December 2, 2010, given other obligations to make a post on the 2010 Paseo Arts Council Awards, that already having occurred, and my general Christmas 2010 blog article, time devoted to developing this article will be put off until those other obligations are satisfied. But, until then, this will give a preview of what to expect when this article is done.

Part 2 picks up where Part 1 left off — on the ambiguous afternoon of April 22, 1889. At the time, so many questions about legal land-runners were unanswered, and there were many who fit that description, including our first (provisional) mayor, William Couch.

Topics to be discussed in Part 2 include the following:

1. Freaky Monday — Land Run Day
2. Townsite Chaos When No Effective Law for Townsites Existed
3. Initial Townsite Controversies In Oklahoma Country, in Kingfisher, Guthrie and Oklahoma City
4. Oklahoma City Particularly — the Seminole Townsite Company, and Its Adversaries
5. Oklahoma Becomes A Territory — the 1890 Organic Act
6. 1890 Townsite Legislation
7. Resolution of Legal Sooner Questions
8. Oklahoma Territory Is Formed
9. The 1st Territorial Governor
10. The 1st Territorial Legislature (we was robbed) but also forming Oklahoma County
11. Completion of the County — Additional Land Runs
12. Railroad Developments
13. How Oklahoma City Paid Huge Bucks For Its Conspiracy to Acquire Its City Hall Property — $157,456 (in 2009 dollars) — From Illegal Sooners
14. Summary At the Turn of the Century

The list may be different when all is done, but that's my general game plan.

Until this is done, enjoy the Christmas 2010 season, and come back later when this is done.

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