1954 Map of Tulsa

About this map

Tulsa emerges in the mid-1950s as a bustling metropolitan center defined by its early aviation and oil industry roots. The northern landscape is anchored by the Tulsa Municipal Airport and the smaller Stebbins Airport, while Mohawk Park and Lake Yahola provide significant public space near the winding Bird Creek. The map documents a dense urban grid south of the Arkansas River at Red Fork, showing a proliferation of neighborhood schools like Booker T Washington High Sch, Carver Jr High Sch, and Central High Sch. This era captures the city's academic and athletic culture, centered on the University of Tulsa and Skelly Field. Industrial and transportation corridors are prominent, with the St Louis San Francisco and Midland Valley railroads intersecting the urban core. Further north, the settlement of Turley and several scattered Oil Wells and a Coal Mine point to the extraction history of the region.