Oil Capital of the World

Image:Oil Capital Historic District.jpg]]

In mid-19th century, when Pennsylvania was the first center of petroleum production, Pittsburgh{{cite news | first = Kim | last = Leonard | title = Oil boom: Pittsburgh was nation's first petroleum capital | date = October 4, 2009 | url = http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/obituaries/s_645587.html#ixzz1H1yOolXo | work = Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | accessdate = 2011-03-19 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and Titusville{{cite magazine | title = OIL: A Real Sentimental Loss | date = October 16, 1950 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,813551,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091124092209/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,813551,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = November 24, 2009 | magazine = TIME | accessdate = 2011-03-19}} were considered oil capitals. In the later 19th century, before oil was discovered in Texas, Oklahoma, or the Middle East, Cleveland, Ohio had a claim to the title,{{cite web |url=http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/commentary/2007/081507.cfm |title=Peak Oil |author=Joseph G. Haubrich and Brent Meyer |publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland |accessdate=April 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202011546/http://clevelandfed.org/research/Commentary/2007/081507.cfm |archive-date=December 2, 2010 }} with 86{{cite book |title=Cleveland: the making of a city |last=Rose |first=William Ganson |year=1990 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=0-87338-428-8 |page=428 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IT1NVT1vEwUC&q=Pittsburgh+Oil+capital+of+the+world&pg=PA428 |accessdate=April 19, 2010}} or 88{{cite web|url=http://www.clemusart.com/kids/story/timeline/decades.html |title=The Cleveland Story / Decade by Decade / 1880s |publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art |accessdate=April 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100318095341/http://www.clemusart.com/Kids/story/timeline/decades.html |archive-date=March 18, 2010 }} refineries operating in the city in 1884.

Tulsa claimed the name early in the 20th century, after oil strikes at Red Fork (1901) and Glenpool (1905) in Tulsa County. Many prominent oilmen lived in Tulsa at some point, including Josh Cosden,{{cite web |url = https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CO065 | title= Joshua Seney Cosden | publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} William Skelly,{{cite web |url = https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=SK002 | title= William Grove Skelly | publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} Harry Ford Sinclair,{{cite web |url =https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=SI007 | title= Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation | publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} Waite Phillips,{{cite web |url = https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=PH009 | title= Waite Phillips | publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} Thomas Gilcrease,{{cite web|url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=GI005 |title=Gilcrease, William Thomas (1890-1962)|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=December 28, 2020}} George Kaiser,{{cite news |url = https://www.tulsaworld.com/no-one-else-comes-close-george-kaiser-had-to-be/article_afe64f8a-b700-5728-b161-9687a5daa361.html | title= No one else comes close: George Kaiser had to be the Tulsan of the Year | newspaper=Tulsa World | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} and J. Paul Getty.{{cite news |url = https://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/news/throwbacktulsa/throwback-tulsa-j-paul-getty-world-s-richest-man-got/article_2ed93244-a02d-5c96-b1cc-76aabc75c35a.html| title= Throwback Tulsa: J. Paul Getty, world's richest man, got his start in Tulsa | newspaper=Tulsa World | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} Many corporations producing, refining or transporting petroleum had at some point their headquarters or major facilities in Tulsa including Texaco,{{cite news |url = https://newsok.com/article/1992511/texaco-refinery-shutdown-ends-chapter-of-tulsa-history | title= Texaco Refinery Shutdown Ends Chapter of Tulsa History | newspaper=The Oklahoman | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} BP-Amoco,{{cite news |url = https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/boren/ou-tulsa-s-central-location-the-result-of-boren-s/article_fed09fb9-4a5e-52ed-a61f-5b9dcb2e3045.html | title= OU-Tulsa's central location the result of Boren's quick thinking | newspaper=Tulsa World | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} Cities Service Company,{{cite web |url = https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CI006 | title= Cities Service Company | publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} Sinclair Oil and Gas Company,{{cite web |url = https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=SI007 | title= Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation | publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} Skelly Oil Company, Warren Petroleum Company,{{cite web |url = https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=WA026 | title= Warren Petroleum Company | publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} the Williams Companies,{{cite web |url = https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entryname=WILLIAMS%20COMPANIES | title= Williams Companies | publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} and Kaiser-Francis Oil Company.{{cite web |url = https://www.kfoc.net/site/sections/1 | title= Kaiser-Francis Oil Company | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} In 1923 a group of Tulsa oilmen organized the first International Petroleum Exposition and Congress (IPE); among the IPE's stated purposes was to "firmly establish Tulsa for all time to come as the oil center of the entire world."{{cite journal|title=The Beginning of the International Petroleum Exposition and Congress|journal=The Chronicles of Oklahoma|date=Winter 1948–49|first=Fred S.|last=Clinton|volume=26|pages=479, 480|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v026/v026p479.pdf|accessdate=2010-04-21 }}

Tulsa continued to be known and promote itself as the "oil capital of the world" into the 1950s"What Happens When LIFE Hits Tulsa?", LIFE, December 19, 1955. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dj8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA98 Excerpt available] at Google Books. and 1960s. The IPE grew and reached its peak attendance in 1966, when the Golden Driller, a large statue symbolic of Tulsa's historical importance in the oil industry, was erected in front of the new IPE Building, then said to be the world's largest building under one roof.{{cite web | title=Tulsa State Fair| work=Oklahoma Historical Society| url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/T/TU015.html| accessdate=February 23, 2008}} By the 1970s, however, the IPE's success, and Tulsa's role in the international oil industry, had both eroded: Tulsa's last IPE was held in 1979,[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=IN030 "International Petroleum Exposition"] at Oklahoma Historical Society [http://www.okhistory.org/publications/encyclopediaonline.php Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture] (retrieved March 6, 2015). while Houston has become the most prominent hub of the oil industry in the United States. In more recent times, Tulsa's continued use of "oil capital of the world" is often characterized as nostalgic or historical.{{cite news | first=Dan | last=Barry | title=THIS LAND; A Half Century of Memories That Won't Stay Buried | date=June 10, 2007 | url =https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501E3DC163FF933A25755C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | work =New York Times | accessdate = 2010-04-20 }}{{cite news | first=Susan | last=Everly-Douze | title=What's Doing in Tulsa | date=August 27, 1989 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/27/travel/what-s-doing-in-tulsa.html?pagewanted=1 | work =New York Times | accessdate = 2010-04-20 }} But even today, energy is one of Tulsa's major industries,{{cite web | url= http://www.growmetrotulsa.com/sites/default/files/page-attachments/EDD_2018%20EconomicProfile_Low%2005.16.18.pdf | title= 2018 Economic Profile | publisher=Tulsa Regional Chamber | accessdate=January 23, 2019}} and many of the city's professional sports franchises have petroleum-related names such as the Tulsa Oilers (ice hockey), Tulsa Oilers (indoor football), Tulsa Drillers (baseball), and Tulsa Roughnecks (now FC Tulsa, men's soccer).

{{Main|Oil Capital Historic District (Tulsa, Oklahoma)}}

In 2010, Tulsa officially designated the central part of its downtown as the "Oil Capital Historic District" for the purposes of a proposed registration in the National Register of Historic Places.{{cite news | first = Michael | last = Overall | title = Downtown district to get new name | date = November 29, 2010 | url = http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101129_11_A1_CUTLIN817428 | work = Tulsa World | accessdate = 2010-11-29}} The district, at {{coord|36.151|N|95.990|W|region:US-OK_type:landmark|display=inline}}, is bounded by Third Street on the north, Cincinnati Avenue on the east, Seventh Street on the south and Cheyenne Avenue on the west. It was officially listed on December 13, 2010, under Criterion A for significance in Commerce. Its NRIS number is 10001013.Tulsa Preservation Commission. "Oil Capital Historic District." Accessed December 25, 2011.

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121024013411/http://www.library.okstate.edu/okmaps/ Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory]
• U. S. Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places registration form, "Oil Capital Historic District."

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Category:Culture of Houston

Category:Culture of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Category:City nicknames