Route 66-themed sculptures dedicated in Tulsa’s Howard Park

Tulsa officials this week dedicated three Route 66 sculptures chiseled out of Indiana limestone at Tulsa’s historic Howard Park.

Utah sculptor Patrick Sullivan painstakingly chiseled into the three massive blocks by hand over a period of months. The limestone columns range from eight to 10 feet tall.

The $90,000 project was funded by the Vision 2025 sales tax that voters approved in 2003.

City councilor Jeannie Cue, whose ward represents southwest Tulsa, told Tulsa Public Radio more Route 66-inspired improvements are coming to her district.

“We still have a lot of things that are coming up at the Route 66 Village. We have a retro gas station, we have a depot coming … some exciting things there at the 17th Street bridge,” Cue said.

The city of Tulsa provided sketches of the sculptures. Here’s the first one:

The sculpture depicts 1) an Oklahoma Route 66 shield, the road itself, a wagon wheel and that Cyrus Avery planned the highway in Tulsa in 1925; 2) a 1906 electric trolley in Tulsa, an electricity bolt and street rails; 3) Tulsa’s Golden Era of Aviation, 1920s-1940s, showing the Philtower, biplanes, a propeller and Charles Lindbergh’s plane; 4) steam and diesel trains that have served Oklahoma since 1882.

The second sculpture, which contains one change from the previous mockup:

The sculpture depicts 1) a Tulsa Route 66 shield, an oil well, refineries, oil derricks and “Oil Capital of the World”; 2) tribal boundaries for the Osage, Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) nations and their relationship to two Route 66 alignments (this is the amended part of the sculpture); 3) images of gears signifying manufacturing, a satellite dish for technology, an airplane and stars signifying aerospace, and East meets West and a Route 66 shield; 4) image of a Native American on a horse, with the greeting “Hello, how are you?” in each tribe’s written language, an English translation and pronunciations.

The third sculpture:

It depicts 1) a Tulsa Route 66 sign with Art Deco leaves and fans; 2) musical notes, a dancing couple, a guitar, the sign “Western Swing” and the notation “The Texas Playboys, Cain’s Ballroom 1935”; 3) another Art Deco design featuring the Route 66 shield; 4) a Burma Shave logo, a Ferris wheel at Crystal City Amusement Park, the Blue Dome gas station, the Zingo roller coaster at Bell’s Amusement Park and a Route 66 shield.

Howard Park, which dates to at least the 1920s and sits just off Southwest Boulevard (aka Route 66), features many shade trees and is an ideal spot to see the railroad lines, Route 66 and nearby oil refineries.

(Images from the dedication by City of Tulsa via Facebook; renderings of the sculptures courtesy of Dennis Whitaker of the City of Tulsa)