Tulsa State Fair, 1953

Years ago I happened upon a group of slides labeled Tulsa State Fair, 1953. "Sounds potentially interesting", I thought as I fed chateaubriand to my ocelot. Turns out, they are pretty great! 

The Tulsa State fair's origins can be traced all the way back to a street fair in the 1890s; it continued to expand over the decades; Wikipedia says, In 1923, the Tulsa Fairgrounds were moved to a 240-acre lot, donated by Tulsa oilman J. E. Crosbie, between Fifteenth and Twenty-first Streets in midtown Tulsa. The donation of the land was just the beginning of what would grow into one of the most premier fairs in the country.

In 1949, the Tulsa State Fair merged with a spring livestock show to bring livestock events to the fair. In 1966, The International Petroleum Exposition (IPE) Center, now known as the River Spirit Expo, was built and made into a major part of the fair. During the 1970s, updates were made and year-round marketing began around the complex. It was at this time the fairgrounds were renamed Expo Square. Updates were made throughout the Pavilion, and a 13,000-seat grandstand was built.

I love this shot, with lots of men in fedoras (some with walking sticks, son!) and fewer ladies (in their nice dresses). This exhibit definitely resembles the kind of thing you might see at any large expo or trade fair in the 1940's and '50s.

This advertising mascot looks vaguely familiar, but I think it's more the style that's familiar and not this specific threaded-pipe fellow. I looked up "Spans Tubular Products" (I think that's what the sign says) with no results. Notice the oil pump "mule" with the yellow "head" to our left. Those mules used to be a pretty familiar sight around parts of SoCal when I was growing up.

I love that striking, raised circular building with plenty of glass. That would make a pretty cool house! The words "NATIONAL SUPPLY" tell us... well, not much. Does anybody know what those yellow and blue machines are, on display beneath the building? They look like oversized child's toys, and must have something to do with oil drilling/pumping, but I don't have a guess.

Next is this structure, which was clearly based on an old-fashioned oil derrick of some kind. There's a sign to the right that says it is a "replica of the DRAKE WELL", which meant nothing to me. Wikipedia says, The Drake Well is a 69.5-foot-deep oil well in Cherrytree Township, Venango County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the success of which sparked the first oil boom in the United States. In addition, The importance of the Drake Well was in the fact that it caused prompt additional drilling, thus establishing a supply of petroleum in sufficient quantity to support business enterprises of magnitude. So now you know!

Here's a photo of a replica of the Drake well at the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, Pennsylvania - it's on the Nation Register of Historic Places.

I have a few more photos from the Tulsa State Fair, if you are interested!