Author: a3_super

Preservation Magazine, Fall 2021 | Alexis Clark

Gleaming stained-glass windows with images depicting familiar Bible stories are to be expected in most Christian churches. But a closer look at the windows at Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reveals something else. All of them—subdued in design, in varied hues of yellow, green, lavender, blue, and pink—feature names etched in glass in honor of the people and groups who gave money to rebuild the church after it was severely damaged in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.

Some of the named donors include Mr. and Mrs. R.T. Bridgewater, Senior Choir, and Ladies Aid Society. With the exception of one new window—the “Legacy Window” that was installed just in time for the centennial of the massacre—all of the stained-glass windows were put in place by 1928, when Vernon was fully rebuilt. 

“We didn’t get help from the city or state government, so members of our church donated,” says Rev. Robert Turner, Vernon’s senior pastor since 2017. “And those who gave sizable donations, their names were put in the stained-glass windows.”

This year, conservation company Scottish Stained Glass restored all of the stained glass around the church, as well as donating the Legacy Window. The new window features the faces of previous Vernon A.M.E. pastors and church members who survived the massacre.

“I wanted to highlight former pastors who did capital improvements and exemplary work,” says Turner, “and show the crowd of witnesses and survivors of the massacre who were members of Vernon.”

Those members experienced unimaginable brutality that had largely been omitted from history. But in recent years, as more details have been uncovered, leaders like Turner are making sure the world knows what transpired in Tulsa and, just as important, what should be done to repair the damage. 

Every Wednesday since September of 2018, Rev. Turner stands in front of Tulsa’s City Hall with a small crowd gathered around him. Most listen in agreement as the charismatic 39-year-old, who is married with two children, speaks. Other people show up to heckle and slur, sometimes even assault. But the threats and attacks haven’t stopped Turner from his great mission, or, in his words, his “calling.” He is on a quest for the powers that be to take financial responsibility for the destruction of Greenwood, the African American neighborhood that housed Black Wall Street and the very district where Vernon A.M.E. still resides. Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum issued an apology for the massacre this past summer, but the city has not followed the 2001 recommendation of the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 to make reparations to victims’ descendants.

“We go out to City Hall to call the city to recognize her sin and to confess her sin. And to repent of it and to repair from it with reparations,” says Turner.

The sins Turner refers to are the ones committed from May 31 to June 1, 1921, when a white mob descended on Greenwood after a 19-year-old Black shoe shiner named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, a 17-year-old white elevator operator in a downtown office building. But there was another reason: racial resentment of African Americans who had built wealth and prosperity in their own community. Their success was a function of entrepreneurship as well as segregation, because African Americans couldn’t spend their money elsewhere.

In an effort to protect Rowland from being lynched, Black residents from Greenwood, many of whom had served in World War I and owned guns, went to the jail and offered to help defend it from the large, rabid crowd of white people who had gathered there. But they were told they weren’t needed and returned home to Greenwood. The group of Greenwood residents went back later that night to make the same offer, but local authorities again rebuffed it. A white man tried to disarm a Black World War I veteran who was leaving the scene, and violent chaos ensued.

Beginning in the late hours of May 31, the armed white mob attacked Greenwood and shot African Americans dead in the street. They torched and looted at least 1,200 homes, as well as the community’s business sector. Schools, churches, hotels, retail stores, restaurants, salons, barbershops, and numerous office buildings were destroyed. The luxury Stradford Hotel, gone. The Dreamland Theatre, gone. Mount Zion Baptist Church, gone. The Tulsa Star newspaper headquarters, gone.

It’s been reported that as many as 300 people died and nearly 10,000 Black residents were left homeless, traumatized, and in need of shelter. But one building on North Greenwood Avenue survived, barely, with just its burned basement intact: Vernon A.M.E. Church.

“People hid in our basement during the massacre,” says Turner, “and we worshiped that following Sunday.” The church, though its upper level had been destroyed in the attack, served as a refuge for the community. It even held a graduation ceremony in its basement so seniors at Booker T. Washington High School (which had been turned into a makeshift shelter and a place to treat the wounded) could still have their commencement. After the massacre, Vernon represented a place of healing and social justice—the very ideals that were a part of its founding and are still preached today.

The history of Vernon A.M.E. is marked by entrepreneurs and visionaries, much like the Greenwood district itself. Wealthy businessman O.W. Gurley—believed to be the son of freedpeople who came to the area during the late 19th century—helped establish Greenwood circa 1905 as a self-contained Black community in Tulsa during a time when very few African Americans could own land. Gurley reportedly purchased 40 acres on the north side of Tulsa, erecting several buildings and selling residential and commercial plots to other African Americans.

Around the same time, the first AME church in Tulsa was led by Rev. J.E. Roy. According to Vernon’s website, the church was located in a one-room house on North Detroit Street within Greenwood. In 1906, Rev. R.A. Devers became the pastor, moving the church briefly to Gurley Hall on North Greenwood Avenue, then to Barksdale Hall on East Archer, where membership grew from eight to 16. Devers, during his one-year tenure, started the church’s first building program for a small frame house on Archer and Hartford streets. It was completed a year later under the leadership of another pastor, Rev. G.H. Burton. The church was named Burton Chapel in his honor, after membership expanded to 71.

As the church continued to grow, trustees put a down payment on a lot on the 300 block of North Greenwood Avenue, where the church resides today. The congregation voted to change the name again, this time in honor of W.T. Vernon, an educator and ordained AME minister and bishop who was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 as the Register of the Treasury and reappointed to the position by President William Howard Taft in 1910. By 1914, after Vernon purchased more land, the old church was torn down and a sturdy 4,000-square-foot brick basement for the new church was paid for and constructed.

Once it was completed, Vernon A.M.E. became one of the most prominent Black churches in Tulsa, with a roster of members that included O.W. Gurley, physician R.T. Bridgewater, and E.W. Woods (the principal at Booker T. Washington High School), among other influential local residents.

Then the massacre destroyed most of Greenwood—35 blocks. Insurance claims from Black-owned businesses were denied, and restrictive ordinances were put in place to prevent rebuilding. But Greenwood residents who remained in the district prevailed in court and started over.

“No one in Tulsa would sell us any building materials, because they didn’t want Black folks to rebuild,” says Turner. Vernon A.M.E. had to get bricks from companies in cities that would accept Black customers.

A few months after the massacre, Vernon was rebuilding bigger and better. The pastor at the time, Rev. P.W. DeLyle, and his family lived in the rear portion of the church basement while the parsonage was rebuilt. Late the following year, the DeLyles moved into their newly constructed house. By 1928, the Classical Revival–style church was completed.

With the rebuilding of Greenwood, Vernon A.M.E. thrived. Its membership rose to between 600 and 1,000 in the decades following the massacre, as the church became instrumental in the Civil Rights movement.

“The entire concept and the history of African Methodism in America was born not out of theological differences with other Christian faiths; it was born out of social injustice,” says Rev. Isaac Hudson Jr., who served as the senior pastor of Vernon A.M.E. from 1994 to 2006.

Fighting for equality is a part of the A.M.E. ethos, and Rev. Benjamin Harrison Hill, the pastor of Vernon during the Civil Rights movement, exemplified this faithfully. During the 1950s and ’60s, Hill joined forces with other Black and white ministers for marches and demonstrations. 

“He organized a trip to Washington, D.C., for people to hear Dr. King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” says Turner, who added that under Hill’s leadership, church members and the greater community were trained to do sit-ins.

But later in the 1960s, they learned about something else: Tulsa’s urban renewal plan—or what Turner calls “urban removal”—which eventually changed the entire landscape of Greenwood. 

“The church was adamant to the members to not sell their land to the city,” says Turner.

Political forces had zeroed in on Greenwood. Some businesses had been struggling, and parts of the area were in decline. But the city also wanted highways for accessibility to its new suburbs, and it took over land using eminent domain. By the early 1970s, the construction of Interstate 244 had cut through Greenwood, eliminating the majority of the business district, along with foot traffic and much of the community’s pride.

Just as it had 50 years before, Vernon A.M.E. remained.

Thanks to the efforts of several pastors, including Rev. Hudson and now Rev. Turner, Vernon still stands tall at the same location on North Greenwood Avenue, though not unscathed. The impact of urban renewal is obvious; membership has plummeted over the years.

“Vernon is a shell of her former self. We have 139 members now,” says Turner.

The wear and tear is showing on the historic church building, too, which held a series of events during the massacre centennial in May of 2021. One of the opening ceremonies featured the unveiling of the newly restored stained-glass windows. There are 21 in total, but counting individual units within each window, upward of 50 have been restored. Timothy Herzer and Mindy Gray of GH2 Architects in Tulsa provided consulting assistance throughout the window project, which was partially funded by a $150,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, along with private donations. 

“[About two years ago,] we were asked to go out and do an overall building exterior evaluation,” says Herzer. “The frames of the windows themselves were in very poor condition. They unfortunately couldn’t be saved.” 

But not all was lost; the glass from the mid-1920s installation was salvageable. 

“The stained glass is still the original,” says Gray, who adds that 100 years of pollution and dirt have been removed by Scottish Stained Glass. Ross Group managed the construction, KC Woodworking reconstructed the wood window frames, and Turner led the entire collaboration.

Gray and Herzer attended the dedication ceremony. “Pastor Turner specifically said, ‘You are seeing the windows as the parishioners saw them 100 years ago.’ So that was very moving,” says Gray.

“This was probably to date our most significant historic [project],” says Herzer.

And church members understand the significance just as much, if not more. Patricia Barnett, 72, is a lifelong member of Vernon A.M.E.

“My parents took us all to church each and every Sunday. I used to love to just stand there and look at the windows. They are so beautiful and very sacred,” says Barnett, who recognizes the inscribed names. “Some of them were members of Vernon.”

“When my grandfather was living, he would always tell us how lively Greenwood was and how he wished we could have seen what he saw,” says Keisha Barnett, 43, Patricia’s daughter, who attended Vernon growing up and currently volunteers serving meals.

The spirit of giving has remained steadfast at Vernon. The church has been feeding the community for years, and the demand has only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. From March of 2020 to July of 2021, Vernon A.M.E. has provided 400,000 meals, says Turner. “It’s nowhere in our budget. It’s simply by people just donating.”

Volunteers and members of the church cook meals for anyone who shows up and needs to eat. “We’ve got an old kitchen, old stove, and old refrigerator, but we’re using them to the glory of God to help feed our community,” says Turner. And Vernon feeds the community well: shrimp and grits, breakfast burritos, pancakes and sausage, fried chicken, meatloaf, beans, and cornbread are regular entrees. No one leaves empty-handed.

“Any day that you come in to eat lunch, they’re going to send you home with a carry-out of some sort, if you desire, along with some groceries,” says Keisha Barnett. “The Fellowship Hall has been set up and transformed into a dry grocery store, and there are deep freezers in the back hallway.” There’s also a community garden out back.

The stained-glass windows are only the beginning of the restoration process at Vernon A.M.E. GH2 Architects is also involved with other updates, says Herzer, including restoring the exterior, installing a new roof, and adding ADA accessibility. This work is funded in part by a $250,000 grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places, a cooperative program of the National Trust and Partners for Sacred Places. The grant will also support restoration of the basement, which will house a museum in the near future, says Turner.

“I’m thankful to be a part of this beautiful community with its history,” he says, “and a part of trying to bring about some justice and healing at the same time.”

City of Broken Arrow – November 3rd, 2021

The Broken Arrow City Council unanimously approved the design recommendations for Gateway markers and an Iconic Structure that will identify Broken Arrow and welcome people to the city. 

The Gateway markers are a key priority of the city’s comprehensive plan to enhance the visual appeal and branding of the community, with strategic placement at primary points of entry into Broken Arrow such as highway interchanges and city boundaries. 

“It’s extremely important that we have an identity,” said City Manager Michael Spurgeon. “When you talk about iconic signage, those are the kinds of quality-of-life initiatives that people look for in your community, and want to be a part of your community.” 

During Tuesday night’s meeting, Council was presented with the designs of the Iconic Structure, Primary Entry Sign, Secondary Entry Sign, and Tertiary Entry Sign, along with the possible locations where the signs would be installed. 

The 60-foot-tall iconic structure would be made out of stainless steel, anodized steel, and carbon steel and include multiple arrows shooting skyward. It was designed to be the face of Broken Arrow and placed in a highly visible location, yet to be determined, to attract residents and tourists alike. 

“There will be people who come here who would not have come to Broken Arrow otherwise,” said Vice Mayor Christie Gillespie 

The structure would be adorned with lighting for nighttime viewing up close or when driving nearby. The lights can be programmed to reflect certain times of the year, such as red and green for Christmas. 

“This is that piece that identifies Broken Arrow and beautifies Broken Arrow, and as you’re coming in, you’re not seeing a bunch of industry, you’re seeing this special piece,” said Councilor Scott Eudey. “When you see this, it’s Broken Arrow. Here’s what it represents. Here’s why it represents. It’s a unifying piece.” 

Along with the Iconic Structure are various signs to be placed at entry points into the city based on the amount of traffic at those locations. 

Primary Entry and Secondary Entry signs would be made out of brick, stone, and metal, and like the Iconic Structure, would be outfitted with lights to illuminate the Welcome to Broken Arrow message each would have. The Tertiary Sign is made out of aluminum and will display the city logo sandwiched between Broken Arrow text. It would be attached atop a decorative pole. 

“Innovative projects like this will attract innovative people. Innovative people will attract innovative jobs, and innovative jobs will put this city at the top of the list,” said citizen Matt Griffiths. “Gateways is one of the many innovative projects coming to our city.” 

The City Council provided guidance to city staff to move forward with the project and focus its attention on the Iconic Structure first. 

“Once you have that, it ties and makes the rest of it make sense,” said Councilor Eudey. 

The Gateways project will cost approximately $3 million and will be paid for with 2018 GO Bond, Vision 2025, and Sales Tax Capital Improvement funds. 

“I think this signifies Broken Arrow as a class act,” said resident Ted McElroy during the presentation.

Tulsa World – Feb 13, 2024 | Bill Haisten

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL MUSKOGEE — From a distance equal to three city blocks, there was the first sighting of Muskogee’s massive basketball arena, brightly lighted and branded with a huge, green M.

As you roll into the parking lot, the building looks more like a major-college arena than a high school venue.

One year and one month since it opened for business, the Muskogee High School gym is to Tulsa-area prep basketball what Union-Tuttle Stadium is to Tulsa-area prep football: the best facility, emphatically and undeniably.

Several basketball figures have stated their belief that Muskogee now has the state’s best high school basketball fieldhouse. I can’t know that to be true because I haven’t seen most of Oklahoma’s high school facilities, but there can’t be a better arena in the state.

The Muskogee gym has a fancy name: The Fieldhouse at Rougher Village, which makes it sound like a really expensive apartment complex. Funded by a 2019 Muskogee Public Schools facilities bond of $110 million and built at a cost of $32 million, the arena is connected to the Rougher Village football stadium. In their second season in their impressive new home, the 2023 football Roughers captured the Class 6AII gold ball. It was Muskogee’s first football title in 37 years.

Bill Huddleston, the radio voice of Rougher sports since 1985, says Muskogee’s new facilities “created a sense of pride and unity” that can be felt beyond the high school campus.

“We raised $30,000 for (football) championship rings, and we did it in less than two weeks,” reported Jason Parker, the Muskogee Public Schools’ executive director of athletics, “People were throwing money at us. Everybody is on board now. We’ve got to keep pushing.”

When I arrived at The Fieldhouse at Rougher Village for a Choctaw-Muskogee boys’ game last week, the first two words I scratched on a notebook page were “gleaming cathedral.”

It’s a breathtaking space for high school basketball. “This is as good as it gets,” said Eddie Morris, a longtime game official and universally known in northeastern Oklahoma basketball.

In Muskogee leadership positions are a pair of former University of Tulsa basketball guards.

In 2000-04, Parker played in 133 games for the TU program. As a junior and a senior, he was the Golden Hurricane’s scoring leader. Today, he is 42 and known professionally as Dr. Jason Parker.

In a 1994 NCAA Tournament game, Lou Dawkins swished one of the more memorable shots in TU history — a 3-pointer to beat Oklahoma State 82-80. As the Saginaw (Michigan) High School head man, he coached Draymond Green and had a record of 149-28 with two state titles.

Dawkins was a college assistant at Northern Illinois and Cleveland State before he and his wife, Latricia Vaughn-Dawkins, moved to Muskogee four years ago.

Lou created the Rougher Youth Sports Academy while Latricia is a Muskogee Public Schools elementary principal. In 2022, Lou Dawkins became the Muskogee basketball head coach.

This season, Dawkins has nine players who last season were not on the varsity roster. Jace Parker, Jason Parker’s son, is a ninth-grade varsity guard. Jace Parker will play all of his varsity home games in The Fieldhouse at Rougher Village, and his dad says the development of the stadium-arena complex had a pronounced impact on the self-esteem of the community.

“This has changed what people think and say about Muskogee,” Jason Parker said. “We pretty much have the same constituency and the same enrollment that we had before, but we’ve turned it. This has transformed the Muskogee community. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Until becoming a member of Muskogee Superintendent Jarod Mendenhall’s cabinet, Parker was the Sapulpa Public Schools’ athletic director. In 4½ years at Muskogee, Parker has hired a new head coach for each of the 14 varsity sports programs.

“I was happy in Sapulpa, but Dr. Mendenhall and Dr. Dyce (Muskogee Deputy Superintendent Kim Dyce) sold me on the potential here and on this project,” Parker recalled. “Dr. Mendenhall believed this could be the galvanizing piece for the community. With the bond, our slogan was ‘made for more.’ This town and these kids are made for more.”

With regard to enrollment, Muskogee High School is the smallest of the 32 basketball schools in Class 6A.

“We have a unique dynamic here,” Parker explained. “This town is more akin to Fort Gibson, Tahlequah and Wagoner than it is to metro Tulsa, but we’re the only one of those towns that competes against the Tulsa schools. We have a rural dynamic in a suburban setting. It’s a dichotomy.

“It used to be that when our (basketball) kids would walk into the Jenks or Union gym, we would feel less than. Now, when Jenks and Broken Arrow walk in here, they see what we’ve done. They see what we have. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this phrase: ‘I didn’t know Muskogee could have something this nice.’ ” Parker credits Mendenhall for having had the vision for the Rougher Village concept.

“Dr. Mendenall basically lived here (during the development of the stadium and arena),” Parker said. “He dang near slept out here. He was dreaming this deal. He would call me sometimes at midnight and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea.’

“The aesthetics of this — you won’t find this at any other high school in Oklahoma. It came together beautifully.”

Within The Fieldhouse at Rougher Village are video boards at each end of the arena, a 4,400-square foot room for strength and conditioning, the Muskogee Athletics Hall of Fame, the Rougher Spirit store, athletic department offices and locker rooms for the Rougher basketball girls, the Rougher basketball boys and the Muskogee football athletes.

There also is the Varsity Club, from which a fan can have a plate of food while watching a Rougher basketball game or football game.

Muskogee’s old gym, Dawkins says, was “a basic facility. What we’re in now is truly mind-blowing. It’s still mind-blowing for our kids and it’s really mind-blowing for the teams that come in to play against us.”

GH2 Equine Architects is a dedicated specialty practice of GH2 Architects, LLC, an award-winning, international architecture and planning firm, creating transformative design since 1973. Headquartered in Oklahoma, they have architects located across the country and have completed hundreds of projects in its nearly 50 years of operation.

Passionate about horses and animal care facilities, their team has master planned and designed many of the finest equine amenities across five continents. They have raised the sophistication, functionality, safety, and efficiency of equine and livestock facility master planning and design worldwide.

Something that sets GH2 Equine apart from other firms is that they are not only architects but also active equestrians and facility users. Their passion for horses facilitates further interaction and feedback from fellow users and industry leaders. They then pass those insights and knowledge on to their clients. 

Kala Ade, AIA, Associate Principal, is the equine specialty practice director. She owns and shows Belgian draft horses across the Midwest with her family. Jamie Prashaw, AIA, EDAC, LEED AP BP+C, Senior Architect, comes from a family that owned and operated a boarding facility. She is well versed in multiple areas of competition, from gymkhanas to AQHA to hunter/jumper. Martha Mitchell, AIA, Senior Architect, has been an equestrian her entire life, having competed with Arabians and hunter/jumpers, and currently competing in three-day eventing with her OTTB. Rounding out the team’s unique hands-on expertise is Olivia Hupy, RA, Architect. She showed in the 3’-6” equitation across the east coast as a junior, rode collegiately, and currently rides and shows in the hunter/jumpers.

GH2 Equine’s portfolio includes projects of all types, from private farms, breeding and training farms, therapeutic riding centers, equine veterinary, therapy, and rehabilitation facilities, show and event venues, polo and equestrian clubs, and equestrian lifestyle communities, and university equine facilities. They like to say that no project is too small and every project is worthy of great design; from a property with one horse to a facility with 50 stalls, or an expo facility that houses hundreds of horses at a time, they excel at designing unique solutions to meet their clients’ needs.

The team considers master planning critical to equine facilities. The properties where people keep their horses are so much more than a stall barn — they include roadways, pathways, turnouts, pastures, arenas, storage buildings, manure handling, fire and life safety, consideration of topography and weather patterns — the list goes on and on. Planning an entire site in advance will facilitate ease-of use, enhance safety, quality of life for the horses, and reduce costs in the long term. Examples of planning strategies used by GH2 include careful placement of buildings, arenas, and pastures in locations that will naturally drain better than other areas and efficiently planning a site to reduce the number of roads and paths required.

Throughout the entire process, GH2 Equine Architects work with their clients to achieve their goals, lend their expertise related to life safety design, provide recommendations based on the clients’ specific budgets, provide drawings and technical specifications, and work with the construction professionals who construct the facilities. Seeing the completed facilities that the team and their clients have worked on together is a special joy as architects and as equestrians.