Park
Elementary School was established in 1908, one year after
Oklahoma became a state. The original little red brick
building was constructed in beautiful grove of oak trees.
Local families often came to eat Sunday dinner under these
trees, so the school easily came to be known as "Park".
Our
school was the first school in the area, and classes through
high school were held in the little brick building. In
later years, another much larger building was built, and was called Red Fork High School. The little red building
continued to be used, and a prefab was added for a cafeteria.
All 12 grades continued to meet in this school until Clinton
High School was built. Park School was incorporated into
the Tulsa Public School District in 1927. The present building was constructed
in 1972. It is designed
on an open classroom concept called the "Tulsa Design."
Park
School is located in the Red Fork
community of West Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Red Fork Community has an
interesting history. Red Fork, established in 1884, was located
eighteen miles from the junction of the Cimarron and Arkansas Rivers and
was for several years the Frisco railroads terminus in Indian Territory.
It was an important shipping point for the cattle raised in the
Chickasaw Nation, Shawnee, Sac, and Fox Indian Territories. In
1901, a thirty barrel oil well was brought in on the allotment of Mrs.
J. C. W. Bland. This new shallow well attracted widespread attention and
within a few months this village of 75 people had grown into a town of
1,500. The well brought the first nation wide
publicity and oil boom to Tulsa and the Indian Territory.