Tulsa Time Warp: Court Order | City office

In 1915, after seven years of bureaucratic positioning on behalf of Tulsa, construction finally began on a long-awaited federal building at the corner of West Second Street and South Boulder Avenue.

The building was funded by the US government and designed by the architect James A. Wetmore Department of the Treasury in Washington, DC When completed in 1917, Tulsa’s first federal building originally housed the United States Post Office and Courthouse.

The building was Tulsa’s first permanent postal establishment since the region’s first post office was established in 1879. Due to the city’s rapid growth, Tulsa’s central post office has taken up residence in many locations across the country. over the years, but quickly overtook each of its facilities. and was forced to move again.

The district court and many other federal officials had offices in the building. In 1924, the new Northern District Court of Oklahoma was established and Tulsa was designated as its seat.

Like Tulsa, the federal building would continue to develop. In 1926, the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce promised an extension of the structure, and in 1928, additional money for construction was allocated. In 1932, the building tripled in size. It housed all federal agencies in Tulsa for many years, and in the mid-1990s was converted into a courthouse.

The building still houses the Northern District Court. While many architectural details have been removed or covered up by the remodeling, examples of the Federalist / Neoclassical style – also visible in its iconic columns – remain inside the building.