Greenwood District Now on National Register of Historical Places

The Oklahoma Historical Society State Historic Preservation Office has announced a National Register of Historic Places designation for the Greenwood Historic District 100–300 Blocks N. Greenwood Avenue and 419 N. Elgin Avenue, in Tulsa. The National Register of Historic Places is our nation’s official list of properties significant in our past.

The Greenwood Historic District is a noncontiguous district in north Tulsa, composed of the 100 block of North Greenwood Avenue, Vernon A.M.E. Church, Mount Zion Baptist Church, and the Sam and Lucy Mackey House (currently the Mabel B. Little Heritage House). The district represents major property types and architectural styles present within the larger Greenwood community during the early and mid-20th century. The district is locally significant for its development as a self-contained, citywithin- a-city due to Tulsa’s strict segregationist policies that excluded African Americans from white businesses, neighborhoods and schools during the early and mid-20th century. The district is notable for its good, largely intact examples of commercial buildings, late Gothic Revival- and Classical Revival-styled church buildings and one Prairie Schoolstyled brick dwelling that are representative of the level of design and construction in Greenwood at the height of its development following the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Furthermore, the Greenwood Historic District derives national significance from its exclusive development by and for African Americans under legal segregation, its recognition by nationally known African American leaders as a prominent community by the 1920s, its wholesale destruction in the infamous Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, and the phenomenal reconstruction in the decades that followed.

Listing in the National Register of Historic Places is an honorific designation that provides recognition, limited protection and, in some cases, financial incentives for these important properties. The SHPO identifies, evaluates and nominates properties for this special designation.

The State Historic Preservation Office is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.