Gatewood Historic District

Did You Know?

by Charles Cheatham

Reprinted from the July/August Gatewood Newsletter 2003

All the property between 16th and 23rd Streets and from Western Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue in Oklahoma City was two separate quarter-sections of farm land, homesteaded in the Land Run of 1889. Both of these original farms are included within the present boundaries of the Gatewood Neighborhood, except for the blocks between Classen Blvd. and Western Avenue, which extend outside of Gatewood.

Early photographs show that this area was rural prairie, with very few trees. The city boundaries of Oklahoma City did not extend farther north than N.W. 10th Street, nor west of Western Avenue In early years, most people lived within a reasonable walking distance of downtown Oklahoma City, in small wood-frame houses, boarding houses, or rooms located above stores.

There were no street car lines until 1902, and automobiles and buses appeared much later. Only people who owned horses (or could afford to pay a fare, or hitched a ride) could travel by wagon or buggy. The rest had to walk everywhere – to work, to shop, and to go to church or school. All these activities were concentrated in the immediate downtown area, where people could easily reach them.

A hundred years ago, what is now the Gatewood Neighborhood was not even “suburbs.” It was rural farm land, with nothing but unpaved section-lined roads. Until 1902, Gatewood was outside of the city limits. There were no city streets yet, and no water, sewer, or gas lines. In this area, water came from a well, there was no indoor plumbing, and heating and cooking were from a fireplace and wood stove. Maybe a few people had electricity in the rural areas, but most used kerosene lamps or candles for light.

The original 160-acre farm making up the western half of the present-day Gatewood Neighborhood was originally homesteaded by Lewis Walch. It had unpaved section-line roads for its west side (now Pennsylvania Avenue) and its north side (now N.W. 23rd Street). The half-section line that defined the eastern boundary of this homestead was just a fence line (not a road), running north-south about 125 feet west of present-day Blackwelder Avenue The south half-section line (another fence line, rather than a road) was located where N.W. 16th Street is today.

The other 160-acre farm mentioned earlier was homesteaded by Andrew Finley. This farm has unpaved section-line roads as its northern edge (present-day N.W. 23rd Street) and its eastern boundary (what is now Western Avenue), and half-section-line fences on its south side (where N.W. 16th Street is today) and on its west side, about 125 feet west of Blackwelder Avenue

The house at 1315 N.W. 21st Street in Gatewood is more than 100 years old, and was the dwelling for the Andrew Findley homestead. It’s a Queen Anne style farmhouse, with an interesting turret. It looks different from other houses in Gatewood, which were built later.

In 1902 the rural character of Gatewood started to change, as real estate promoters took several interrelate and financially daring steps to begin to make Gatewood and nearby areas attractive for building homes. First, the original street car lines were laid out (at substantial cost), running in various directions from downtown. In a classic “chicken and egg” situation, newer housing additions needed convenient transportation to attract homeowners, but new street car lines could not succeed financially unless there was enough real estate development along the routes to provide riders. Many of the same persons invested in street car lines and newer housing additions. The first street car line coming north to the Gatewood area ended at N.W. 17th and Classen (“University Station”).

Second, in 1902 a group of investors including Anton Classen and John Shartel, at significant personal financial risk, formed the University Development Club, which had $200,000 of capital. This company purchased almost 480 acres of land running between present-day N.W. 16th and 23rd Street, including the Lewis Walch homestead, the Andrew Findley homestead, and another 160 acres between Western and Walker Avenues (present-day Mesta Park). The 160 acres immediately east of Western, as well as the 160-acre Findley homestead, immediately west of Western, were platted in 1902 as the 81-block University Addition to Oklahoma City. “Grandiose” would describe the vision of real estate developers who imagined that they could attract buyers for so many lots, at a time when homeowners usually didn’t even own their own transportation. These developers laid out streets, put in utilities, etc., at significant cost.

Third, in the boldest part of the plan, in 1902 civic leaders from Oklahoma City competed against other communities to attract a college. They offered to donate 50 acres of land and $100,000 in cash to induce the Methodist Church to construct Epworth University in Oklahoma City (the predecessor to OCU). The University Development Club, not Oklahoma City itself, honored this deal by actually donating 52 acres and $100,000 of its own capital. The college opened on its new campus in 1904, on what is now divided into 16 blocks running from Classen Blvd. to McKinley Avenue, and between N.W. 17th and 21st Streets. It must have been a huge gamble for a real estate company to give away more than half its capital to attract a college to be the “crown jewel” in the middle of the University Addition. The presence of the university was designed to make the surrounding blocks a prestigious location, increasing sales of the lots. The investors hoped this would allow them to recover the amount they had donated, and make a profit as well. Unfortunately, the university became financially troubled, closing its doors in 1911, only seven years after it opened.