Swan Lake Historic District
N 36° 08.123 W 095° 58.189
15S E 232758 N 4003050
Bounded by 15th Street on the north, Utica Avenue on the east, 21st Street on the south, and Peoria Avenue on the west. Swan Lake is our token waymark location.
Waymark Code: WMTPB
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 10/09/2006
Views: 51
A very wide variety of architectural styles may be seen as you tour the neighborhood, from Tudor Revival to Art Deco to Dutch Colonial to Italian Renaissance to Prairie style, and more. You will find National Folk houses, Craftsman bungalows, Spanish Eclectic stately homes, and Georgian mansions. There are more 2- and 3-story apartments dating from the 1920s and 1930s in the Swan Lake area than in any of Tulsa's other residential areas. Thomas Gilcrease lived in one of those apartments before he got married and built a new home for his bride.
Swan Lake is the heart of the neighborhood. It was originally a spring fed watering hole on a ranch, which was acquired by Colonel A. D. Orcutt through his wife's tribal connections. In 1908, the Colonel's son, Samuel A. Orcutt led a group of developers in purchasing 25 acres to build a park and to turn the watering hole into an artificial lake. It is said that Samuel Orcutt planted the sycamores along Trenton Avenue, just north of Swan Lake. In 1910 an amusement park was built on the north side of the lake, and included a dance pavilion, a covered swimming pool (the Natatorium), and eventually a roller-coaster that cost $7,600. A trolley line brought Tulsa residents out to this "remote" location in the country. The trolley tracks came down Forest Avenue (now St. Louis Ave.) and ended at the entrance to the amusement park, at what is now 1767 South St. Louis Avenue.
In 1917 E.J. Brennan platted the Swan Park addition, changed the name of Orcutt Lake to Swan Lake, and donated the lake to the City of Tulsa as a park. A second lake, named Spillers Lake, was built in 1921 on the west side of St. Louis Avenue. It was filled in after a young boy drowned there in 1939, and donated to the City as an addition to the park.
The fountain in Swan Lake is a famous landmark, depicted on postcards and in paintings. Unfortunately, the unreinforced cement structure began to crumble in the late 1990s and became inoperable around 2000. A design replicating the old fountain as closely as possible has been chosen, but fund-raising efforts have not yet come up with the money needed to replace the structure. City funding recently allowed for some much needed erosion-control work and stabilization of the banks of the lake.
Swan Lake's new landscaping needed a year to get established, and then two Trumpeter Swans were put on the lake in the summer of 2006, replacing Zeus and Nike, the former swan residents who had died during the construction period. (The new male swan has died, but the two were not a bonded pair, so the Swan Lake Waterfowl Society hopes to find a mate for the female.) More than 250 migrating and wintering wild ducks and geese join the captive collection, with the population at its peak during the winter.
Please do not feed the waterfowl at Swan Lake; any food other than the balanced diet provided by the Tulsa Parks Dept. or the wild food they find on their own in the lake can cause health problems, and even death, especially to the Trumpeter Swans.
When you visit: We suggest that you include additional coordinates for one of the
historically significant properties, and any historical details you know to be accurate.