TULSA, Oklahoma -
Downtown Tulsa is buzzing with construction. Several projects are underway and others are really starting to take shape like our new News on 6 studio.
Plus, it was just announced that the Brady District will also soon become home for the archives of one of the Sooner State's most famous sons.
The tame weather has helped crews stay on track to bring new life to the Brady District: a hotel, lofts, our new building, a performance arts center, and now, a new home for the famed collection of one of Oklahoma's legendary folk singers.
The historic Mathews Building, a brick skeleton right now, will come to life with art at its core. There will be classrooms and galleries and space for the Tulsa Symphony and Tulsa Ballet. The building will also house an extensive collection of Woody Guthrie's song lyrics, photographs, and journals.
"Woody Guthrie is one of Tulsa's most important sons. He's possibly one of the greatest American folk singers," said Stanton Doyle, Senior Program Officer for GKFF.
The George Kaiser Family Foundation bought the archives from New York for $3 million, including the original handwritten lyrics to "This Land is Your Land."
"What he sang about early in his career was relevant to those who stayed in Oklahoma and left," Stanton Doyle said. "Documented the Dust Bowl and the Depression. And the times people were going through."
Bob Blackburn with the Oklahoma Historical Society says bringing Guthrie's collection to Tulsa enhances the community's intricate blend of art deco, jazz, and native American Influence.
The Woody Guthrie Center will open in late 2012. The archives will arrive in early 2013.
Up the street, the new News On 6 hub is also making construction headway.
"As the slabs start to get poured, you'll start to see how big of a building this is going to be," Bob Jack, with Manhattan Construction, said.
The foundation is the focus right now. About 4,200 feet of concrete has already been poured.
"That would equal about 75 normal house slabs," Bob Jack said.
The steel frame will go up in two months.
It's visual progress in a growing neighborhood thriving with what's to come.
The Mathews Building and our building bookend what will be the Brady Park. Right now, crews there are working on the park's pavilion.
The Mathews building will come to life with art at its core.
The collection will feature Woody Guthrie's song lyrics, photographs, and journals.
Construction on the new News On 6 building.
