BRICKTOWN: The Past, Present and Future of Oklahoma City

By Paul Fairchild   

“Bricktown is the top entertainment district in the region,” says Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. “I think it’s a tremendous draw for tourism. It gives our citizens something to show off about their city. When they have family and friends visiting, it gives them a place to take them that’s a little bit different. I think it also serves our convention business and the interstate traffic going through the city, giving people a place to stop.”

It wasn’t always so. By 1970, this once bustling area, previously known simply as the warehouse district, was the most run-down, dilapidated section of Oklahoma City. Its vacant buildings showed no hint of its vibrant past and no hope for a bright future. In the 1990s, however, the people of Oklahoma City passed the first Metropolitan Area Projects initiative, MAPS, giving the district a new face and a new name: Bricktown.

Being the oldest section of Oklahoma City, it’s not surprising that Bricktown is far more rich in history than other areas of the city. Before the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889, the district boasted less than a handful of buildings and a military encampment serving soldiers from Fort Reno. Outside of the military, the area’s population varied between 10 and 12 people on any given day.

The Land Run brought thousands to the city, and those thousands brought their commercial needs with them. With river access and the city’s first railroad, the Santa Fe, Oklahoma City was an ideal place for entrepreneurs, workers, farmers and fortune seekers to settle.

The eventual withdrawal of the soldiers left a perfect spot for commercial development just east of the Santa Fe railroad. The area expanded rapidly, with new warehouses springing up almost overnight. The area took its name from those buildings – the warehouse district. Oklahoma City residents were making money in a previously untouched prairie wilderness.

As they did in many young cities in the west, railroads played a crucial part in Oklahoma City’s growth. The Santa Fe railroad was joined by the Katy Railroad and the Rock Island railroad, making possible the transportation of wares and people north, east, south and west. A huge variety of goods passed into, out of, and through the city’s warehouse district, and it grew accordingly.

Commerce surged, schools and residential areas sprang up around the district, and culture of all kinds flowed into the new city. That was before oil was discovered in regions surrounding Oklahoma City, which only added to the warehouse district’s commercial importance. So it went for decades. Those who did business in the city did it in the warehouse district.

The district’s decline didn’t take place overnight, according to the Oklahoma History Center’s Executive Director, Michael Dean. Just as it rose with the importance of the railroads, it fell with their gradual decline.

The post-WWII years witnessed fierce and ferocious new competition in the transportation industry. Soon highways and freeways made trucking an easier, cheaper way to move goods from one place to another, overtaking the railroads as the leader in transportation. That spelled the end of the warehouse district, a place where every piece of infrastructure was keyed for railroads. Trucks simply didn’t work in the warehouse district.

As trucks overtook trains as the transportation method of choice, the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce promoted the building of warehouses outside the city’s downtown area. One after another, businesses in the warehouse district eventually followed this lead, building and filling new warehouses on the periphery of the city.

By the late 1960s, the once proud and vital player in the city’s commerce and industry was empty. Warehouses and stores were shuttered, vacant and unwanted; the area saw more drug deals than legitimate business.

In the early 1990s, that changed with the passage of the MAPS project. The ambitious plan covered nine projects in the city. Among them was a very successful effort to bring the warehouse district back to life.

Many of the buildings, once forgotten eyesores, received facelifts. True to its new name, the district’s streets were paved with bricks, a pleasant throwback to years past that nicely complemented its fresh, new look. By the time the project was finished, Bricktown seemed like a new city built from scratch.

With the fulfillment of the promises of MAPS, Bricktown provided a new center for the city’s entertainment scene. “Bricktown represents the past, present and future of Oklahoma City,” says the Bricktown Association’s Executive Director, Jim Cowan. “But the true excitement about Bricktown is what’s coming next.”

The new Bricktown became not just the most popular local destination, but also one of Oklahoma City’s premier tourist destinations. The renovated warehouses made great homes for retailers of all kinds, from restaurants to art galleries. Bricktown now boasts more than 30 bars, restaurants and retail businesses.

A favorite Bricktown attraction is the Bricktown Canal, where water taxis offer a fun way to see and learn about the district. Moviegoers can catch the latest films at the Harkins Theatre on the south side of the district. Directly adjacent to Bricktown are the Ford Center, home of the Thunder; the Oklahoma City Museum of Art; the Myriad Botanical Gardens, and the Ronald J. Norick Library.

An education component has even snuck its way into Bricktown. The Academy of Contemporary Music, or ACM@UCO, the only school of its kind in the country, recently found its new home in the old Hardware Building in the heart of Bricktown.

One of Bricktown’s biggest draws is the Oklahoma City RedHawks, which bring thousands of baseball fans to the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark every summer and contribute to the rich and textured fabric of the district. The gate count last summer was 397,219 for just 70 games.

“We celebrate being part of the fabric today, and because Bricktown is now a destination point regionally as well as statewide, it is of great benefit to us,” says Scott Pruitt, Co-Owner and Manager of the RedHawks. “We count it is a blessing to be a part of and contribute to the area.”

The recently passed MAPS 3 project affects Bricktown directly in two ways. Depending on its location, the new convention center will impact Bricktown foot traffic while the new light rail system is likely to bring in more people.

The X-factor for Bricktown in the MAPS 3 project is the location of the new convention center. Approaching its 50th year, the Cox Convention Center is quickly becoming outmoded and won’t be able to serve the city’s needs much longer. But some Bricktown merchants attribute up to 40 percent of their business to the existing Cox Center.

Those businesses may not have anything to worry about. “The continued investment in the core of the city is going to help Bricktown,” says Cornett. “I think all of downtown, including Bricktown, will benefit from the downtown streetcars that we’re putting in. I also think the increased convention business that will come with the new convention center will help Bricktown. Wherever we build the convention center, it’s going to need to be in close proximity to, and within walking distance of, the Bricktown entertainment district.”

MAPS 3 includes improvement of Oklahoma’s mass transit system. Six miles of railed streetcars will criss-cross the downtown area – and Bricktown.

Replacing the city’s small trolley system, the new light rail system linking downtown to Bricktown will deliver more people to Oklahoma City’s favorite entertainment district quickly and without the hassle of parking. More downtown workers will be able to reach Bricktown restaurants at lunchtime. The light rail system will also carry to Bricktown recreationists enjoying Central Park or the new improvements to the Oklahoma River. The new transportation system is nothing but a plus for Bricktown businesses.

The bigger picture that MAPS 3 presents, however, will undoubtedly benefit Bricktown, as well. Larken Warner, economist and professor emeritus at Oklahoma State University and an expert on MAPS, notes, “Bricktown has grown with a diversified mix of recreation, eating and travel-related businesses. This means that it’s likely to capture a share of Oklahoma City area’s overall economic growth. MAPS 3’s impact on overall growth will impact Bricktown.”

MAPS 3 includes other projects that will benefit Bricktown: the new Central Park, several sidewalk projects and trails, and improvements on the Oklahoma River.

Central Park, for instance, will eventually involve serious residential development, and all of those residents will have easy access to Bricktown.

The plan is dedicated to redeveloping the core of Oklahoma City. The idea is to bring more people into the city with new attractions and easy transportation. The equation for Bricktown businesses is simple: more people downtown means more business in Bricktown. With MAPS 3 in place, Bricktown isn’t just here to stay – it’s hear to thrive.

“As Oklahoma City asked voters to approve a one-cent sales tax extension in MAPS 3, it held Bricktown up as the example of what success looks like,” says Cowan. “From conventions and tourism to local entertainment and development, Bricktown has become the face of Oklahoma City’s renaissance as a city.”