It started with Chief Sapulpa

When Oklahoma was Indian Territory

There is only one Sapulpa. It’s located in northeastern Oklahoma and named after its first permanent resident a Native American.

And therein lies the story of its first settler and merchant, railroads, Black Gold, and a hardy community spirit.

The Native American was Chief Sapulpa, who around 1850 established a trading post near the confluence of Polecat and Rock Creeks—about one mile southeast of the downtown in the city that carries his name. A full-blooded lower Creek Indian of the Kasihta Tribe in Osocheetown, Alabama, Chief Sapulpa was not an actual chief, but in honor of his influence and entrepreneurship. His arrival in Indian Territory was part of the forced migration of Native

Americans from the southeast U.S.

His name received an even greater honor one year prior to his death in 1886 when the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad extended into the area and called its location “Sapulpa Station.” It is said that Chief Sapulpa had befriended the railway workers.

Cotton and corn as well as produce were the mainstays of railway traffic moving out of Sapulpa Station in those early days—later to be followed by beef. And then came Black Gold.

Oil! Glenn Pool! A legendary strike six miles southeast of Sapulpa. Soon the area around Sapulpa and its nearby neighbors boomed—Sapulpa’s downtown grew as two and three and four story buildings began going up along Dewey Avenue (which was to become a part of the legendary

Route 66) from the mid-1900s through the 1920s. There was no need for skyscrapers—there was plenty of land to build on in this 1898-incorporated city.

At one time, Sapulpa proudly called itself “The Oil City of the Southwest.” But, over time, Tulsa’s location on the Arkansas River, the building of a bridge crossing it, and the building of what was once the world’s busiest airport, ending up dominating the oil business, and Sapulpa turned to industry— bricks, glass, pottery, to name but three—as primary engines of the city’s economy. Ever adapting to a changing world, today Sapulpa is economically diversified with more than 130 manufacturers employing some 5,000 workers.

The coming Centennial of Route 66 in 2026 is close to the heart of Sapulpa’s citizens. For as travelers far and wide tour the legendary “Mother Road” now, and when they celebrate the Centennial, they will see hollowed out cities along the way— downtowns with abandoned buildings, or simply vacant lots where merchants once thrived. not so in Sapulpa.

Not only is the spirit of preservation and renewal strong in Sapulpa (How many other cities are reopening drive-In movie theaters?)—this is a city that long ago decided not to survive, but to thrive. The Christmas 2022 opening of the threeblock long Christmas Chute, which attracted an estimated 500,000 visitors to downtown Sapulpa, is emblematic of that same spirit which can also be found in the community’s pride in its heritage, as well as the 18-building walking tour (use the QR symbol found on each building for its story) on Dewey Avenue/ Route 66.

For more information about Sapulpa, additional walking tours, maps and tourism information, as well as a warm welcome, visit Sapulpa’s Chamber of Commerce, 101 E. Dewey.