City in the Osage
Hills,
Tulsa,
Oklahoma by Courtney Ann and Glen Vaughn-Roberson,
Pruett Publishing Company,
Boulder COO, (c) 1984, pg 82,
"In 1902 city workers paved First and Second streets with brick. Although there were ten such avenues by 1904, Democrat editors reported that they were in poor condition. By 1907, however, Main street had been transformed from a dry, dustry road in summer or an impassable mudhole in winter to an asphalt byway".
Tulsa's
Magic Roots by Nina
Lane Dunn published by
Oklahoma Book Publishing Co, (c) 1979 - compiled from the private papers of J M
Hall and city/county records, Pg 260, "First Paving"; "In the Summer of 1905, ..., petitions for the paving of First and Second streets were being circulated and
Tate Brady was asking for bids to sprinkle oil on the section of Main Street running in front of his hotel."
Pg 261; "Before statehood and the passage of the Curtis Bill it was practically impossible to secure public improvements; there was no way of compelling objectors to pay their share of the paving cost, so any agreement to pave or build sidewalks had to be unamimous". ... "The Curtis bill was signed in April 1906 and Tulsa's street-paving struggle then began." [this in error the Curtis bill was signed into law in June, 1898 - although the townsite section of the law had to wait until the
Dawes Commission surveyed and appraised town lots - so it might be that the author was referring to when the townsite surveys and appraisements were made for
Tulsa]. "It started in July when a narrow brick crossing was laid at Second and Boulder to keep the mud-weary pedestrians out of the grime. A couple of weeks later, W A
Stuckey was awarded a contract for paving First Street [pg 262] between Main and Boulder. Bricks from Coffeyville or Pittsburg probably would be used. ... It turned out a month or so later that the
Tulsa Vitrified
Brick Co., with installation of new machinery would be abel to provide at least some of the bricks. ... in June 1907, it was reported that two hundred fifty men were working at Third and Main on new paying ...."
Hope this helps - Linda