Land that had periodically flooded with little harm now was awash in wave after wave of urban flooding.īy the late 1950's, flooding of newly developed subdivisions along the river spurred calls for flood control. As an emergency national defense project, and in response to 1943 flooding, the Corps built levees around Tulsa's oil refineries along the Arkansas River.īy 1950, in the post-war building boom, housing was fanning out, onto the floodplains to the south and east. The major impact first came to Tulsa during World War II. Army Corps of Engineers to construct dams and levees to control flooding. In response to the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927, Congress in 1928 passed the Lower Mississippi Flood Control Act, authorizing the U.S.
Meanwhile, around the nation, the 1920s ushered in what has been called the Structural Era of Flood Control, generally 1928 to 1968. That far-sighted preservation of Tulsa's 2,800-acre Mohawk Park was destined to save the city innumerable future flood losses. The waterworks moved to higher ground, near a band of Bird Creek bottoms that became one of the nation's largest city parks. In the lowlands, such as Mingo Creek east of town, would be generous parks and recreational trails. City fathers responded with Tulsa's first land-use plan, which envisioned upland boulevards and housing. On June 13, 1923, the river flooded Tulsa's waterworks, caused $500,000 in damages ($7.3 million in 2017 dollars), and left 4,000 homeless.
Development edged closer and closer toward the river. As riches mounted and investors and speculators poured in, Tulsa grew to a wealthy city of 72,000. In 1908, only a year after statehood, Arkansas River flooding at Tulsa caused $250,000 in damages ( $6.22 million in 2017 dollars).īy 1920, the town had outgrown its raw, boomtown image. Many of the causes are locational: The city is based on a wide river, in a zone of violent storms, and on a frontier where a man had a right to do as he wished with his land.įlood records are sparse before 1900.
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