Oil Derricks and Corinthian Columns: The Industrial Transformation of the Oklahoma State Capitol Grounds

Abstract

Nowhere is the petroleum industry's imprint on the Oklahoma landscape more striking than on the State Capitol Grounds in Oklahoma City, where the Capitol shares an unusual partnership in space with oil derricks. David Lowenthal suggests that the siting of oil wells on the State Capitol reflects American culture's tendency to value landscape function over form. Although Lowenthal's observations of the American landscape have proven informative, his brief discussion of Oklahoma's Capitol derricks fails to provide adequate insight into the cultural values this landscape reflects. Using historical information gathered from newspapers, literary accounts, and photographs, this study documents how Oklahoma's revered Capitol Grounds have been transformed by oil development, and the process by which this change occurred. Investigation shows that despite difficult economic times, many residents opposed oil development on the Capitol Grounds. Furthermore, it was not the mandate of a pragmatic public but rather the decision of a single individual that opened the Capitol to drilling. The persistence of the relic Capitol derricks can be attributed to their significance as symbols of an Oklahoma way of life.