O. W. GURLEY (1868-1935) Ottowa or O.W. Gurley is remembered as one of the wealthiest Men in Tulsa, Oklahoma before the 1921 Tulsa Massacre destroyed his property & forced him to flee. Ottowa Gurley was born on Christmas Day in 1868 to freed slaves in Huntsville, Alabama, Gurley grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was self-educated & eventually married his childhood sweetheart, Emma. After a brief time as a teacher, he worked for the U.S. Postal Service. 1893, Gurley participated in the Cherokee Outlet Land Rush in Indian Territory & staked a claim in Perry, Noble County. Gurley ran unsuccessfully for treasurer of Noble County but later became principal of the town’s school and operated a general store in the community. 1905, Gurley & his wife sold their property in Noble County & moved 80mi to the oil boom town of Tulsa. Gurley purchased 40 acres of land in North Tulsa & established his first business, a rooming house on a dusty road that would become Greenwood Ave. He subdivided his plot into residential & commercial lots & eventually opened a grocery store. As the community grew around him, Gurley prospered. Between 1910-1920, the Black population in the area he had purchased grew from 2k to nearly 9k in a city with a total population of 72k. The Black community had a large working-class population as well as doctors, lawyers, & other professionals who provided services to them. Soon the Greenwood section was dubbed “Negro Wall Street” by Tuskegee educator Booker T. Washington. Greenwood, now called Black Wall Street, was nearly self-sufficient with Black-owned businesses, many initially financed by Gurley, ranging from brickyards & theaters to a chartered airplane company. Gurley built the Gurley Hotel at 112 N. Greenwood and rented out spaces to smaller businesses. His other properties included a two-story building at 119 N. Greenwood, which housed the Masonic Lodge and a Black employment agency. He was also one of the founders of Vernon AME Church. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci-dJkNOcXh5B0qAH6CFjKW6Q4XEYeHb4JNUv00/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
blakekathryn
jacobvanloon
pixelskylines