Whittier Square

Whittier Square. Tulsa's Historic Route 66. Tulsa experienced a population boom in the 1920s that paralleled the success of the oil industry. Residential development expanded east and south from downtown. The first major suburban area developed along a trolley line connecting downtown to Kendall College (later The University of Tulsa). Whittier Square was the main commercial hub., With the 1926 designation of Route 66 along Federal Drive (later Admiral Place) and Lewis Street, the area surrounding the intersection of those two roads boomed in the late 1920s and 1930s into Tulsa's first suburban shopping district. Large concentrations of auto-related businesses, such as filling stations, auto repair shops, and restaurants, formed an enticing travel stop along Route 66. In 1932, the alignment of Route 66 was moved to 11th Street, one mile to the south, but the presence of many well established businesses kept Whittier Square vital for decades., After years of disinvestment from the 1970s - 2000s, Whittier Square experienced economic resurgence in the 2010s. Most of the buildings you see in Whittier Square today were constructed during that 1926-1932 period when Route 66 traveled through the heart of the area., The Whittier Square Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2011 and designated an Oklahoma Certified Cultural District in 2015., The Circle Theater, The Chilton Building and Circle Theater opened in 1928, providing recreation for Tulsa residents and visiting Route 66 motorists. The Circle Theater was the city's first suburban theater and showed both silent movies and "talkies" in its earliest days. The marquee you see today, installed in 1952, is the third design to grace the front façade. The Circle Theater is the last of the twenty-six theaters operating in Tulsa at the end of World War II to still be operating. The original 1928 pipe organ was restored in 2013 in time for the theater's 85th birthday.