Excellence in Education and a New City Hall

Excellence in Education and a New City Hall. The 1990s. Former Governor and U.S. Senator David L. Boren's 1994 surprise appointment as President of the University of Oklahoma touched off both a campus and a community renaissance that continued throughout the decade and into the next. President Boren and his wife, Molly Shi Boren, revived historic campus traditions and solicited donations to build and restore classrooms and museums. , The campus landscape was transformed with sculptures, fountains, flowers and benches. An Honors College was established and endowed faculty positions multiplied under President Boren's leadership. Nationally-recognized scholars were recruited the same as talented athletes. Visitors to the campus were welcomed in historic Jacobson Hall on Boyd Street. The revival carried over to the community, too. Volunteers planted trees along major thoroughfares and in neighborhoods, some replacing century old elm trees planted soon after Norman's founding in 1889. Downtown began planning improvements of its own with a walking trail, which would later become known as Legacy Trail, established along what was a blighted area near the railroad tracks. Norman's residential growth necessitated a second high school during the 1990s. Norman North High School opened its doors on Stubbeman Avenue, immediately starting an athletic and academic rivalry that didn't exist in the past century. , In 1998, the Crucible Foundry was established in the former Carey Lumber yard on Tonhawa Street. As the high quality of its sculptures became known, orders came in from around the country. Norman residents got to see world-class sculptures before they were shipped away. Norman's music scene found new life, as “college radio” went big-time across the country. Norman's own “The Flaming Lips” became national and world-wide stars – eventually becoming Grammy award winners in the next decade. , Passenger train service returned to the city in 1999 after a 20-year absence. Amtrak's Heartland Flyer served stops between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. The refurbished Santa Fe Depot reopened as an arts center, complementing other downtown galleries and the nearby Sooner Theatre. It was the beginning of an arts district later formalized by the City Council. , The Oklahoma Veterans Center opened on East Robinson Street, less than a mile from its former quarters on the grounds of Griffin Hospital. Later, the J.D. McCarty Center for Children with Developmental Disabilities would move nearby. Dozens of social service agencies moved into the former veterans building, putting multiple resources under one roof. , After years of planning, a new city hall and council chambers opened on West Gray. The building's focal point is a clock tower. Nearby sits a statue of Abner Norman, the young Kentucky land survey crew chainman whose surveying crew burned “Norman's Camp” on an elm tree as a prank at his campsite near the future railroad tracks south of Lindsey Street. Members of Mr. Norman's family attended the new City Hall's statute dedication. Construction on the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on Chautauqua Avenue was started in 1996 and completed in 1999. At 190,000 square feet, it opened as the nation's largest comprehensive university museum. It replaced the Stovall Museum on Asp Avenue. , The university hired Bob Stoops as its head football coach in 1998. His leadership brought OU its seventh national championship two seasons later. That championship, like the three won each by longtime head coaches Bud Wilkinson (1950 1955, 1956), and Barry Switzer (1974, 1975, 1985) raised program expectations to new levels.