Skip to main content

The Bead Merchant Building

Mr. George Ramsey built the two-story brick building that once occupied the Northwest corner of 15th and Delaware Avenue. The Renaissance Neighborhood sometimes called it the “Bead Merchant building.” Mr. Ramsey was born in Missouri in 1895 and was in Tulsa by the mid nineteen teens. He built the building and operated the Ramsey Market out of the first floor. It is believed that he also built and lived in the home directly North of the two-story building on Delaware Avenue (still there today).  The building contained a grocery through the 1950’s. Children attending Wilson School would stop along their way to and from school.


From left to right: John Warren Holderman, George Ramsey and his sister, Safrona Ramsey Holderman.  
Picture from private collection of John Holderman.



Over the years the building housed a variety of businesses. These included a printing business, Rhodes Antiques and the Bead Merchant. The buildings to the west of the grocery, now torn down, were reportedly owned by a family named Kirkman.

The second floor of the building held three apartments. Two apartments were small with one bedroom, the third was larger, with two bedrooms and a front and back door.

Chris Mantle, a Tulsa artist renowned for his infinite representations of buffalo lived and worked in the building at one time. He brought it to life with his art.



Although the neighbors and Renaissance Neighborhood Association tried to save the building, it was razed in September of 2015. At the time of this post, the lot remains empty. See some of our most active neighbors interviewed  here.  (Authors Note: Some have had trouble with the hyperlink. See the full web address in references.)  One neighbor, Carla Robinson, said it best “…it’s our history, once it’s gone, we can’t get it back.”

Photo collage from Carla Robinson. Facebook Post, September 26, 2015.

References:
Holderman, J. (2019, October 5). Personal interview. Also present were C. Holderman and P. C. Morgan.
Mantle, C. (March 2020). Personal Communication.
McKay, L. (December 15, 2019). Personal Communication.
KOTV. Channel 6 News. Retrieved from: https://www.newson6.com/story/30136946/caffey.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O.U.R. Streetcar: The Trolley that Ran Through Renaissance

  1911 Tulsa Postcard Courtesy of Tulsa Historical Society.  Used with Permission. Tulsa’s transportation system has evolved from horse-drawn wagons and buggies to streetcars, jitneys, automobiles, electric bicycles, and scooters. (“Jitney” was slang for a five cent piece.   Small buses that carried people for 5 cents a ride became known as jitneys.) From 1905 through 1935 an electric double rail trolley system wound through the city carrying hundreds of Tulsans to work, shopping, recreation and back home again.   This is a short history of the Tulsa streetcar system, including one line that ran  through present day Renaissance.   Before the introduction of the trolley in 1905, horse-drawn vehicles were the primary mode of transportation. Tulsa's horses were well accustomed to the unpaved, dusty, and sometimes mud-filled roads. Hitching posts in front of homes and businesses were common at the time.   In November 1905, Tulsa Mayor C. L. Reeder...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grocery stores in the neighborhood

As information is gathered on the small local grocers that dotted our neighborhood this post will be updated over time. These are the known groceries over time in and near the neighborhood. The ad below from 1928 helped me identify some of the neighborhood groceries, including the flat roofed store fronts that are still standing in the neighborhood on Atlanta Avenue and Delaware Place.  Tulsa World 1928   1137 S Atlanta Avenue:   Graham Market Owned by Harrison "Harry" Canfield Graham was a Tulsa grocery operator for 18 years.  In 1930, Graham  and his wife, Cora, and four of their six children lived in the neighborhood at 1336 S. Gary Place. Their home was a craftsman bungalow with a stately red brick front porch.   Following his death in 1938 he was interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa.  Cora lived until 1975.  She was 99 years old.   Tulsa Tribune December 1938 Tulsa Tribune 1934 ad that mentions Graham Market Google Maps ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Unlocking the History of a Home: 1439 S Gary Avenue

  The owners of 1439 S Gary Avenue were contacted out of the blue by a man who collected keys.  Somehow, he cam into possession of three very old keys clearly labeled 1439 S. Gary Ave and decided to return them to the home.  Although the locks that originally fit the keys have been upgraded (One does still exist but is no longer an exterior door) the return of the original keys unlocked a curiosity for this home’s history.  The charming petite brick Tudor cottage was built in about 1929 and the first owners of the home were the Sell family.   The 1930 US Census listed the family as follows: Merle and Loraine Sell were both 35 with three young children, John (8), Helen (4) and June (2).   The   2 bedroom/1 bath home   was valued at $6,000.   Mr. Sell seems to been in sales.   Seriously.   😊   From cigars to cars.    He was also a Veteran of the first World War had been hospitalized at at the VA Hospital in Muskoge...
Post a Comment
Read more