Part II:
We return to the story of the American Foursquare, built about 1906 in downtown Tulsa. If you didn't read Part I, you may want to check it out here first. Part II of this epic tale will share how the Foursquare found a new home and a new family at 1212 S. Birmingham Avenue.
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| The Foursquare at a new address on Birmingham Avenue. Image shared by current owners. |
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In the early 1920’s, houses were being moved out of downtown Tulsa and further east and south to burgeoning neighborhoods.
At the new site on Birmingham Avenue the Foursquare was situated atop a full basement. Brick craftsman style columns replaced the narrow wood columns that previously supported the front porch roof.
Audrey married a Mr. Wilson Clift and established a home of her own. Incidentally, in the early 1970’s, she and her husband lived at 1440 S. Florence Place, a small bungalow on the east side of our neighborhood.
The Hamilton’s had a third child named Jewell Miriam, born the day after Christmas in 1912. Sadly, she passed away the following June. She is buried in a family plot in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
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| Tulsa Democrat, March 1917 |
It must have been a remarkable sight to see a large house being jacked up and rolled along a carefully plotted route to a new site. A huge undertaking, not to mention dangerous! Newspapers of the day are filled with tragic accidents and mishaps related to moving houses. You can read a story about one of them Here.
Some up and coming neighborhoods didn't allow houses moved in from elsewhere and even advertised that they didn’t allow the practice.
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| "Childers...a high class addition ...free from apartments, stores or old houses moved in." Tulsa Tribune, April 1923 |
The additions that were springing up in what would become the Renaissance Neighborhood had no such restrictions.
Enter Mr. & Mrs. George W. Foresman. Mr. Foresman was one of the first builders in Tulsa with ads for his services dating as early as 1903. In 1914 Mr. Foresman was appointed as the building inspector for the city of Tulsa.
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| The Tulsa Democrat, May 1903 |
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| The Morning Tulsa Daily World, October 1914 |
The 1918 Tulsa City Directory shows the Foresmans living on 12th Street in our neighborhood. They owned property along 12th Street between Birmingham Avenue and Atlanta Place. 1925 and 1926 Tulsa Directories list them at 1208 S. Birmingham Avenue. Today, there is no such address, and if you search 1208 S. Birmingham Avenue, on-line maps will land you smack in between the Foursquare at 1212 S. Birmingham Avenue and the large white farmhouse at 2548 E. Twelfth Street. I'm speculating that the numbers were adjusted over the years as lots were platted and houses were built. I'd also wager it was the Foresmans who built the large white farm house pictured below.
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| White Farm House just north of the Foursquare. Southwest corner of 12th and Birmingham Avenue. Picture taken by A. Mueller |
Mr. Foresman likely purchased the Foursquare from 116 E. Fifth Street (probably for a song) and had it moved to his property on Birmingham Avenue. This would have occurred in 1923 or 1924. Recall from Part I that we know a three-story brick building had been erected at 116 E. Fifth Street by 1924 from the Sanborn Maps.
It probably took some time to get the Foursquare situated into its new home on Birmingham Avenue. As a professional building inspector, Mr. Foresman would have overseen the transport and establishment of the Foursquare from the downtown site to its new home. The original plaster and lathe walls did not fare well in the move and were replaced with relatively new patented invention….Sheet Rock.
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| Directions and patent information for sheet rock found in Foursquare by current owners. |
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| This picture of the Foursquare was likely taken at 116 E. 5th Street. It may be during the moving process as it appears the foundation/crawl space is being removed. Note the original thin columns supporting the porch. Date unknown. Photograph shared with permission from current owners. |
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| The Foursquare after the move on Birmingham Avenue. Note new craftsman style supporting columns. Date Unknown. Used with permission from current owners. |
In 1927 the Foresman’s re-subdivided their land in the Fair Acres addition, into 10 lots. They called it the Foresman Addition. I suspect that Mr. Foresman may have been the builder for most of the homes in the self-titled addition.
The Foursquare got a new family in 1927, Mr. Deane Bauchman Hamilton and his wife Audrey purchased the home now fully settled at 1212 S. Birmingham Avenue. It would remain in their family for the next 80 years.
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| The Foursquare at 1212 Birmingham Avenue Photograph taken by the Hamiltons- Shared with permission from current owners |
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| Rear View of the Foursquare showing back porch and sleeping porch Photograph taken by the Hamiltons- Shared with permission from current owners |
Mr. Deane Hamilton's father, John Thomas Hamilton, served as a member of the Texas State House from 1909-1921. But long before there was a Texas, this Hamilton family tree branched from great families in Europe. In fact, according to a Hamilton family member and professional genealogist, their tree reaches back to 10 kings of England, 10 kings of Scotland, 16 kings of France, 1 king of Germany, 2 kings of Italy, 2 kings of Sweden and 4 Grand Princes of Kiev (precursors to the Tsars of Russia.)
More recent history from Tulsa leaves us a bit of information about Hamiltons who made the Foursquare their home.
Deane and Audrey Hamilton were married on Christmas Day in 1909.
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| Deane B. and Audrey Hamilton Perhaps an engagement or wedding photograph Shared with permission from William Hamilton III |
When the Hamiltons purchased 1212 Birmingham Avenue, forty-three-year-old Deane was working as an auditor and Audrey was a mother and housewife. They had four children, Audrey, Winton, Buell and Dorothy.
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| From left to right: Buell, Dorothy, Audrey and Winton Hamilton Shared with permission from William Hamilton III |
The Hamilton’s oldest daughter, named Audrey like her mother, was active in Girl Scouts and a member of the honor society. She graduated from Central High School in 1927, the same year her family moved into the Foursquare. Her senior yearbook recounts the following: Audrey’s greatest ambition is to be Governor of Oklahoma. She is interested in scouting, having done much for the cause while in high school. You wouldn’t think from her grades that she didn’t like homework, but she insists she doesn’t.
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| 1927 Central High School Yearbook |
The second of the Hamilton children was Winton. Born in 1911, he attended Central High School and the University of Tulsa. His senior yearbook described him: “Quiet, self-possession; painstaking orderliness; scholarliness personified." At the University of Tulsa Winton studied petroleum engineering. He worked for Mobil Oil for over 30 years and owned several patents relevant to the petroleum industry.
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| 1928 Central High School Yearbook |
Buell Brandon was the family’s second son, born in 1914. Like his older brother, he studied petroleum engineering at the University of Tulsa. He worked for Stanolind Oil Company housed downtown in the Philcade building. (Incidentally, the Philcade building was next door, directly west, where his family’s Foursquare once sat at 116 E. Fifth Street.) When he registered for the draft in 1940 at age 26, he weighed 140 lbs, measured 5’10” tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. (I was not able to find any evidence that he or any of the other Hamilton’s served in the US Armed Forces. Additionally, extended family members whom I contacted were not aware of any military service.) In 1942 he married Miss Pearl L. Richt. They made their home in Tulsa for many years but eventually moved to Colorado and later New Hampshire.
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| Buell Hamilton's Draft Card |
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| Buell Hamilton is pictured in the center of the bottom row with round glasses and a bow tie. Central High School Yearbook 1930 |
The youngest of the Hamilton family was Dorothy May. Born in 1921, she would have been just six years old when the family moved into the Foursquare. She attended the nearby Wilson School and was active in Girl Scouts. Dorothy May Hamilton married Mr. John Richard Christie, a Canadian from Saskatchewan. He graduated from the University of Tulsa in 1942, became an American citizen and served in the US Army Air Core during WWII. Together they had two children, Margaret and Lance.
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| A young Dorothy Hamilton. Wilson School 1936 |
At some point, Dorothy and John parted ways. He went on to remarry, earn a doctorate in psychology and worked at Columbia University for over 30 years. His area of research was manipulative behavior and personality styles.
Dorothy stayed nearby her family home and purchased the duplex to the south of the Foursquare. She was living at 1216 S. Birmingham Avenue when her mother passed away in the early 1970’s. Dorothy helped maintain and eventually took possession of the family home.
After Dorothy’s death, her children, Margaret and Lance, inherited the home.
Margaret had married and was living in Austin, Texas. Lance became a psychologist like his father and had a family of his own. Both Margaret and Lance visited the Foursquare from time to time, and there were intermittent efforts to revitalize the aging house, but it mostly languished. As anyone knows, an empty house doesn’t fare well with the passing of time.
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Almost all of the Hamiltons I have written about here are gone now.
Deane and Audrey died in 1969 and 1971 respectively, and are buried in Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma near their baby daughter. All their children have passed away. Audrey is buried next to her husband at Rose Hill in Tulsa. Winton Hamilton died in New Jersey in 1977. Buell died in New Hampshire in 1999. Dorothy passed away in July of 2006 and is buried in Guthrie near her parents and extended family. Even Dorothy's son Lance have now passed on.
This brings in the end of an era for the Foursquare but also beginning of a new chapter.
Stay tuned for Part III.
References
The main sources for this post include research on the Hamilton family from ancestry.com and communication with William Hamilton III who is the great-grandson of John Thomas Hamilton who had served in the Texas State House. William Hamilton has published several books on the genealogy of the Hamiltons. Additionally, the Tulsa City Directories, Tulsa Newspapers and the property abstract were consulted.
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