The Renaissance Neighborhood History Project

I’ve been on a personal quest to try to find out if and where Addie Perryman lived on her land.   Several sources say that she raised her family on her allotment land, but US Census Records place her in rented homes near, but not on her land.   One very old tiny cottage, located at 1302 S. Columbia Avenue, has been rumored to be “the original farm house” for the entire area so I wanted to investigate if this could have been Addie's home.   I was able to contact the owner who shared some information and permitted me to check out the property abstract.   I’ll jump to the punch line.   Addie Perryman never lived there.   But!   Some interesting people with important history owned the property in years gone by.                                                                       ...

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...