History

Believe it or not, at least two tales from Sapulpa have made it into the bizarre series of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Seventy years ago this week in Sapulpa, we lost one of our downtown theaters: the Yale. Read the fascinating story of the immigrant family who started several of Sapulpa's theaters, harrowing account of the loss of one of Sapulpa's favorite historic buildings.

The 1960s in Sapulpa had not only buildings being torn down but buildings were being prepared for new businesses and expansions of old businesses or replacing older buildings with new ones.

One of the more significant fires in downtown Sapulpa happened today in 1952, when the Reel Drug Store, and The Royal Cafe, buildings that had already caught fire once, erupted into flames again.

As Sapulpa went from June into July in 1906, the town was seeing a surge of new business, new oil strikes (and fires), and new entertainment. Read about what happened in Sapulpa this week in history.

How do you define "Frankoma?" More than the pottery, more than the man who created them—Frankoma means family, hardship, reconstruction, and Sapulpa history. Read more inside.

This week in history, Sapulpa's Lowdermilk Road—later part of the Ozark Trail and Route 66, opened up access to the communities west of Sapulpa.

At 407 West McKinley, the Hotchkiss Grocery was closed for the night. Except it wasn’t empty; nor was it quiet, safe, and sound. The Hotchkiss Grocery store was robbed by two men.

Edith Alice Cooper became the first person in recorded Sapulpa history to attend school and not miss a single day. As it turns out, it was a characteristic that runs in the family!

Most locals will know that baseball has been a part of Sapulpa's pastime since the town began. But it wasn't just the high schoolers getting baseball championships—local businesses had their own teams as well. Here's a story of the two champion teams crowned this week in 1916.