The Bovaird Building is the oldest remaining building in downtown Sapulpa. The building was built prior to Statehood and was the original location of the Bovaird Supply Company.
Bovaird Supply occupied the building until 1909 but continued to utilize the machine shop that was in the basement of the building.
According to Sapulpa Historical Museum records, the address for the building was 15 and 17 East Hobson. It should be noted that every 25 feet of storefront in downtown Sapulpa had a separate address. Downtown commercial property was taxed by the amount of frontage, not the square footage of the property, thus most properties were sold in 25-foot-wide parcels.
From 1910 to 1914, 15 East Hobson was occupied by Central Light & Fuel. In 1916 it was occupied by Hancock Cleaning Services. In the next 12 years, it was occupied by an apple company, grocery store, and a furniture store. During the next thirty years, Potter milling occupied that address. The storefront at 17 East Hobson was occupied by businesses such as a second-hand store, milling company, and Oklahoma Natural Gas through1934. Potter Milling occupied the address from 1936 to 1958.
This postcard shows what Hobson looked like in June of 1911. You can see the Bovaird Building on the left. 
Tyler Furniture started at 19 East Hobson. The original tenant was Sapulpa Bakery. Working in a bakery was apparently a dangerous job in those days. The bakery had two explosions in 1910 which severely burned an employee each time who had attempted to light the massive gas oven. In 1914 the bakery moved to the Denton building on Maple St.
According to Rick Tyler, the family has purchased the entire half-block, which consisted of the Bovaird Building, the Manifee Building, and the Cherokee Building which was built by Bates Burnett.
Tyler Furniture and TV Service continued to operate until 2009. Subsequently, the Tyler family sold what is known as the Bovaird Building and the building just to the east of it, which is the Manifee building, to Marty Rivers.
The building set vacant for several years, suffering structural damage within the last year. It has been purchased by Infinity Investment Group LLC., owned by Shaun Fischer and John Gorrell. The company is renovating the building, repairing the structural damage and converting the building into upscale lofts.
Related: Sapulpa’s oldest building will be renovated into lofts.
I wish to thank Infinity Investment Group, LLC., Rick Tyler, and Rachel Whitney of the Sapulpa Historical Museum for information making this story possible.
