Heritage Park, Sapulpa’s “Big Build” project, which features replicas of some of the city’s most iconic locations, has reached the end of its life after an inspection report found that the park was in dire straits.
The park, located on North Poplar Street next to the Sapulpa Public Library, was built in 2005 and has since enjoyed generations of children playing on what would now be old-fashioned playground equipment.
Despite its aged appearance—or maybe because of it—the park has continued to draw children, sometimes from counties away.
“We get phone calls from people who want to know how much it costs to get in here, because they think it’s some sort of amusement park rather than just another city park,” said Sapulpa Park’s Recreation Director, Susan Bencke.
“I hate to tear it down. It’s become a maintenance nightmare,” Parks Director Carson Lynch said. Lynch was part of a similar project by the same contractors in Moore. That park only lasted about ten years.
Heritage Park was a huge community project commissioned for American Heritage Bank’s 100th birthday. The project was led by bank vice president Jennifer Dilley and then Sapulpa Main Street Director Tami Fleak. Leathers and Associates provided the conceptual renderings and general guidelines for the project, as they built a reputation on doing “Big Build” parks like these all over the country.
The massive project took over a year to plan, and 30 committee members contributed hundreds of hours. It covered more than 15,000 square feet and required more than 1,700 volunteers, who performed everything from manual and skilled labor to childcare. The project removed four condemned buildings from a half-block area on Poplar Street.
The bulk of the destination playground was built in just nine days. After a grand opening on a Sunday evening, the park closed again to allow some last-minute finishing touches and reopened on Friday, November 11th.
Representations of Sapulpa’s heritage are found everywhere. They include Liberty Glass, the TeePee Drive-In, Egan Bros. General Store, and more.
In the first days of the Park, over 1,000 people per month were visiting.
However, as the years and elements affected the park, the signs of wear and tear became increasingly challenging to maintain. Certain repairs couldn’t be made because the materials were no longer being produced.
The standout structure—the 50-foot oil derrick—became increasingly popular and hazardous. Lynch said the parks department frequently received calls about teenagers prying off boards to climb outside the structure.
“So we started bolting the boards down, then they started bringing tools,” he said.
If the traffic has slowed down at all, its popularity remains. “I know a lady who brings her children from Cushing several times a month to this park,” Lynch said. “I hate to be the guy to tear it down, but we knew from the time we got that report that this was coming.”
In July of 2024, Leathers & Associates conducted an assessment on the park and reported that although most support posts were “in fair condition,” that they had noticed “signification deterioration” in other structural components.
At the time, Leathers offered three options: minor renovations, major renovations, or a complete replacement. The city, which was neck-deep in other bond projects, couldn’t afford any of them at the time.
A year later, Leathers says the time to renovate the park has passed.
“It is our professional opinion that these issues cannot be adequately corrected through renovation options. While temporary repairs may address isolated symptoms, the underlying deterioration will continue to worsen, leading to growing safety hazards and liability concerns.”
An included proposal for complete replacement would cost more than $450,000, even using volunteer labor.
While the City hasn’t given a definite timeline, it is certain that the park’s time is short. It also hasn’t ruled out another playground or park on the site in the future.
Not everything will be demolished. The bathrooms, the covered picnic tables, and the swings will remain. The rest of the park will be dismantled, removed, and the property overlayed with sod.
(Photos by Micah Choquette for Sapulpa Times)
