New OK National Register List includes Nickles Machine Shop

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office (OKSHPO) is pleased to announce the newest National Register of Historic Places listings for Oklahoma. The National Register of Historic Places is our nation’s official list of properties significant in our past.

The House Building at 301–305 N. Main St. in Bristow, Creek County, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its role in commerce as an excellent example of a downtown department store. The building was constructed in 1927 and 1928 by W. E. Krumrei for the House family. The building was immediately occupied by two national department store retailers, Montgomery Ward and J. C. Penney.

The building is also significant as a unique example of the Tudor Revival style in Bristow, as well as in commercial architecture in general. Many of the Tudor Revival elements on the west and south street-facing exterior elevations still exist in their original configuration. These elements include the stone arch, the multilight windows and the perimeter mansard roof with exposed rafter tails and decorative cross gables.

The Kimbrough Temple C. M. E. Church at 1029 S. 12th St. in Ponca City, Kay County, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its association with the segregated Black community of Ponca City. In the early 1900s, residents and city leaders set aside the area as an African American community. In 1942 the congregants of the Kimbrough Temple C. M. E. Church raised enough funds to construct a stone chapel for worship and community meetings.

Due to cost and dedication to their endeavor, the parishioners started building the stone church themselves of local stones in 1943. The church is situated in the traditional all-Black Dixie Hill Addition, also known as the Attucks Community. This structure served the community not only with religious services, but also with social services and community outreach, thus becoming central to the Black community of Ponca City.

The Nickles Machine Shop at 600 S. First St. in Ponca City, Kay County, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its association with the history of oil and gas production in Oklahoma and the United States. In the 1940s, the surge in need for oil and natural gas during World War II opened up a new industry in which the Nickles Machine Shop’s expertise in diesel engines and compressors became important. During World War II, the oil and natural gas industry pumped its products across the country to meet the demands of the growing war effort. Companies changed from the oil-fired engines to natural gas-fueled compressors.

The Nickles Machine Shop provided service and parts for the natural gas engines that powered the compressors. This allowed companies in the oil and gas industry to move their resources from places like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana to the Midwest and East Coast. The Nickles Machine Shop is also significant for its Early 20^th-Century Commercial architectural style as applied to an industrial building. It is a unique example of commercial design on a massive scale, consuming an entire city block. The simple but distinct sections have false fronts with applied brick ornamentation, giving them a style that reflects the early contemporary commercial architecture in the community.

The Old City Hall, Theater and Masonic Lodge at 401 E. First St. in Heavener, LeFlore County, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its Neoclassical architectural style. The Neoclassical elements found on the building include the classical columns, the symmetrically placed windows and doors and the two-story arched windows. Public buildings and banks were perfectly suited for this style because it is very somber and orderly. The Old City Hall, Theater and Masonic Lodge is the only extant building in the Neoclassical style in Heavener as applied to buildings along the Main Street corridor.

The Villa Teresa Historic District at 1212, 1216, 1228 and 1300 Classen Drive in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for Community Planning and Development, Education and Architecture. The period of significance begins in 1917, when a large, Colonial Revival-style mansion was built at 1300 Classen Drive. The construction of several other grand homes along Classen Drive soon followed, most notably an Italian Renaissance Revival-style house at 1212 Classen Drive and another Colonial Revival-style house at 1228 Classen Drive. In 1933 the purchase of the residence at 1300 Classen Drive by the Carmelite Sisters marked the establishment of Villa Teresa School. As the school population grew, the Carmelite Sisters acquired the adjacent buildings at 1228 and 1212 Classen Drive, then constructed a new school building at 1216 Classen Drive.

Heritage Hills East Historic District, bounded by Northwest 14th Street, North Broadway Avenue, Northwest 22nd Street and North Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its association with Community Planning and Development of Oklahoma City. It is also significant for Architecture as a collection of architectural styles popular within a brief and significant span of Oklahoma City’s history and built as part of a cohesive and intentional neighborhood development. The district created a readily identifiable, significant and distinguishable entity within the residential development of Oklahoma City at large.

The development of Heritage Hills East is representative of the rapid waves of Oklahoma City’s early growth, as residential neighborhoods moved outward from the original townsite of Oklahoma City. Much of this development was intentional and well-planned, as developers like Anton Classen and G. A. Nichols assembled large properties and shaped Oklahoma City’s earliest neighborhoods. The early development of Heritage Hills East was quickly followed by increasing density and then commercial development. Other than commercial development, much of which replaced previous single-family homes along the west side of North Broadway Avenue, most of the extant properties were constructed between 1910 and 1932.

The State Historic Preservation Office is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.