More about the Tulsa West Unit

Here's a picture of Brother Arthur Claus and his wife, Wilma, taken in front of the Rosedale Kingdom Hall, formerly the West Unit.  I remember them well.  Brother Claus had a pink Cadilac with lots of chrome and tail fins.  One time, we went to pick up Wilma at the Warehouse Market at 11th and Elgin (now Mazzios) were she had been doing street work.  Brother Claus went inside the store for a minute and brought me out a candy bar and a Coca Cola. Usually, I had to split everything with my sister, but not that day.  I was thrilled.

The Beginnings of the West Unit Congregation

Old Tulsa County Court House 1941

As the small group of Bible Students continued to grow, (see blog on "who was first JW") the Stroud home became too small and a larger meeting place was needed.  According to a Tulsa World article dated June 30, 1974, "a more central location was found in the basement of the old Tulsa County Court House.  Impetus was given at that time to more house-to-house ministerial activity, and the growth continued.

With a thriving congregation in Tulsa, the Watchtower Society assigned it nearly all of north-central and northeast Oklahoma, stretching from Tahlequah to Blackwell.  It was encouraged that every house holder be contacted in this huge area twice a year.  'Each week, a program was worked out for the towns to be covered," Claus* said.  "All the members of the congregation would meet on the court house steps with bookbags packed with Bible literature, a good lunch and a water jug.  They were ready to leave at 8 a.m. sharp and would get into six or eight automobiles and head into the territory.

It was nothing uncommon for the entire car group to come back without a single piece of literature left.  I recall one trip when a group was on a two-day preaching trip and covered Hominy, Fairfax, Burbank and Shidler.  Every car had placed every piece of literature they brought with them, and the count revealed an average of 30 Bibles, books and booklets.

By the 1940's, the Tulsa Congregation (West Unit) was responsible only for the city and its surrounding area.  A Kingdom Hall was built at 440 N. Boston Ave. and used until taken for right-of-way needed for the Crosstown Expressway in 1966. "

This is where my mother first started attending the meetings in 1957.  I was 4 years old. I don't think the building was air-conditioned, but we probably had heat.  There was a baptismal pool behind the stage where I was privileged to see new brothers and sisters get baptized.  

*Brother Arthur Claus - He was  interviewed for the article in the Tulsa World, June 30, 1977

Who was the First JW in Tulsa?

Grand Opera House, Tulsa, OK  1906-1941

According to a Tulsa World article dated June 30, 1974, it was a woman named Mrs. O.R. (Beulah) Covey.

This article goes on to say:..."While living in Oklahoma City, she had heard Charles T. Russell, the first president of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, speak in 1912.  Convinced it was the truth of the Bible she began to study diligently.  In 1913, she and her husband moved to Tulsa, and shortly after both were active as Bible Students. 

The Covey's arranged to have the Watchtower Society's famous 'Photo-Drama of Creation' brought to Tulsa in 1914.  . . . There were two showings a day for eight days at the old Grand Opera House located in the 100 block on East 2nd Street, and each drew a packed house. 

'The Watchtower Society sent four full-time ministers to  Tulsa with the 'Photo-Drama' to follow up interest,' recalled Claus*  "These were able to bring together eight or nine persons to study the Bible.  They met at the Stroud* home located at the edge of town near Orcutt Lake (now the Swan Lake area).  The house was down a crooked, sandy road full of sand burrs, which made walking very difficult, but this was the first Kingdom Hall for the city of Tulsa in 1914.'"

*Brother Arthur Claus - Tulsa West Unit

*The "Tulsa City Directory" shows the Stroud home to be located at  E. 17th.   The house is no longer there, but it would have been a few blocks from Swan Lake.