Throwback Tulsa: Utica Square was not so upscale when it opened on this day in 1952

72 years ago, with two grocery stores, a TG&Y and a bowling alley, Utica Square was not the upscale, boutique shopping center it is today.

A $4.98 ironing board, a seven-piece cane pole fishing set for 39 cents and rayon dresses for $3.88 were among the sale items advertised during the grand opening on this day in 1952.

“Fashionable Utica Square,” later touted in TV commercials, was years in the future. Still, the center gave shoppers an alternative to Tulsa’s bustling downtown without the traffic and parking meters.

Tulsa’s first suburban shopping center opened at 21st Street and Utica Avenue on 30 acres of land that had been allotted to Creek (Muscogee) Nation member Hellen Woodward before Oklahoma statehood. Tulsa builder Don Nix and lumber yard owner Dale Carter purchased the land in 1949 for $150,000.

Humpty-Dumpty Super Market, Safeway, Utica Bowl, Oklahoma Tire & Supply, and a number of small locally owned shops were among the first 40 tenants occupying the initial four buildings.

Downtown was still Tulsa’s retail center, but that would soon change.

Click here to read more and see Utica Square’s history below: