The Active Historian

Hey, Friend! Welcome back to another post. Today, I want to show you the historic marker for the Delmar Garden in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This large amusement park was modeled after one built in St. Louis. Let’s get started!

The postcard below shows the Delmar Garden amusement park located in Oklahoma City in the early-twentieth century. Some attractions included a ferris wheel, horse race track, theatre, hotel, dance pavilion, exotic animal zoo, beer garden, and more.

Historic Marker Transcription

Delmar Garden

“This marker is located in the heart of the area where the largest and most lavish amusement park in the history of Oklahoma once stood. Delmar Garden extended westward from Reno and Western, and covered 140 acres. It opened in 1903 and operated through the summer of 1910. It was developed by John and Peter Sinopoulo. The Sinopoulo brothers later became the city’s principal theater owners. Delmar Garden was host to many to many regional and national including the National Editorial Convention and an early attempt at a Constitutional Convention. The park boasted an outdoor theater seating twelve hundred people, a scenic railway, dance hall, beer garden, swimming pool, baseball park, and a race track.”

Oklahoma Historical Society 1980

*End of transcription.

Continued History of Delmar Garden

I did a little bit more digging and found some cool information on Delmar Garden that wasn’t included in the historic marker. I hope you enjoy reading it!

John and Peter Sinopoulo hired William A. Wells as the architect of the amusement park. The plan included a 40-acre garden and 3000-seat theater with leather seats in addition to the things listed above!

Delmar Garden was accessible by the street car system ran by the Metropolitan Railway Company which meant people were able to travel from across OKC to visit the amusement park for a relatively inexpensive cost. They could ride out in the morning and spend the day at the park.

The two images below show the station at Delmar Garden. The first image shows the sketches created by William A. Wells for the station and the second image shows a photograph of the finished station.

According to a newspaper article published in 1909, the theater is on the left of this photo and the baseball park is on the right.

Vaudeville was in its golden era in the early 1900s and many well-known stars performed on the stage. Movies were also introduced and gained popularity during this time.

Delmar Garden lasted just shy of a decade in business. It sat next to the Canadian River so when the river flooded it caused major problems. Parts of the amusement park would be under water and there were the mosquitoes to contend with. In 1907, Oklahoma became a state and prohibition laws were a part of the state constitution. This forced Delmar Garden to stop selling alcoholic beverages which hurt business.

Delmar Garden closed its doors for the final time at the end of the 1910 season. Oklahoma City continued to evolve and change with new areas for recreation opening across the metropolitan area.

Visit

311 S Klein Ave.

Oklahoma City, OK 73108

TRAVEL TIP: This markers is located on the southeast corner of the building off of Klein. This building is just south of Reno and Klein in Oklahoma City.

Sources

Historic Marker.

Primary Sources

Photographs & Images

Delmar Garden, Oklahoma City, Okla., postcard, Date Unknown; https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35870/m1/1/,University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History; crediting Private Collection of Joe E. Haynes.

Delmar Garden, photograph, 1906~; https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1595410/m1/1/, The Gateway to Oklahoma History; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.

Delmar Gardens, photograph, Date Unknown; https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1624197/m1/1/, The Gateway to Oklahoma History; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.

Newspapers

“Complete Next Week.” The Weekly Times-Journal (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), August 29, 1902.

“Pavement Paragraphs.” The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), July 4, 1903.

“Delmar Garden.” Oklahoma City Daily Pointer (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), July 28, 1903.

“Delmar Garden Theatre.” The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), June 22, 1906.

“Next Sunday – – – Delmar Garden Race Track.” The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), December 14, 1906.

“Where to go…” The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), August 9, 1908.

“Where Delicate Summer Breezes Play To The Care Free Folks At Eventide” The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), April 22, 1909.

“Grand Opening…” The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), April 22, 1909.

“Walnut Street – – Delmar Garden. Car Service.” The Oklahoma News (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), December 4, 1909.

“Purchase of Land Made.” The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), February 3, 1910.

“Delmar Garden.” The Wave-Democrat (Enid, Oklahoma), August 6, 1910.

“Delmar Garden Now Matter of History.” Oklahoma City Daily Pointer (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), September 7, 1910.

Secondary Sources

“Delmar Gardens.” LoyalTV. BancFirst. Season 1 – Episode 60.

“Delmar Garden.” Metropolitan Library System.

Look more into Maud Luce’s story. Image clipped above.

*All newspaper clippings in this blog post were pulled from newspapers.com. All digitized primary sources were found on ancestry.com unless stated otherwise. I am not affiliated with either website. I just wanted to let you know where I found my digitized sources.