Jefferson Park’s History is the Future

“We are called to be architects of the future, not it’s victims,” R. Buckminster Fuller, architect and visionary.

In this time of renovation and urban planning in Oklahoma City’s Uptown 23rd District, a quaint and established neighborhood, just to the north, brews with opportunity. Jefferson Park, a “bungalow community” neighborhood established in 1903 and annexed by Oklahoma City in 1908, is beginning to play a role in refreshing Uptown’s residential vitality.

As a resident or inner-city commuter, it’s easy to see the new, colorful, bungalow style houses right beside the streets of 24th and Robinson. The houses adorned with low-pitched roofs covering deep shallow porches with strong stone columns, sit in the entrance to the historic neighborhood. These creations are just the beginning of new and better additions to a community that has suffered, in recent past, from a sketchy reputation.

Jefferson Park, like so many residential districts in the United States, seemingly went by the wayside in the mid-20th century as many families began moving to the suburbs. However, it has seen some recent transformation, much to the credit of the Jefferson Park Neighbors Association (JPNA). The JPNA was incorporated February 1990 and soon became a nonprofit, Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO), which enabled Jefferson Park to receive government grants and other funding to help improve housing according to community needs.

David Bigham, JPNA board president, says he and his wife Pam Bigham, board housing developer, give credit to the former president, Loren Capron and his wife Liz, who currently serves as the board’s vice president. The Caprons started Jefferson Park’s rejuvenation before David became the board’s president almost four years ago. The Bighams considered moving to the area about ten years ago, and after attending a JPNA meeting they were impressed with the association’s initiative to improve the neighborhood internally without waiting for private investors.

“We decided if we were going to take a bet on a particular neighborhood that this would be the one,” David relates.

Several years later, JPNA started renovating homes throughout the neighborhood. The most recent and most challenging project has been the 24th and Robinson transformation. With some help from CHDO funding and the JPNA’s determination, three new homes were built and one has been completely renovated. As of June 2015, all of them have sold to new owners, starting their lives in what was once considered to be a rough part of town. David believes this specific neighborhood improvement will encourage others’ perceptions of what Jefferson Park has become.

“It was a visible part of the neighborhood that looked really bad,” David remembers. “And we thought [it]was giving people a negative opinion of the neighborhood without them really knowing, if that’s the only edge of it they ever saw.”

Jefferson Park was declared a Historical Landmark District in 1998, helping preserve the architecture and character so many residents respect. David and Pam believe historic preservation is important for the neighborhood, so they chose to keep the original name of their first apartment renovation project nine years ago. The Belmont, which sat vacant and dilapidated like so many buildings in the area, was just the beginning of the Bighams’ vision for Jefferson Park and is now a popular apartment building in the area.

AJ Kirkpatrick, JPNA board member, has been a Jefferson Park resident since 2007 when he found a newly renovated bungalow on Walker Avenue to call home. The positive changes in the Uptown area and the Paseo are initially what attracted him. And he’s not the only one.

“Most people I’ve talked to have always been attracted to the potential of 23rd Street,” Kirkpatrick says.

Everyone from young professionals to diverse ethnic groups live and traverse in what was not too long ago considered a desolate and feared area. Today, this diverse group of people greets one another in Goodholm Park with welcoming demeanors and a sense of community.

“There’s families going out to the park and people out running, where as five years ago you didn’t see any,” Pam relates.

However, this fall, as the charming tree-canopied streets in Jefferson Park become covered with foliage, the neighborhood will bustle with anticipation of more residential and recreational renovation; the transformation of one of the area’s oldest components, Sparrow Park. The park resides in the northern most area of Jefferson Park, just north of the beloved Goodholm Park. Thanks to the $835.5 million general obligation bond issue passed in 2007, many inner city parks like Sparrow Park have begun to see major improvements. For most, this has been a much-awaited progression that has spawned some optimism.

“These inner city parks were basically allowed to grow into grass fields,” Kirkpatrick relates. “Our neighborhoods were founded on those parks.”

The cozy historical homes encircling Sparrow Park will soon have refreshing front porch views. A variety of newly planted trees and figure-eight sidewalks curving around a convenient gazebo and playground areas are just some of the improvements residents can enjoy once the park is complete. The renovation and park improvements are certainly factors in the residential quality, but perhaps the most encouraging aspect is the diverse, ethnic backdrop. The future is looking brighter every day for Jefferson Park residents.