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Woodward Park is a public park, botanical garden, and arboretum located between 21st Street and 24th Street east of South Peoria Avenue and west of South Rockford Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the Midwestern United States. Initially, the park, named for Helen Woodward, the original property owner, was established in 1929, after a lengthy court suit over ownership. The park was designed to provide its visitors experience with a variety of horticultural subjects. It contains a number of specialty gardens, including those featuring spring flowers, tropical plants and cacti, the Tulsa Rose Garden, the Tulsa Garden Center, and the Tulsa Arboretum. The park is particularly known for its azaleas, as well as tulips, irises, dogwoods, and redbuds. The Rose Garden (established 1935) features over 9,000 roses of over 250 varieties. ==History== The city of Tulsa purchased a tract of land in 1909 for $100 an acre from Herbert Woodward. This area, then outside the city limits, called "Perryman's pasture," was part of a 160-acre allotment that Helen Woodward,〔Woodward's given name is spelled as Hellen in some references and Helen in others. This article uses the latter spelling.〕 a mixed-blood Creek Indian, had received from the Five Civilized Tribes Indian Commission. Her mother was a full-blood Creek and belonged to the Lochapoka tribe. She was 14 years old, under legal age, when her white father and guardian, Herbert Woodward, sold the land without her consent. Tulsa had condemned the site with the intent of creating a public park. In 1925, Helen, then known as Helen Slemp, sued Tulsa, trying to recover ownership of the land. The suit lasted for four years before the court decided in favor of the city. According to the ''Tulsa World'', "The opinion ended one of the hardest fought land suits in the history of the city and decided a question which has been before Oklahoma courts for years. The principal question involved was the right of the city to condemn for public purposes land lying" outside the city limits.〔(Jackson, Debbie and Hilary Pittman. "Throwback Tulsa: Woodward Park and the Creek woman who once owned it." ''Tulsa World'' ) April 29, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2014.〕〔Tulsa Garden Center. "Woodward Park Complex." Retrieved December 21, 2011.()〕 Construction work began in November 1933, using workers provided by the new Civil Works Agency, a New Deal program. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, another New Deal agency, took over the work in April 1934. After gaining clear title to the land, Tulsa hired G. Burton Fox, a Tulsa landscape artist, to design the park. Woodward Park includes the Tulsa Rose Garden, the Tulsa Garden Center, the Tulsa Arboretum, and the Linnaeus Teaching Gardens. The Tulsa Historical Society is housed in the former Samuel Travis Mansion, which was acquired by the park in 1997. The mansion and its grounds are at the southeast corner of Peoria Avenue and 21st Street.〔(Tulsa Historical Society. Retrieved May 20, 2013. )〕 Helen Woodward Slemp retained the rest of her headright land, which extended eastward from Utica to Lewis streets. She continued to live in Tulsa a few blocks from Woodward Park. She sold a tract at 21st and Utica in 1946 for $95,600. This tract subsequently became the site of the Utica Square shopping center. She died in Tulsa in 1952.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Woodward Park (Tulsa)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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