Irving School

Driving on 244 through Tulsa, there is a building with a story. That building is the former Irving School and or to some people, the Owen School. I have driven by this school weekly for almost a decade, always wondering about the damage that left the upper floor of the right side open to the elements. Within the last year, the left side sustained the same damage, and I began to worry that this building might not have much time left.

Owen School 1909-1913

Construction started in early 1909, and the name “Owen Addition School” began to be thrown around. This was after the influential Tulsa hotelier and merchant Chauncey Owen. Built within the city limits, it was no problem getting water and sewage connected to the school, even back then. But while some construction milestones came easily, others came with difficulties. The arch above the front entrance was looking like it would need to be rebuilt due to some issues presenting from its installation. The contractor at the time had agreed to point up the arch and that it would rebuild the arch in one year’s time as an act of good faith if it required it.

Work to put the finishing touches on the school was rushed in anticipation of the 1909 school year to start. The contractors, all local men, worked their hardest to make it happen. But unfortunately, only a few rooms were finalized by the time school let. Within a week or so that number had increased to ten rooms being finalized.

The first years’ staff consisted of: Mr. A.J. Keeling as Principal and 7B Teacher, Miss Jessie Mitchell 6th grade, Miss Margaret Schaeffer 5th grade, Miss Maude Morris 4th grade, Miss Zetta Isenberger 3rd grade, Miss Mildred Jones 2A, Miss Besse Brooks 2B, Miss Ethel Markwell 1A, Miss Julia Morris 1A, Miss Laura Brown 1B.

Another few weeks later, all rooms were completed and all rooms were being utilized. Immediately, the school suffered from overcrowding. Miss Brown’s first-grade class consisted of 71 students in one classroom. An additional classroom was planned for the basement to help alleviate.

In the following years after its establishment, the Owen School had many interesting things detailed in its history. One such event was comparable to the COVID-19 pandemic that closed schools across the world in 2020. In the winter of 1910, students were being examined by Dr. D. Wadsworth and Dr. Roth due to a diphtheria outbreak. Two students were confirmed with the disease and the doctors found that over 50 percent of the other students showed signs of being susceptible or having symptoms of it and were dismissed.

On a lighter note that year, Owen competed in a friendly ward school competition. At the time, many schools desired to have pianos. This gave them an unlimited musical tool to not only teach students, but also to provide an instrumental soundtrack for all schooling events, community meetings etc.

The Owen kids planned an entertainment night at the Bijou Theater, where they would have programs, recitations, and drills. Admission was 25 cents for adults, 10 cents for students, and 35 cents for reserved seats. The school’s “Piano Fund” raised $85 from the event, allowing for a piano to be purchased just a few weeks later.

Arguably, the biggest event just two years after its opening was the announcement that Owen would get a brand new addition. While this wasn’t shocking because of the excessive overcrowding that I mentioned earlier, the fact that an addition came so soon after initial construction was. Overflow rooms were placed on the property while the four-classroom addition was beginning to be constructed. At the time, there were 550 students shoved into the small main building.

Irving School 1914- 1974

But by January 1914, Owen School was no more, the name that is. Washington “Irving” became the new name because of the close proximity of one of his camps to the school. Around that time, the school was hovering around 720 students, 1- 8th grades. The basketball team was winning games left and right, and once again, the school was proving to be a well-oiled machine in education.

Soon again, they had outgrown the facility, and more additions were necessary; this time, they would bear the school’s new name. Bids were sought for somewhere to carry out the architectural drawings of MacDonald and Eichenfeld. The additions laid out were “a structure, the central portion of which will be two stories high and the ends one story high. The top floor will consist of an auditorium, while the lower floor will be four classrooms. One other unit will consist of two rooms and will be constructed on a half block of ground behind the main building.

Even though it served as an elementary school, Irving students frequently held reunions and get-togethers years after graduating from high school. The fifty year anniversary celebration in 1959 was a time for those students, past and present, to gather and reminisce on the good times. The students currently attending Irving put on a program called “Fifty Wonderful Years”.

Irvington Square (Cowen Construction) 1983- 1995

The Cowen Construction company was and continues to be one of the most well-known construction companies in the entire state of Oklahoma, with hundreds of millions in projects. They restored the school to its former glory. According to Cowen, they utilized the historic picture at the beginning of this article to make sure their restoration was historically accurate. They then moved their headquarters into the former school. The next-door gymnasium was used by Ollie Austin as a liquidation center for some of the most prominent estate sales in and around Tulsa.

Blue Sky Supply Co 1999-Present

Cowen Construction, as they got bigger, needed to move on from their Irvington Square headquarters, as they called it. An auction was hosted, and the building was listed for sale in ’95. It would appear that it was then purchased by an entity selling medical equipment and then sold to Blue Sky Supply Co.

Since owning it, Blue Sky Supply Co. has seemingly continued to let the buildings fall into decay. Many of the additions in the back have sustained significant damage, and the main buildings’ peaks are falling in on each other. The lack of action to not only repair but also prevent further damage has caused the school to be listed on Preservation Oklahoma’s Most Endangered List of 2017 and 2020. Abandoned Oklahoma had reached out to Blue Sky Supply Co. in an attempt to document the interior of the building and get a comment on the condition, but were not responded to.

Gallery Below of Irving School

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