1962 OKC highway map.

[SoonerP226]

It does show I-35. When a kid, I think it was hwy 77 or 177 that was the only route to OKC from Ponca? Two lane road back then.

I think you're thinking of the Chisholm Trail.

They may have been different back in the day, but US-77 is the one that generally follows the path of I-35 through OKC, Norman, Lex, and Purcell. 177 bypasses OKC to the east, going through Wellston, Tecumseh, and Asher.

 

[THAT Gurl]

Back in the 80s I dated a structural engineer student at OU. The drive from OKC to Norman was actually kinda relaxing. Once you were on the south side of Moore there was nothing but pasture land til you got to the Norman Main Street exit. Not like the nightmare it is now. I am exactly where I really never wanted to be -- smack dab in the middle of town.

 

[Shadowrider]

Back in the 80s I dated a structural engineer student at OU. The drive from OKC to Norman was actually kinda relaxing. Once you were on the south side of Moore there was nothing but pasture land til you got to the Norman Main Street exit. Not like the nightmare it is now. I am exactly where I really never wanted to be -- smack dab in the middle of town.

I about cried when they did away with the range berm! That thing was a landmark. My dad's NG unit used to practice one skid helicopter hovers on it. That would have probably been in the '60s.

 

[SoonerP226]

I about cried when they did away with the range berm! That thing was a landmark. My dad's NG unit used to practice one skid helicopter hovers on it. That would have probably been in the '60s.

Yeah, there were a bunch of people upset about the loss of Mt. Franklin.

 

[Catt57]

Looking though more old maps I figured out that the Grand Blvd loop never had any bridges over the North Canadian River (now the Oklahoma River through OKC). It looks like 1962 was as complete as the loop ever got.

It was overlaid by I-35 at the river on the east and by I-44 at the river on the west, then Hwy74 follows the west side of it north. The north edge is once again aligned with I-44 for a ways. In many places it has been relegated to a Hwy service road. It looks like when the highway funds came through in the mid-late 1960s, the plan for Grand Blvd was abandoned.

It currently does not exist between NW10th and Reno on the east side of the loop, And is absent between SW36th and NW10th on the west side. Although it appears Gordon Cooper Blvd is at least part of the old Grand Blvd just renamed.

 

[Snattlerake]

Wiley Post used to be North of Hefner, the Bluff creek area.

That's where I live now.

 

[Snattlerake]

Just east of I35 and south of NE 10th I believe. Water treatment plant used to be just south of that location.

When they tore down the old Douglas School, us metal detectorists had a ball. There were poeple out all day scooping up goodies. I found the 22 caliber midway. I ran across thousands of spent .22 short rounds. They were across MLK toward the west. I also found and gave to the police a stolen bicycle.

 

[Catt57]

View attachment 421165


When they tore down the old Douglas School, us metal detectorists had a ball. There were poeple out all day scooping up goodies. I found the 22 caliber midway. I ran across thousands of spent .22 short rounds. They were across MLK toward the west. I also found and gave to the police a stolen bicycle.

Was it on the west side of I-35? I could have sworn it was the east side.. Or did it cover the entire area and take both sides before I-35 even existed?

 

[kcatto]

That's where I live now.

I lived in bluff creek housing addition, on st charles ave as a high schooler... went to PC North... on the map wiley post airport was tulakes airport... I still remember landing aircraft at downtown airpark... My great grandparents had their land run homestead at the corner of nw 23rd and Mcarthur.. SW Corner... When my grandparents were little way back when they built a buiding for the state capitol on 39th expressway but moved to east 23rd instead... My gandparents used to tell me about the trolly train cars that ran all the way down 39th to el reno.. my grandparents were born in 1918 and 1921 in OKC... wow some memories of the stories I was told as a kid...