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Only in Oklahoma: Tulsa landmark destroyed by fire in '52

Posted: Sep 6th 2007 By: mikeiles

Oklafan Editor's Note: The following story was written as part of the Oklahoma Centennial Celebration and appeared in the Tulsa World on 9/6/07

One of Tulsa's best-known landmarks, where thousands had watched sports and entertainment events since it opened 23 years earlier, was destroyed on Sept. 20, 1952, by a fire believed caused by lightning.

Only the partially damaged walls of the Coliseum on Elgin Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets remained standing two hours after the first alarm was turned in at 9:31 p.m.

Fire Marshal Farl Wagner said "several eye witnesses gave us information that has led us to believe a lightning bolt struck the roof."

The spectacular fire, called at the time one of the city's largest, attracted an estimated 12,000 spectators as the wooden roof burned and the brick walls collapsed. Police estimated that about 125,000 people drove past the smoldering remains the next day.

Owner Sam Avey, who was attending a housewarming party for his daughter and son-in-law, Pat and Ramon King, arrived at the building shortly after the west section of the roof had collapsed, and then he went home to watch on television.

"I've had too many happy memories in that old barn to watch it die," Avey told a reporter.

Television station KOTV, two blocks away, rigged a camera on the roof of its building and broke into its scheduled network program to broadcast periodic live shots of the fire until 10:30 p.m., when the station broadcast the fire.

A man who lived in an apartment building across the street from the Coliseum said he saw a blinding lightning flash immediately before the fire started. More than 150 firefighters from 11 companies fought the three-alarm fire, which was fanned by winds up to 35 mph.

Lightning also struck other places in the city, including a Public Service Co. substation at the fairgrounds. The storm's heavy rain flooded city streets, but the Weather Bureau measured only 0.3-inch of rain at the airport.

It was the first rain in 25 days for Tulsa.

The Coliseum loss was estimated at more than $1 million by Avey, who had owned the building since 1944 and whose KAKC radio station was located in the basement. When the fire began, the building was nearly empty except for two employees of KAKC who escaped after completing a network broadcast, and a night watchman who was not inside when the fire started.

The brick and terra cotta structure was the showplace of the southwest in its day. It was built in 1928 at an estimated $1 million cost by Walter Whiteside, a Minnesota millionaire, and opened on New Year's Day 1929 with the first hockey game in the South.

Times were lean because of the Great Depression, and the building was taken over by the Coliseum Corp. at a sheriff's sale in 1942. Avey bought the building in 1944.

The building had been the site of many conventions and political events, and its stage had been the venue for performers such as ice skater Sonja Henie, boxer Joe Louis, orchestra leaders Rudy Vallee, Harry James, Gene Krupa and others, and singer Nat King Cole. Professional wrestling and hockey matches also were held there, as well as high school graduation exercises.

Thousands of Tulsans learned to ice skate there. The old electric organ that pealed out the "Skaters' Waltz" for skating lovers was nothing but a shapeless ruin after rubble was scraped away. It had been installed in 1928, was rebuilt many times and originally cost between $25,000 and $30,000.

Not long after the fire, the Coliseum became a parking lot. It still is.

"It certainly is a blow," longtime building manager Eddie Quigley said in an understatement.

"The worst of it is that this looked like it was going to be our best season."

It was more than an entertainment center or sports palace for Quigley, who had spent 22 years at the Coliseum, 20 of them as manager. He often said he spent an average of 16 hours a day seven days a week on the job.

"A little round man -- Quigley -- leaned against the street barricade near the front entrance of the Coliseum Sunday and viewed the ruins of his 'second home.' He held his glasses in one hand and there were tears in his eyes," a World story reported. "He was oblivious of the constant stream of cars that rolled by as thousands upon thousands viewed the rubble of what had been Tulsa's entertainment center for more than 23 years.

"Eddie's tears weren't the only ones. Thousands wept as they crowded the area to view the rubble. Their showplace was gone. And so was an era in Tulsa."

Tags: Sam Avey