Address: South State Highway 64, Buffalo, Oklahoma County Harper
Started: 1936Completed1936
Agencies:WPANRHP:No

Current Usage

City Park Pavilion

Description:

The Buffalo City Park Pavilion is a single-story, rectangular (52′ x 20′) structure built of wood and coursed native stone. Resembling a dog-trot structure, the building contains two restrooms divided by an open pavilion with wooden benches and a stone drinking fountain. A wood shingle gable roof supported by the stone restrooms and wooden columns covers the entire structure. Fixed wood windows are single spaced with stone sills. Above each window a wooden crossbeam has been inserted in the stone wall. Despite the addition of wire fencing along the northwest and southeast sides of the structure, the pavilion retains its architectural integrity.
The Buffalo City Park Pavilion is exceptionally significant in that it impacted the quality of life within the community. Prior to the 1930s, there were few picnic and other recreational facilities through northwestern Oklahoma, but a people burdened with economic difficulties and drought conditions need moments of rest and relaxation. The Buffalo facility responded to this need, providing an important new dimension to the quality of life. It is exceptionally significant too because it stands as a symbol to a work program that sought to preserve human dignity through meaningful labor. This approach was most important in northwestern Oklahoma where the work ethic was and is extremely strong and those who take “doles” were and are ridiculed. That the WPA was able to operate in this climate, employing hundreds of destitute, was because it understood that work and wages went hand in hand.[1]

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: From the southwest corner of Sec. 12, T 27 N, R 23 W, go east 1248 feet and north 416 feet to a point of beginning and then go 208 feet east, 208 feet north, 208 feet west and 208 feet south.

This property is on the National Register of Historic Places.[2]

Sources:

  1. Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination
  2. National Register of Historic Places

Supported Documents:

  1. WPA Properties Harper County – Buffalo City Park Pavilion
  2. National Register of Historic Places Supported Document
  3. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form

Photos:

https://goo.gl/maps/a7yBHVueMeL2