Tulsa Theater, Tulsa, Besucherguide & was in der Nähe unternehmen

The Tulsa Theater is a historic performance hall at 105 W Reconciliation Way in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. It opened in 1914 as the city's Convention Hall and has hosted opera stars, concerts and, in 1921, a grim chapter of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Its walls hold music, ghost stories and difficult history in one building.

The story behind it

The hall opened in October 1914 as Tulsa's municipal auditorium, built by the city with money from a bond issue. It was big enough to hold a crowd, and in 1920 the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso sang here. Local tradition says he caught a cold in Tulsa that fed into the illness that killed him the following year, and many Tulsans say his ghost still lingers in the building. Treat that as a legend rather than a medical fact.

The building also carries a darker memory. During the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, Black men rounded up by the National Guard were held inside the hall. Over the years it has been called Convention Hall, Tulsa Municipal Theater, then the Brady Theater from 1979, after the city booster W. Tate Brady. Because of Brady's ties to the Ku Klux Klan, the name was later dropped, and it is now the Tulsa Theater. The street name, Reconciliation Way, belongs to the same reckoning with the past.

What to look for

• Study the brick exterior and the entrance, and picture the crowds who have queued here for more than a century, from opera audiences to rock fans.
• Look at the signage and the name on the building, which is the latest in a series of names that reflect how Tulsa has chosen to remember its history.
• Read the street sign for Reconciliation Way and think about why the city gave that name to the road in front of a building with this past.
• Notice how close you are to the Greenwood district, which explains why this large hall was used as a holding place in 1921.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 10 to 15 minutes to see the outside and read the surroundings, longer if you pair it with nearby sights.
• You can usually only go inside for a ticketed event, so check the current event listings if you want to see the auditorium.
• Daylight is best for photographs of the facade, while evenings can be lively when a show is on.
• The Greenwood district and its history are within walking distance, so combine the visit with a longer stroll through downtown.

See it on a quest

Ghost Hunt in Tulsa suits this building well, given the Caruso legend and the stories people tell about it. You walk to the theater as one stop on a longer route through the area, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. One ticket covers the whole group.

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Tulsa is a good pick if you like a mystery with your sightseeing. You reach the theater on foot as part of a route through downtown, hear about each place in the app, and solve a puzzle in front of you. One ticket covers the whole group.

Lucky Treasure Hunt: The Golden Shamrock in Tulsa is a lighter way to see the same streets. You walk from stop to stop, the app tells you the story of each place, and a puzzle waits at each one. One ticket covers the whole group.