Creek people from Alabama settled in this section of the Indian Territory in 1836 and called the site Tulsee Town, derived from Tullahassee, the Creek word for “old town.” The name was changed to Tulsa in 1879. Non-Native American settlement of the site began around 1882 when the railroad arrived, and the city incorporated in 1898. The community developed as a transportation center. With the discovery of oil deposits in the vicinity, Red Fork in 1901 and Glenn Pool in 1905, the city’s prosperity was assured.

In 1921 Tulsa was the site of one of the worst race riots in U.S. history, when two days of violence and arson directed by whites against black neighborhoods left at least 36 people dead, hundreds injured, and more than 1000 black-owned homes and businesses destroyed. On the 75th anniversary of the riot, the city’s spirit of reconciliation was signaled by the dedication of a black granite memorial in Greenwood, the neighborhood worst affected by the conflict. Tulsa grew rapidly in the 1910s and 1920s and again in the 1940s, when big industries related to the U.S. effort in World War II were established. A number of large buildings, including the Civic Center and office towers, were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Tulsa covers a land area of 183 sq mi, with a mean elevation of 735 ft. According to the 2000 census, whites are 70.1 percent of the population, blacks 15.5 percent, Native Americans 4.7 percent, Asians 1.8 percent, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 0.1 percent. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report ethnicity.

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