Dozen Distinctive Destinations
Bartlesville, OK
Year Listed: 2006
Despite the wealth that's been created here, Bartlesville, Okla., had humble beginnings. Back in 1873, when northeast Oklahoma was home to mostly the Osage, Cherokee and Delaware tribes, Jacob Bartles, a Civil War veteran looking for opportunity, started a flour mill and general store in the middle of Indian territory. More than two decades later, when another local settler noticed rainbow sheens on area creeks and soon found oil, Bartlesville was on the map.
The Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Credit: Price Tower Arts Center
The first commercial oil well in Oklahoma-the Nellie Johnstone No. 1-blew in as a gusher here in 1897. Since its early days in Indian Territory, Bartlesville's history has been told by the architecture still proudly on display. The Frank Phillips Home, built in 1909 as the 26-room mansion of a Bartlesville oil baron, still houses the family's original furnishings and art collection. Woolaroc, Phillips's country retreat, is one of the area's top attractions, boasting a 3,700-acre wildlife preserve, Native American Heritage Center, nature trails and the historic Frank Phillips Lodge. From early spring to late fall, the North Road Tour features a five-mile drive through some of the most beautiful portions of the Woolaroc preserve. Adding drama to the Bartlesville skyline, The Price Tower, completed in 1956, is the only built skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The innovative building not only changed the horizon of the Oklahoma prairie, it forever changed modern architecture. The Tower now houses an arts center, boutique inn and upscale dining. Other attractions in the area include the frontier town museum at Prairie Song and the Pathfinder Parkway, a beautiful 11-mile jogging and biking trail that traverses the city.
