Woodward Park reopens in Tulsa after restoration work funded by Improve Our Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. — Woodward Park is officially open again after the city of Tulsa held a ribbon cutting Friday.

The historic park's rehabilitation was first approved in 2014 as part of the original Improve Our Tulsa package. Since then, crews have been working to restore and improve the park. Areas were closed off, water features were restored, and the park is now back open to the public.

"Woodward Park, we all know, is one of our most treasured public spaces in our city. Somebody here, maybe everybody here, has taken some graduation photos over here, some prom photos over. Maybe there has been an engagement or two. This has just been a special place for so many people in our community where memories have been made," said Mayor Monroe Nichols.

The city says the project included rebuilding the park's lower ponds, restoring the waterfall system, improving accessibility and landscaping, and replacing a stormwater pipe that was nearly 100 years old.

"Before this project started, you may remember a wonderful storm pipe that kind of functioned as a sidewalk. It was a little bit weird. It was curved. You walked on it and you're like, this is interesting. So we have fixed that. We cleared the sediment out from the ponds, we rebuilt the hillside, and we installed a lot of new plantings," said Stacie Martin, acting parks director.

Tulsa Parks and Recreation and the city's Water and Sewer Department worked together on the project.

Mayor Nichols was joined at Friday's ribbon cutting by City Council Chair Karen Gilbert, Councilor Lori Decter Wright, other elected officials, and Tulsans who came out to get their first look at the restored park.

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This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.