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Kathleen Morrow (7/12/2010)
972 - 772 - 1111
Kathleen@Ebby.com

Formulation of Recommendations to the State Historic Preservation Officer Concerning Proposed Nominations to the National Register of Historic Places:

a. Brady Historic District, Tulsa, Tulsa County
b. Casa Loma Hotel, Tulsa, Tulsa County
c. Morrow Home Place, Collinsville, Tulsa County
d. Moore Ranch, Nowata vicinity, Nowata County
e. White Cloud Lodge, Perkins vicinity, Payne County
f. Wentz Camp, Ponca City, Kay County
g. Pond Creek Masonic Lodge #125, Pond Creek, Grant County
h. Nickels Ensor McClure House, Alva, Woods County
i. First United Methodist Church, Fairview, Major County
j. Squirrel Creek Bridge, Shawnee vicinity, Pottawatomie County
k .American Baptist Home Mission House, Tahlequah, Cherokee County
l. Administration Building, Wilburton vicinity, Latimer County

The Morrow Home Place is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C as an excellent local example of a first generation farm house in Tulsa County, representing the earliest settlement in the area.

A 1 ½ story, hall and parlor type house, it has remained virtually intact since its construction. While privately owned farmsteads in the surrounding countryside have seen either improvements, enlargement or demolition in the intervening years since the first settlement in the area, the Morrow Home Place has seen minimum modernization. It was occupied by the Morrow Family since they acquired the land in 1912 and the changes reflect this long occupancy. However, the continued growth in the area is threatening the rural character of the area.

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Few first settlement period houses are left in the area. The typically small first-generation farm house typically became obsolete and was either greatly altered with additions and modernizations or razed and replaced by newer, bigger house.

Changes in land use patterns have also impacted the early farm houses. As farms failed, changed hands, or were
consolidated from the small, single family, 160 acre farm to the larger, more extensive operations, the older houses were often abandoned or razed. Urban encroachment has also been the demise of many of these smaller homestead houses.

As the City of Owasso sprawls ever north and eastward, acre upon acre of former farmland is swallowed up by
subdivisions and commercial development.

A windshield survey of the area produces few examples of early settlement period houses. Most of the extant rural farm houses are second generation, dating to the 1920s, with scattered older and newer examples. The earlier examples are often so obscured by modern siding and additions that their exact ages are indeterminate.
The Morrow family was the longest tenured occupant of the house. Purchased in 1912, the Morrow family continuously occupied the property until 2004. The Morrow family operated a dairy farm and utilized the land for grazing and harvesting of corn and grains for the dairy cattle. Some of the original harvesting machines were located on the property and have been salvaged. The Morrow’s raised both dairy cattle and beef cattle, a tradition that continued until 2004. The Morrow dairy ceased operation in the mid-1970’s and Joe E. Morrow concentrated his efforts in developing a herd of registered Herefords, sold after he was disabled in 2004. A vegetable garden south and west of the house supplied vegetables for canning.

While not the first occupants of the house, the Morrow family lived there the longest, ninety-two years. The Morrows were responsible for the construction of the existing outbuildings as well as the minor alterations to the house; pluming and screened porch. The house is best remembered for its long term association with the Morrow family and is thus named for them.

Lucile Ellingwood Morrow, matriarch of the 1912 family, is best noted as a local author. During the Depression, she began to write a weekly column for area newspapers entitles, “Just Thoughts of a Plain Country Woman.” She wrote a column each week reacting and responding to local, regional, and national events. Her first column was published in April of 1937 and the final column ran in August of 1970. Morrow only missed one column during her tenure due to her husbands death.

The Morrow Home Place is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places as a rare local example of a first generation, settlement era farm house. A 1 ½ story, hall and parlor type house, the Morrow Home Place retains excellent integrity of design, materials, workmanship, feeling, association, location and setting. The Morrow Home Place is eligible under Criterion C, in the area of Architecture and Criterion A as a representative of the earliest settlement in the area. It represents a building type that once dominated the landscape of the area but has been supplanted by newer, bigger buildings. It is representative of the type of house typically found on farmsteads of the initial occupancy period.