The City of Tulsa Board of Adjustment unanimously classified the Meadow Gold sign as a historic monument on Tuesday, thus clearing another hurdle for its restoration and re-erection on Route 66.
The sign will be placed on a new building at the southwest corner of 11th Street (aka Route 66) and Quaker Avenue, just a few blocks west of where it once stood. Blueprints and an artist’s rendering can be found on this Acrobat file on Pages 13-16 from the application.
The historic Meadow Gold neon sign, built in the 1940s on Lewis and 11th, was taken down in 2004 (shown above before it was dismantled) and placed into storage to keep a nearby car dealership from razing it to make way for a parking lot. The dealership then moved to a suburb barely a year after that sorry episode.
There was a smidge of concern whether the Meadow Gold sign would be able to conform to the city’s zoning code, especially since the sign could be considered outdoor advertising. I attended the BOA meeting in case my input was needed. Representatives from the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, Route 66 Business League of Tulsa, and the city also were there.
But I quickly knew there would be no problem when one of the board members asked Route 66 supporters in the audience whether there would be any objection to the Meadow Gold sign being classified a historical monument.
When the board was told this was agreeable, they enthusiastically endorsed the classification and the Meadow Gold sign’s restoration plan.
“It will be a great asset on Route 66,” Board chairman Frazier Henke said. “There will be a lot of people coming from out of town to see this.”
The board also noted that the outdoor advertising classification no longer applied because Meadow Gold products haven’t been sold in Tulsa for years.
After the meeting, I was told that the city will open the project for bids within the next few weeks and that groundbreaking likely will commence in January.