Digging Up Tulsa’s History
It's an event 50 years in the making, and you can see if live on the News On 6 and KOTV.com. It's Tulsarama!
Watch the unveiling of the 1957 Belvedere as it happens! "The Buried Car and What's Inside" live on the web at kotv.com or live on The News On 6 at 7:00-8:00PM Friday, June 15.
A 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe will be unearthed from a time capsule buried exactly 50 years earlier. The now classic, white and gold car was mounted on steel skids, and wrapped in a protective covering to help preserve it before it was put in the ground on the southeast corner of the Tulsa County Courthouse lawn, approximately 100 feet north of the intersection of 6th Street and Denver Avenue.
The car was seen as a way to show 21st century citizens a suitable representation of 1957. And according to event chairman, Lewis Roberts Sr., the Plymouth was chosen because it was "an advanced product of American industrial ingenuity with the kind of lasting appeal that will still be in style 50 years from now."
In celebration of Oklahoma’s centennial the car will be dug up and given away. Back in 1957 citizens were asked to guess Tulsa’s population in the year 2007. Those guesses were recorded on microfilm and sealed in a steel container inside the Plymouth. On June 1, 2007 Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor announced that the magic number for the Belvedere is 382,457. Taylor verified the numbers with the U.S. Census Bureau, and the event coordinator, Sharon King Davis, says the car is not the only prize.
"And also, there is a $100 savings account that was placed with the chamber of commerce in 1957, and we are pleased to announce after 50 years, 50 years of growing interest, it's a little more than $700,” Event Coordinator Sharon King Davis said. “But that also goes with the car. We have kiddingly said, ‘Mayor, that will get it gassed up and get the title changed.’”
Since the guesses are buried with the car, the winner will not be announced until a week after the Belvedere is resurrected. The winner has five years to come forward to claim their prize, and if the winner has passed on the car, its contents and the savings account, goes to his or her next of kin.
At noon on Friday, June 15, 2007, tune into the News On 6 for live coverage of the unearthing of the Belvedere. After it is dug up the car, and its contents, will be loaded onto a trailer and taken to the Tulsa Convention Center. Only a limited number of people are allowed at the unearthing, but The News On 6 will have complete coverage during the Noon show and on KOTV.com. Then at 7 p.m. tune into the News On 6 and KOTV.com for an exclusive look at the unveiling of the car, which has garnered national attention. For your friends and family not in Tulsa live streaming video of the unveiling will be broadcast on KOTV.com, so everyone around the world can see how the old girl held up over 50 years in the ground.
The lucky winner will get the car and the saving bonds. All the objects buried in the car in 1957 will go to the Tulsa Historical Society.