Pedestrian Tunnel

OK this Pedestrian Tunnel under Route 66 was a pleasant surprise to find while we looked for the Sears Catalog House in Chelsea. Even better was seeing how the walls of the tunnel illustrated the history of the town. The opposite wall titled "Sign Our Wall" is covered with the signatures of towns people and possibly others. The murals were painted by artist Ken Hollingshead from Sapulpa, Oklahoma.

The Chelsea Frisco Railroad Depot is the subject of this panel. The actual depot burned down years ago.

This panel in the mural illustrates the states first oil well which was located near Chelsea.

In this panel an old Phillips 66 Cottage Style gas station is shown as it might have looked after being preserved or restored in the 1950s or later. The station is shown with three "visible" gas pumps and what appears to be a late 1950s Buick. A man, maybe an attendant, is standing next to the building as is a younger child.

This is a view of Chelsea in 1907.

The label on this panel says "Chelsea, I.T. Est. 1889" but there seem to be considerably more buildings so I'm guessing the image represents a date after 1907 and the 1889 date is just telling us when the town was established.

In the early to mid 1900s you could order a house kit from Sears and Roebuck and this is one of those houses. It still stands today. It was built in 1912 and may be the first Sears House built in Oklahoma.

This is an early map of the Oklahoma Indian Territory. The various sections are labeled Cherokee, Osage, Cheyenne, Iowa, Fox, Shawnee, Kickapoo, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw Arapaho, Wichita, Caddo Apache, Commanche, Delaware, Peoria, Seminole, Kiowa, and Pawnee,. One section is labeled "No Mans Land" and another as "Unassigned Lands"..

The sign on this building reads "Chelsea Feed" and "Nutrena"

Here we see the Pryor Creek Bridge being crossed by an early automobile probably from the late teens to early thirties. The bridge was built in 1926, a time when you could still buy a brand new Ford "Model T".

This panel is simple labeled "End of the Trail".

The little six unit Chelsea Motel was built in the mid-1930s and stands at the intersection of the 1926 and 1930 alignments of Route 66.

Cattle drives were common in the west for many years and this is a painting of what one might look like.

Some lucky soul is cruising down Route 66 in a bright red 1957 Chevrolet while a steam powered locomotive pulls a train along the tracks running beside the Mother Road.

Photo(s): 2016