After a ceremony last year, Tulsa officials are still working to give Council Oak and Stickball parks back to the Muscogee Nation.
The two parks are on either side of 18th Street at its intersection with Cheyenne Avenue. Council Oak was where the Muscogee Nation reconvened after they were removed from their original homeland, and Stickball Park is where tribes played the sport the park is named for.
City Director of Tribal Policy and Partnerships Amanda Swope says the parks were given to the city after tribal members became displaced.
“I believe it was actually somebody that passed away that was able to go ahead and give the land to the city, their surviving spouse had,” Swope said.
Swope explained that because the city owns the parks in a trust, they have to be gifted to the tribe for a small fee.
And that’s just one of the legal hoops they have to jump through.
“Not only do the artwork, the sculptures that exist there have to be conveyed through the arts commission, the land itself had to be conveyed through the parks commission. Basically, it has to be designated as surplus property before it can be designated to the tribe,” Swope said.
Swope said May 20 the city was waiting to review documents related to electrical infrastructure at the park.
The process of giving the park back continues months after the city committed to giving the parks back to the tribes in November 2024.
Muscogee Nation spokesperson Jason Salsman said it’s “very respectful and gracious” of the city to give the parks back to the tribe. Salsman said he looks forward to the tribe taking care of the parks.
“Not that the city of Tulsa couldn’t — we just feel more secure in the fact that they’ll be taken care of in the right way, and that they’ll be given the care and respect that they need,” he said.
