-Abandoned Oklahoma featured on News 9 and The News on 6 in Tulsa.
Read about it at the link below.
http://www.newson6.com/
Download our Mac Dashboard Widget Here�
Find what you are looking for. Type in a location, city, or other search criteria and see what we have.
The Savoy Hotel was built in 1909 as a modern elegant hotel with 62 rooms. It was built to accommodate the many new visitors, workers, and businessmen coming to the oil and gas boom town of Nowata, Oklahoma. This year, 2009, represents her 100-year anniversary. So saving this wonderful structure from complete destruction is a fitting birthday present to bestow upon this year.
An oil well drilled in Nowata struck “radium” water at a depth of 1500 feet. Many people touted the health benefits of this water and thus the Savoy hotel added “Radium Water Baths”. So on February 16, 1916, J. R. Cruff started a Radium water bathhouse at the Savoy. The bathhouse had the latest and most modern apparatus with bathing experts in charge.
The mineral baths were good at healing for rheumatism, stomach trouble, malaria, nervous trouble, skin diseases, as said by the owner J.R. CRUFF. (source: Men of Affairs and representative Institutions of OK, 1916)
In the 1940’s it was the County Hospital.
Some renovation was done in the 1990’s and the building was used for events, dinners, weddings, and even for a feature film, “Possums”, in 1998.
But the roof began leaking a few years ago and soon nature was rapidly trying to reclaim what man had built 100 years ago.
For much more information, and to learn about helping to preserve this great piece of history, visit http://www.savethesavoy.com.
To Unlock the map, Click Here.
Just a side note & warning: The 2 upper floors are very unstable & not safe for exploring due to water damage. We were very cautious & didnt even get to check out the 3rd floor. Please be careful if you attemt to enter this bldg.
Or you can just enjoy our pics right here!
I totally agree. Neat ass place, scary ass structure. I remember seeing an old SNES in there. I liked this place.
its really sad to see this building falling apart like this. I had my senior prom in this awesome building in 1999 and have some really neat pictures of the inside first floor, it was beautiful inside! They had done such a great job restoring it..only to let it go to waste. So sad!
This is totally incredible! I must see it.
We should go on a roadtrip to see it! I’d love to check it out again myself!
Picture # 19,what in the world is that??
It was a phone switchboard I believe. I think we found it in a storage area under the stairs.
I was thinkin it was an 8 track player. Kinda like a CD changer is now a days
Wow, I think you might be right. Its just such foreign technology to me haha
I believe that is a form of a public address system. It likely used pre-recorded carts/tapes to make announcements during the day, probably on an automated schedule of some sort.
The tapes are very similar to the “Cart” format that was used in almost every radio station in the world back in the 70’s and 80’s and which is still in use in many today. Basically a slightly different version of the more common “8-Track” format invented by Lear of Lear Jet fame.
Thinking it was still being restored. A few years of water has taken back what was done. Sad to see.
Loved seeing the pictures. I remember when the Savoy was in its hayday back in the 50s. Sure hope it can be restored to its former glory.
This has nothing to do with nothing, but I was born in the Savoy in September of 1942. I remember hearing dad say “they had some rooms they used as the hospital” but I got the impression that it was still a hotel. I don’t think they did surgery or any major medical procedures.
I just discovered your site, I love Oklahoma and her history!! I really enjoyed the pictures of the Savoy—I have to see more of your photos when I sit still again!! Good job-take care–Tery
Wow. I’m sure glad that I found this site today. I didn’t realize the Savoy was in such bad shape.
Back in the mid-to-late 1990s, I performed DJ services in the lobby of this hotel with my now-defunct DJ company, EKG Mobile Music. I played music for at least two or three wedding receptions and a few proms over the years. As time went on, I got to know the (at-the-time) owner and renovator, Chuck Price, and he seemed like an extremely nice guy. I remember how proud he was of decorating the ceilings with real gold paint trim, and what big plans he had for the hotel once he had the whole thing fixed up.
A few years back, I was planning on having a massive party to celebrate 20 years in the DJ industry, and one of the places I considered holding the event was the Savoy – mainly for sentimental reasons, because I really loved the place. I never contacted anyone to see if I could rent the Savoy for the party, and now I see that it would have been a moot point. I had no idea that the Savoy had fallen into such a sad state.
(Incidentally, I never did end up having that party.)
I can’t tell you how much it means to see these pictures. As much as it hurts to know that the Savoy is doing so poorly, I am glad that I could at least find the information about it.
I’d love to help with the Save the Savoy effort, but I now have a wife and a young son, so unfortunately both my time and money are usually pretty restricted. If I were a rich man, I’d happily give thousands upon thousands to save this place. If I ever win a few million in the lottery… this will be on my donation list.
All that I can offer right now are my moral support and my best wishes for the recovery efforts… and Chuck Price, if you’re reading this, I hope life is going very well for you and yours. You were a real gentleman to deal with, and I always appreciated it.
- Badger
Thank you Badger for the comment! This is the reason we exist, to help the memories live on!