Vanishing Spaces

The Kennedy Building, located at the corner of Main and Grand, was built around 1902. Currently, the northwest corner of the building’s ground floor houses the offices of Okmulgee Main Street. Climbing the stairs and entering the second and third stories is like stepping into a time capsule. The second floor contains offices, mostly empty, but the office of A.D. Kennedy, founder of the building, is a place where time stands still. Legal documents, correspondence, and personal papers and photographs remain, most right in their proper places, left in safes or file cabinets. The third floor houses a ballroom with tall, arched windows and an ancient piano, the ivory gone from its keys but still delivering a few musical tones through its wooden remnants. And the sunlit, expansive space invites a twirl on the dance floor, even now. Unlike many buildings no longer in use, this one has, for the most part, escaped the detritus and debris that tend to accumulate. Its a place one wants to spend some time.

Here’s the excerpt about the Kennedy Building from the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Okmulgee Downtown Historic District:

Kennedy Building/Okmulgee National Bank, 100-102 E. 6th. The three-story brick commercial building is designed using elements from the Italian Renaissance Revival. Fifty feet wide and approximately seventy-five feet in length, this corner building is of red brick construction with limestone detailing. The canted entrance was the original entry into the Okmulgee National Bank. A series of storefronts line both the north and the west elevations. Each storefront is divided with brick and concrete columns capped with limestone capitals. Multi-paned clerestories (original) are above each display window. The first and second floors are divided by a concrete frieze. The second floor windows are paired and double hung; the third floor windows are more elongated than the second floor windows. Above the third floor windows is a row of corbeled brick. The building is capped with a pressed metal cornice and pressed metal brackets. It possesses a high degree of architectural integrity.

Color Gallery, 2015

Black and White Film Gallery, 2026

This undated postcard shows the Kennedy Building in its early days. The view is looking southeast at the corner of Main (6th) and Grand.

Asa Dutton (A.D.) Kennedy, a “prominent pioneer citizen” of Okmulgee, died January 15, 1953 at the age of 89. He came to Okmulgee in 1902 from Kansas. Kennedy was an original stockholder and managing officer of the Bank of Commerce. Later he and his brother, H.E. Kennedy, bought the bank and continued to manage it until 1917. He was an original stockholder and organizer of the Central National Bank and served for a time as chairman of the Board.

Kennedy Building on right, looking east down Main Street, 1910. Appears to be the same vintage as the postcard above.

Kennedy’s home at 502 S. Okmulgee, the “Kennedy Mansion,” is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. See photos below.