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Debbie Blackburn

A Historic Preservationist Remembered

By Ron Franz

Oklahoma Main Street Program, started 1985-1986
​State Representative Debbie Blackburn was an early advocate for the Oklahoma Main Street Program at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. With the selection of the first round of towns in the spring of 1986, Debbie, a former history teacher, supported this downtown revitalization program that was born during the depths of the Great Oil Bust. As a native of Woodward, she was so glad that her hometown joined the program in 1990. She also cheered the expansion of the program in 1992 that included a Small Towns component and an Urban Program component. Throughout the years, Debbie supported this successful program focused on revitalizing Oklahoma’s Main Streets, historic downtowns, and early commercial districts.
With the April 19, 1995, truck bombing in downtown Oklahoma City, Debbie was most interested in how the Main Street 4-Point Approach could be applied to the hundreds of bomb-damaged buildings and bomb-impacted businesses.

Automobile Alley Urban Main Street, 1996
With the creation of the Automobile Alley Urban Main Street Program in 1996 that addressed over 70 impacted buildings along Broadway Avenue, Debbie saw this program positively change this area which ironically was just around the corner and down the street from her historic airplane bungalow in the Heritage Hills East Neighborhood.

State Historic Tax Credits, 1992, expanded 2005
As a historic preservation advocate, and later as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives (District 88 from 1994 to 2006), Debbie realized the need to advocate for state tax credits that mirrored the federal tax credits for revitalizing historic buildings. This legislation created incredible investment along Oklahoma’s Main Streets and, ironically, geared up investment on Automobile Alley right there adjacent to her neighborhood. To date, Automobile Alley has the largest concentration of historic tax credit projects in the state—just a stone’s throw from Debbie’s front porch where she lived at the time she advocated for such credits.

Other Advocacy and Volunteer Work for Historic Areas
State Representative Debbie Blackburn, whom I prefer to call my friend Debbie, and I first met through inner-city neighborhood advocacy. We were both simply volunteers. Before Main Street, we had almost a half-decade of volunteer work behind us.
In the early 1980s, Oklahoma City entered a decade-long doldrum of the Great Oil Bust (as I call it). It seems like so much investment, enthusiasm, and energy simply evaporated. Very few cared about the old, inner-city neighborhoods following so much enthusiasm in the 1970s. Neighborhoods battled over invisible neighborhood association lines. One either lived south of N. W. 23rd Street or in “that other area” north of N.W. 23rd Street. The south side included Heritage Hills, Heritage Hills East, and Mesta Park. North of 23rd were the dreaded areas of Jefferson Park, Paseo, and Central Park. Each of these 3 neighborhoods blamed the other two for their neighborhood problems—vacant houses, prostitution, drug activity, crime, arson, etc., etc. The divisions were deep.
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Bungalows and Airplane Bungalows, 1982
Debbie and I first realized we were tremendous old house fanatics. She and her husband, Bob, and I spent many times talking about saving bungalows, like my house, and airplane bungalows, like their house.
Quickly, we realized the current environments of our neighborhoods deterred new homeowners from buying in our areas and investing in the historic housing stock. We crossed that invisible battleground line, N.W. 23rd Street, that separated their neighborhood of Heritage Hills East and my neighborhood of Paseo. There were so many others who were concerned with the state of all of what was referred to as “Near Northwest Oklahoma City.”

Neighborhood Development and Conservation Center, 1982
We found a great, neutral location to share neighborhood concerns, the Neighborhood Development and Conservation Center, NDCC. At the time, this was in a historic brick house at N.W. 13th Street and North Dewey Avenue. There were Saturday morning old house workshops, a tool lending library, and a resource center for a lot of fledgling neighborhood associations, many in the inner-city of Oklahoma City. Debbie and I became board members along with a lot of friends and even more neighborhood advocates who became new friends. She ultimately became the executive director.
We were part of the progression of this organization from the NDCC to the Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma. We helped the organization move from the 13th Street location to a historic, iconic, firehouse at N.W. 36th Street and North Classen Boulevard.
We had many preparatory meetings, always supporting the “downtown” restaurants that were open after business hours. Our choices were Triple’s at N.W. 16th Street and North Classen and Chadwick’s (now Iron Star BBQ) at N.W. 36th Street and North Shartel. Yes, in the 1980s, those were our “downtown choices.” Triple’s was our preference.

Old House Fair, mid-1980s
As a way to expand the Saturday morning old-house workshops and increase interests in historic houses in old neighborhoods, we created and hosted an “Old-House Fair” on a shoestring budget, gathering local craftsmen for demonstrations, asking local professionals to present, and attracting some historic preservation celebrities, like the then president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. We even had national publicity in several very well-respected preservation publications.

S.P.A.R.K. Program (First Presbyterian Church, expanded to Westminster Presbyterian Church), mid-1980s) and Edgemere Elementary
At one point, Paseo Neighborhood Association leaders and NDCC leaders learned that the highest truancy rate of children in the area was in the Paseo Neighborhood. The average truancy was 57 consecutive days. Debbie, a former history teacher in Altus, developed lesson plans. Working with many, many visionary and dedicated leaders at First Presbyterian Church, located in the Paseo Neighborhood, Debbie helped create an after school program for neighborhood children. With a note from their school, Edgemere, stating that they attended school that day, children had access to resources including after school snacks, study time, activities, arts, and life skill lessons (including cooking, laundry, and other basic skills)

N.W. 23rd Street/Historic Route 66/Uptown Renaissance, mid-1980s
With the decommissioning of Route 66 in 1985, the famed highway became State Highway 66. Alignments of this famous highway include N.W. 23rd Street, North Western Avenue, North Classen Boulevard, N.W. 39th Street, and North May Avenue which run through many historic Oklahoma City neighborhoods. With a large group of neighborhood advocates from areas north and south of N.W. 23rd Street, Debbie helped form Uptown Renaissance for addressing the commercial district from Broadway Avenue to Classen Boulevard. At the time, nighttime businesses included adult movie theaters in the Mayflower Theater and the Tower Theater, an adult bookstore, a couple of convenience stores, and a Wendy’s. If I remember correctly, Debbie was a supporter of the creation of the Route 66 Association. (Memory is foggy here.) The current organization, Uptown 23rd, oversees a very vibrant N.W. 23rd Street with many restaurants, bars, an events venue (Tower Theater), and new developments.

Partial Penny Sales Tax for Additional Fire and Police Protection, 1988
Knowing that crime was an issue in these inner-city neighborhoods, Debbie co-chaired a successful campaign, convincing voters to approve a sales tax for more fire and police protection.

Traffic Issues in Historic Neighborhoods, mid-1980s
Long before people talked about walkability and bike-ability issues in neighborhoods, Debbie had a keen interest in changing traffic patterns that turned historic neighborhoods into slivers. In the early 1980s, Classen Boulevard was a major feeder for traffic into and out of downtown in the morning and evening rush hours, respectively. Broadway Extension ended at N.W. 36th Street and funneled onto North Robinson Avenue as a south-bound raceway to downtown, going through Jefferson Park. Couplets (paired, one-way streets) ran through the Paseo and Jefferson Neighborhoods (Dewey, south and Walker, north for example). These busy, rush hour thoroughfares affected the areas both in the morning and evening hours. Debbie worked to turn raceways into two-way streets, including stop signs to regulate traffic, promoted cul-de-sacs to deter drive through crime routes, and advocated for designated right-turn-only intersections where traffic volumes were high. All these alterations remain in place today in much stabilized, desirable neighborhoods.

Positively Paseo (Paseo Development Corporation), 1989
In 1987, the City of Oklahoma City created the First Neighborhood Revitalization Program. The leaders of NDCC and Paseo, as well as many friends, worked extremely hard to get Paseo designated. (This was an early form of the current Strong Neighborhoods Initiative administered by the City of Oklahoma City today.) Debbie worked tirelessly to make connections with anyone and any group that would listen, including the Oklahoma Gazette, the Oklahoma Journal Record, and The Oklahoman. This group morphed into Positively Paseo which had a two-fold purpose: save historic houses and encourage quality infill affordable housing in older neighborhoods. This organization continues over 35 years later and works in areas in northwest, northeast, and southwest Oklahoma City.

Preservation Oklahoma, Inc., 1992
If memory serves me correctly, Debbie was an early support of a new, statewide, on-profit organization that served as an advocate for historic buildings throughout Oklahoma. 

Through the years, as our lives evolved with taking new jobs, embracing new public service endeavors, getting married (me),
and starting families, Debbie and I advocated for many issues and served together on many boards. At times, we worked more
closely together. At other times, we knew that we were there as resources or simply idea sponges for each other.
​Debbie always was someone who believed in saving places and making lives better for fellow citizens who lived and worked around her.