What is the history of bricktown? (new construction, warehouse, eat)

[Chargerag]

I visited there for the first time tonight. It seems like a realitiviliy cool place with the exception of parking.

The whole thing seems pretty new. I was curious when the waterway and ballpark went in? Also is there any masterplan for that part of town? I noticed alot of new construction around the area.

[Crosstimbers Okie]

Most of the buildings are over 100 years old. Most of the new development, including the canal, was completed in 2005 I believe.

[windowphobe]

The ballpark was completed in 1998; the canal was completed in 1999. (The last of the MAPS projects, the Norick Library, was finished in 2004.)

The Bricktown area has gone through many different phases: a center of commerce, the hub of the black community (Jim Crow laws here were frightful), a warehouse district after the residents moved on, and by 1980 just another example of inner-city blight.

But also by 1980, Bricktown had its name and its champion, a fellow named Neal Horton. Unfortunately, the big oil bust of the early Eighties killed off the plans he had for the area. A few hardy souls persisted; the first name-brand eatery in the area was the Spaghetti Warehouse, which opened in 1989. City voters approved the MAPS projects in 1993.