DEMOLITION PLAN

Former cotton mill buildings in Bricktown nearly gone

Outlines of where large metal cotton mill processing buildings once stood are seen as site clearance is wrapping up at the former home of the Producers Cooperative Cotton Oil Mill at 6 SE 4.

In the years following the 1889 Land Run, the Producers Cooperative Cotton Oil Mill was part of land reserved from development and was being used by federal troops keeping order. And when the land was released, the city was required to use it for industry, a school and a park.

The cotton operations in those territorial days certainly qualified as an industry, providing much-needed jobs in

those difficult early years. Names came and went — Southwest Oil Compress, Liberty Cotton Oil, Terminal Oil Mill — and, since 1945, Producers Cooperative Cotton Oil Mill.

Operations ended last year with a decision to move them to Altus and a realization the 32 acres between Interstate 40 and the new Oklahoma City Boulevard south of Bricktown was ripe for development.

All but the oldest of the 32 structures are being torn down.

With land clearance almost complete, a master plan is being drafted by broker Don Hayes and retail developer Bob Stearns with Sooner Investment.

[PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN] Most of the structures that once stood in the Producers Cooperative Cotton Oil Mill in Bricktown are gone as workers clear the valuable downtown land. Only the largest building will remain after the demolition.

[PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] In this 2015 photo, 32 buildings, most covered in sheet metal, stand at the cotton mill, which have been on the site since territorial days.