Open house to help project paint picture of area's history

Here's an opportunity to check out a great redo of a vintage cottage and donate toward a mural depicting the history, challenges and resilience of northeast Oklahoma City's Culbertson's East Highland neighborhood.

Lenardo Smith, of L.D.

Smith Properties, has renovated a 1930 home at 1232 NE 17 with urban design and midcentury furnishings, in preparation to show and sell — and, from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, to help the mural project along.

The open house will include music, refreshments, tours of the 1,653-square-foot home, which Smith renovated in a way to preserve its historic integrity — and quiet appeals to give to the mural project, still in the fundraising stage, for the same reason: historic integrity.

Culbertson's East Highland is bounded by NE 8 north to NE 16, and Lottie Avenue east to Martin Luther King Avenue. The mural project is part of the city's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, which has led to revitalization of the area, public and private.

Here is some background on the neighborhood, provided by Smith, from the Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma:

After desegregation

in the late 1950s, African-Americans began the slow migration to neighborhoods north of NE 4. Culbertson's E. Highland (CEH) was transformed into a thriving neighborhood of middle class families from diverse backgrounds and continued to experience success until the late 1960s when Urban Renewal ripped out several homes and displaced hundreds of families. Since then, the neighborhood has gone through phases of blight and disinvestment, experiencing an uptick in crime and overall lack of care. In 2012, Culbertson's E. Highland was chosen as part of the city of Oklahoma City's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative. During the planning phase, a record number of attendees crowded the halls of Allen Chapel Church in their support of their community, showing the strength, resilience and sheer determination of the residents. ... For this mural project, the location was strategically chosen by neighborhood leadership as it faces east toward the neighborhood, provides a beautiful backdrop for the community and can also be seen from as far as I-40 heading west.

Come. Look. Give.

Lenardo Smith, of L.D. Smith Properties, has renovated a 1930 home to sell at 1232 NE 17, where he will have open house and accept donations for a mural project for the Culbertson's East Highland neighborhood from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday. [L.D. SMITH PROPERTIES]

Richard Mize

[L.D. SMITH PROPERTIES] This is the living room at 1232 NE 17, renovated by L.D. Smith Properties.