Galt-Franklin Home
400 Country Club Rd., Ardmore, OKThe Galt/Franklin Home is both historically and architecturally significant because: (1) its historic association with Edward Galt and Wirt Franklin, co-founders of the first petroleum company to buy leases and drill wells in the Healdton Oil Field, one of the most important petroleum discoveries in Oklahoma, and (2) it is the best remaining example of Neo-Classical vocabulary applied to a dwelling in Ardmore.
While living in the home only a short period, Galt was during that time the secretary of the Crystal Oil Company, the first such operation in the Healdton Oil Field, one of Oklahoma's most prolific producers from 1913 to ca. 1930. Franklin's residency in the home spanned the most productive years of his career as a petroleum executive and political figure. His petroleum-related activities included president of Wirt Franklin Petroleum Corporation, 1927-1937; first president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, 1929-1935; official in the Petroleum Administration for the War, 1942-1944; and lifetime member of the Board of Directors of the American Petroleum Institute. Politically, he was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for United States Senator from Oklahoma in 1932 and also served on the Resolutions Committee of the Republican National Convention that year.
The Galt/Franklin Home exhibits Neo-Classical decorative elements as well as minor Prairie features, Classical decoration includes the fluted wood columns and pilasters flanking the entryway and separating the openings in the east wall. The entryway columns and pilasters support an entablature highlighted with scrolled modillions above each Tuscan-like capital and dentils accentuating the projecting cornice. Prairie features consist of the low-pitch hip roof with wide overhanging eaves, and stucco wall finish. The exposed fafter ends and Neo-classical.
The Galt-Franklin Home was occupied from 1915 until 1935 by two of Oklahoma's most famous petroleum executives and their families, Edward Galt (1915-ca. 1922) and Wirt Franklin (ca. 1922-1962); both of whom made significant contributions to the petroleum heritage of Oklahoma and the nation during that 20-year period and continued to be active thereafter.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.