Delmar Gardens

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Delmar Garden in Oklahoma City was a popular amusement park that operated from 1902 to 1910. It was started by John Sinopoulo and Joseph Marre, who trained at the original Delmar Garden in St. Louis. The park covered about 40 acres along the east bank of the North Canadian River, near Colcord Park and Wheeler Park. Visitors rode trolleys from across the city to reach the Delmar Park station.

The complex had a 3,000-seat theater, a dance pavilion, a horse racing track, a baseball field, a swimming pool, an exotic animal zoo, a miniature railway, a boardwalk beer garden, amusement rides, a penny arcade, a floating wedding chapel, and a hotel and restaurant. Its design featured Art Nouveau touches that blended with the surrounding woods and river. The theater interior combined Victorian details with electric stage lighting.

Delmar Garden opened as a vaudeville venue and added film equipment in 1903 to show The Great Train Robbery, but it mostly continued as a two-a-day vaudeville theater. Some late-night acts appeared in the Delmar Saloon. The park drew thousands of visitors and hosted famous entertainers and athletes, including Lon Chaney Sr., Buster Keaton, John L. Sullivan, Jack Dempsey, and the racehorse Dan Patch. Chaney even married in Oklahoma City after meeting there.

In 1904, Tom Mix performed at the Garden and became engaged to Kitty Perrine. The park was next to Wheeler Park, and the city’s first zoo opened nearby. In 1902, James Wheeler deeded the land to the city for a public park, with the Delmar name to remain.

Floods, mosquitoes, and the arrival of Prohibition hurt the business, and Delmar Gardens closed in 1910. Most buildings were torn down in 1911. The zoo moved in 1923 and became the foundation of today’s Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

In 1928, Market Theatre opened on part of the Delmar site and is now the Oklahoma City Farmers Public Market, which still preserves parts of the old building. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Barack Obama spoke there in 2007 during a campaign stop.