Amid Price Tower’s uncertain future, people around Bartlesville are wondering what’s next for some traditions and the city’s economy.
The owner of the tower has plans to close it. Over the years Bartlesville’s beacon became home to traditions.
It housed people in its hotel and has been the spectacle of tours for architectural enthusiasts. Now all of that is in question.
2 News spoke with Maria Gus, the executive director of Visit Bartlesville.
“Certainly sad about the challenges that it’s going through, it’s disappointing,” Gus said, “But we really believe there is a path forward.”
Though, the path is uncertain.
“I’m not sure what the path forward is right now,” Gus said, “But I do know that there are a lot of people who are concerned.”
Including herself and a host of other Bartlesville residents like Allison Pruett. She first visited the tower as part of a school field trip.
“As a kid, you just didn’t care about it, it’s just this big tower downtown that doesn’t make sense,” Pruett said, “As you get older, and you look into it, and if you look into Frank Lloyd Wright, you learn more about it, and you find a better appreciation for it.”
She suggests handing over the tower to the people of Bartlesville.
“Let us try to maintain it again, and go from there,” Pruett said.
She thinks everyone throws in a little money to help the city itself maintain the tower.
“I think it’s doable, but everything takes money, and not everyone’s got it,” Pruett said.
There is no word of someone about to swoop in and save the tower.
Meantime, Gus and her team are making contingency plans.
“We still want to make sure that tourists and visitors, and groups, have a way to experience the tower, and to also have that tour experience,” Gus said.
The tower will still stand through its closure.
Leaders will, “come up with some of that interpretative presentation that we can do outside, so even though they may not be able to see all of the great parts of the inside of the tower, we'll still be able to tell that story in the interim,” Gus said.
The word around town is no word. Residents are uncertain. Rumors are flying like the Oklahoma wind. When 2 News reached out to city leaders, they pointed us to Visit Bartlesville.
Even in the lack of answers, there’s hope.
“You put the proper people in place to maintain it, it can be done,” Pruett said.
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