Oklahoma Historical Society

PROJECT PURPOSE

ARPA-CSM-2101 ADA / Safety The drive and parking lot of the Cherokee Strip Museum need to be repaired and resurfaced to ensure the safety of visitors. Just this past year a major sink hole developed in the drive that could have done significant damage to a vehicle and could have resulted in injury. In addition to the repairs, the drive and parking area need to be redesigned to meet modern requirements for parking spaces and ADA compliance. This will increase the parking capacity for visitors and school buses and bring the parking area up to modern needs.

EVIDENCE

Our projects utilize local or regional contractors to perform the work and draw local, state and national visitation to the area thus boosting the local economy from construction activities and tourism for the area and state. This project will allow us to comply with local code and ADA requirements.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

The communities and local businesses around this site were impacted by the state shutdown and the decline of tourism as a result of the COVID pandemic. The local communities, municipalities and businesses lost revenue from sales, lodging, taxes and other tourism related benefits. This project benefits everyone by employing local businesses to create or improve local attractions and facilities to improve local tourism and community programing. Noble County is a rural county located along the I-35 corridor. Total population is 11,131. Perry is the largest city with a population around 5,000. 20% of the population is over 65, and 23% are under 18. 82% identify as white; 9.5% as American Indian; 4% as Hispanic/Latino; and 2% as Black/African American. 90% of the population has a high school diploma and 23% has a bachelor degree or higher. The median income is $56,117. 12% of the population lives in poverty. The unemployment rate is 2.2%. 13% of the population under 65 is disabled.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Project performance will be measured by visitation statistics with our current monthly statistical tracking system and staying in budget.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma