EnidBuzz shows the Broadway tower being built in 1931. It’s now slated for demolition. Preservationists gave up on it for good practical reasons.
One commenter tells the story:
I worked in that building for 13 yrs on the 2nd floor and was glad to leave it. I got tired of stepping over big cockroachs in the stairwell or down in the basement going to the barhroom.. Needs to be down and gone.
When I lived there in the 70s, before malls and online started killing downtowns, the tower had been mostly vacant for a long time. There were a few occupied offices, a realtor and a hearing-aid salesman, but the empty halls were ghostly.
The original white elephants were maintained by the king of Siam to serve no purpose but status. They wandered all over town, never working like other elephants, but always requiring obeisance.
Enid never needed a skyscraper. When downtown was active, three stories made good sense to keep the storefronts and apartments close together. More than three was solely for status.
Polistra's Mill 