Tulsa City Map Poster

About Tulsa

The area where Tulsa now exists was considered Indian Territory when it was first formally settled by the Lochapoka and Creek tribes in 1836. They established a small settlement under the Creek Council Oak Tree at the present day intersection of Cheyenne Avenue and 18th Street. This area and this tree reminded Chief Tukabahchi (known as "Tulsa" meaning "old town" in his native Choctaw language) of his home in present-day Talladega, Alabama, so he called it ""Tulasi"" ("cherokee rose"). The addition of the ""i"" to "Tulasi" resulted from a mistake; there were many variations between written English and spoken Cherokee at that time. A group of non-Cherokee later opened a trading post nearby; they wanted to use an Anglicized name for their town, rather than its original Muscogee name."The Town Of Tulsa Trading Post", or simply ""Town O' Tulsa,"" became official on July 24 after Judge William J.