Standing on hallowed ground

I love Oklahoma City. Born and raised here, just like my mom, just like my grandparents, and just like my son will be. My family has been here since the state's first decade and has lived close to downtown for generations. My great-grandparents lived in a house that once stood on 215 SW 5th Street in OKC. In that house they raised the generations of family that I descended from. As with all things, change occurred around that house and eventually the rest of the neighborhood were torn down to give way to parking lots and a post office. Eventually I-40 itself was rebuilt and routed just south of 5th Street.

With that change Oklahoma City decided the area needed to be revamped and bought out several lots for pennies on the dollar. Eventually the goal is to turn this area into a massive downtown park and recreational area. The corner of 5th and Robinson Avenue, which is a mere hundred feet from where I stand, will itself see much change. A state of the art convention center and a new hotel costing millions will rise at that same corner. Much of this change benefits the city as a whole but not for the displaced residents of the neighborhood around where my great-grandparents made a life here several decades ago. Along with those residents we lose their homes, which were some of the very first homes ever built in OKC. As I stood on that very hallowed ground I thought about how sad it was that all which was left of our family's early legacy was this simple plot of land beneath my feet which was about to be reshaped by a bulldozer into a lake that I may never get to step upon that same ground again. Change comes but at a very high cost.

That said, I still love Oklahoma City.