Gordon Matthews, a native Oklahoman and University of Tulsa graduate, invented what he called a “voice message exchange” in the late 1970s. Today, we call it voicemail.

Tulsa has been called the buckle of the bible belt. To illustrate that claim, a sculpture of two 60-foot-tall praying hands marks the entrance to the campus of Oral Roberts University, an ultra-conservative Christian institution. The statue was cast in 1980 of roughly 30 tons of bronze.

 Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum houses the world’s most extensive collection of art and artifacts from the American West. The collection of more than 350,000 objects, including a handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence, was amassed by oilman and philanthropist Thomas Gilcrease. Allegedly, his ghost haunts the halls of the museum.

Tulsa’s tallest structure is the 52-story Bank of Oklahoma (BOK) Tower, which looks a lot like a single, short version of the World Trade Center’s twin towers. Both were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki beginning in the 1960s.

With more than 2.2 million tons of cargo passing through it annually, the Tulsa Port of Catoosa on the Verdigris and Arkansas rivers ranks among America’s busiest inland river ports.

A sacred tree is rooted near downtown Tulsa. The Muscogee carried a pot of burning coals with them on their forced march to the Indian Territory, and after choosing a settlement site near a massive oak tree, they scattered the ashes to establish their new home. The Council Oak Tree at 18th Street South and Cheyenne Avenue still marks the historic spot.