Main Street America, alongside our co-host partners Oklahoma Main Street, Oklahoma Commerce, and Visit Tulsa, is incredibly excited to co-host the 2026 Main Street Now Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from April 13 – 15. In this second article of a three-part series exploring the intersection between this year’s conference theme — Main Street at the Crossroads: Building Durable Futures — and community-based initiatives in Oklahoma, we are pleased to collaborate with Kelly Yadon at Oklahoma Main Street. Keep reading to learn more about designing for durability and how you can explore this topic in person at Main Street Now 2026.

Conference registration is open, with early bird rates available through February 3. Check out the conference website and follow the conference’s Facebook account for the latest updates.

Rural Oklahoma has never been a place defined by ease. It’s a place defined by grit. Since the 1880s and the opening of unassigned lands, our small towns have weathered wave after wave of economic, social, and cultural change — some expected, some unimaginable. And yet, through it all, these communities continue to stand tall, rebuild, reimagine, and reaffirm what makes life here so meaningful.

The Land Run and the Complex History Behind It

When people think of Oklahoma’s beginnings, they often picture the dramatic moments of the 1889 Land Run — thousands of settlers on horseback, wagons rattling and dust rising as they raced to claim new homesteads. It’s a story full of energy and optimism, but it’s also rooted in painful complexity.

Before the settlers arrived, these lands had been promised as permanent homes to the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole Nations following Indian Removal. Over time, as pressure for western settlement grew, those promises were eroded. The land runs opened the door to statehood in 1907, and Oklahoma entered the Union built on both opportunity and displacement.

Rural Booms and Busts

The arrival of the highway system transformed rural Oklahoma once again. In 1926, Route 66 — championed by Tulsa’s Cyrus Avery — connected small towns to national commerce and tourism. It joined earlier routes like the Jefferson Highway, the Lincoln Highway, and the Ozark Trail, ushering in a new era in which the horse-and-buggy gave way to motor travel, new businesses, and new economic life.

Highway towns thrived on the revenue from travelers, truckers, and families exploring the country. But the same roads that brought prosperity also served as escape routes during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, when more than 200,000 Oklahomans left the state in the 1930s and ​’40s — most of them from rural communities.

Today, rural towns face the ongoing challenge of drawing travelers off major interstates and back onto the two-lane highways where authentic experiences live. As the character Sally says in Cars, ​“Cars didn’t drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time.”

The 1970s and early 1980s brought an oil boom that ignited optimism and growth statewide. Rural towns flourished as drilling, service industries, and energy-adjacent businesses expanded. Jobs were plentiful, businesses thrived, and communities felt unstoppable.

Then the bust hit. Oil prices collapsed, businesses shuttered, and families faced economic hardship. Rural towns that had glowed with potential were suddenly uncertain and struggling.

It was in the depths of this downturn that the Oklahoma Main Street Program was born. With initial funding in 1985, the first five communities — including Tahlequah and Okmulgee — were accepted into the program in 1986. These towns looked to Main Street to stabilize their downtowns, foster local entrepreneurship, and rebuild a sense of place.

Tahlequah and Okmulgee became two of the earliest examples of what happens when local leadership and the Main Street Approach work hand in hand.

• Tahlequah Main Street embraced preservation-driven revitalization from the start, weaving Cherokee heritage into downtown identity, strengthening its cultural assets, and focusing on walkability and small-business growth. Over time, Tahlequah became a model of how culture, community, and commerce can reinforce one another.
• Okmulgee Main Street approached revitalization through pride, partnership, and bold action. Leaders understood early that restoring historic buildings and strengthening local businesses was essential to long-term success. Today, Okmulgee’s restored architecture and reenergized downtown reflect decades of persistence and vision.

Both communities have spent nearly 40 years proving that resilience is possible and practical.

Stronger Together

In 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing shook the state to its core. Rural towns felt the loss as deeply as the metro. The families affected were neighbors, coworkers, cousins, and friends. Rural communities stepped forward with food drives, blood donations, fundraising efforts, and everyday acts of compassion. It was a reminder that even in tragedy, Oklahomans stand together.

What makes rural Oklahoma special isn’t just the landscape or the history — it’s the people who choose to stay and those who choose to return. Every generation has faced new challenges, from economic downturns to extreme weather to shifting industries. Yet rural Oklahomans respond with creativity, determination, and a deep desire to make their hometowns places where future generations can thrive.

Resilience here isn’t about avoiding hardship. It’s about rebuilding better together.

A Commitment to Place

Despite everything, rural Oklahoma remains a place where people want to plant roots. Visitors come for the beauty and hospitality; new residents arrive seeking opportunity; and long-time Oklahomans stay because resilience is who we are.

From the Dust Bowl to the oil boom and bust, from national tragedy to the quiet, everyday challenges of rural life, Oklahoma’s small towns have shown what it means to stand strong and build forward.

Tahlequah and Okmulgee helped launch the movement. Today, dozens of communities are proving that resilience is built block by block, business by business, volunteer by volunteer.

Oklahoma’s rural Main Streets are still here. Still evolving. Still welcoming. Still working every day to make our towns places we’re proud to call home.

If you’re interested in experiencing Oklahoma’s rural places in person, make sure to add some mobile workshops to your 2026 Main Street Now Conference registration! Get a closer look at these can’t‑miss activities (and register) here >