Lincoln Park 100 years old, and is busier than ever

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — For 100 years, people have been making memories at Lincoln Park, a now two-course golf complex on the city’s northeast side.

“I think (Lincoln Park) means a great deal to a lot of people around here,” said Aaron Kristopeit, just the course’s fourth head pro and golf director in a century. “It was the first public golf course to open in the state, and so I think it has generated a lot of interest in the game. It’s where so many people started playing.”

Before joining Lincoln Park’s pro staff, Kristopeit worked at the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club and the Quail Creek Golf & Country Club. He sees some of those familiar faces from the private clubs at Lincoln Park at times. Many of them played golf for the first time at Lincoln Park, he said.

“It’s amazing to me how many members of those places I know that will come through Lincoln once a year for a tournament, and they will recognize me and stop and say ‘Hi’ and say ‘I remember playing here when I was 16,’ or something like that.

“I think (Lincoln Park) also means a great deal to the African American community who plays golf, especially because of the area of the city it is located in, the northeast quadrant.”

Lincoln Park turned 100 this year. Generations of families have gathered there over the years to play a few rounds and swap stories. It’s been a second home for many.

The beginning

In 1922, a small band of outdoor sportsmen launched a golf course that Oklahoma historian Bob Blackburn said “quickly entered the pantheon of public places in Oklahoma City.”

In 1909, Oklahoma City voters had approved a bond issue to establish four regional parks and a circular raceway connecting them. The raceway was called Grand Boulevard, and the four parks became Lincoln, Will Rogers, Woodson and Trosper.

Lincoln Park was the largest, but for the first decade was simply open space for picnics and exercise. In 1921, a local citizens’ club proposed building a public golf course in the park.

Art Jackson, the Scottish-born head golf pro in Tulsa who built a course in McAlester and the Marland course in Ponca City, was hired as the architect and construction supervisor for Lincoln Park. He became secretary/treasurer for the Lincoln Park Golf Club, a private group which would manage the course for 40 years.

Jackson let the terrain of the land dictate the design of his first holes. With a budget of $600, Jackson mowed the prairie grass for the fairways,…