McAlester - A Rotary City

McAlester is a lovely small city located in southeastern Oklahoma, about 90 miles south of Tulsa. 125 miles east-southeast of Oklahoma City, and about 175 miles north of Dallas, Texas. U.S. Highways 69 and 270 intersect at McAlester, and we are about 40 miles south of Interstate Highway 40.

The city was founded in 1899, and will begin celebrating its centennial year soon. Judge Steven W. Taylor, an active Rotarian and Past-President of our Club as well as former Mayor of McAlester, is heading up the commission charged with the year-long celebration. Founded in Indian Territory, before Oklahoma became the 46th state of the United States, the city was formed from the merger of North McAlester (encompassing the area now commonly called "Old Town") and South McAlester.

McAlester is the County Seat of Pittsburg County. The city has a population of a little under 20,000, and the county population is about 40,000. McAlester is the economic center for much of the southeastern portion of Oklahoma, and is a major medical center for a large area. The local economy was first based on the plentiful coal, and now prospers from agriculture, ranching, oil and gas production, manufacturing, processing, retailing and federal and state government offices and facilities. The largest single employer is the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant (MCAAP), located just south of the city. McAlester is home to a new higher education center (built in part with a grant from Rotarian Wanda Bass and her husband Clark Bass) providing area residents with college and university courses by extension from several public insitutions, using state-of-the-art high-technology. McAlester High School is the crown of the public school system. The MHS Buffaloes sports teams have won many state championships, including football and baseball.

The city is characterized by rolling hills, generally heavily wooded, a fine mix of older and brand-new homes, a first-class downtown filled with shops, offices, restaurants and very imposing public buildings, surburban shopping malls, many fine churches representing a wide variety of Christian denominations and groups, an outstanding public education system and also a church-affiliated private school, three large local banks, cable television service, four local radio statsion (2 FM and 2 AM), a multi-screen movie theater, an award-winning daily newspaper, several local internet service providers, half a dozen or more first-class motels (with new ones being constructed this year and next), excellent health care practioners and facilities, one of the finest public libraries in the nation among cities of similar size, a public airport with unusually good capabilities for general aviation and private planes (including hosting the FAA Flight Center for the entire State of Oklahoma), excellent highway connections (four-lane divided highways to Tulsa, Fort Smith (AR), Oklahoma City, Dallas (TX) and beyond), and an efficient city government providing plentiful water service, sewer service, trash pick-up, first-class police protection (each officer in the large Department has his own vehicle furnished to him or her) and first-class fire protection (ISO Fire Protection Class 4). The McAlester Economic Development Service (M.E.D.S.) is funded by a combination of public and private sources to work for bringing new industry and jobs to our area.

Of special note in this lovely city are the fabulous Masonic Temple (built in about 1929), the World Headquarters of the Order of Rainbow for Girls (founded by a McAlester resident), the imposing Federal Building, County Courthouse and City Hall, an outstanding new fairgrounds - the Pittsburg County Regional Exposition Center, with an outdoor stage and a number of buildings (including the just-completed very large Expo Center Building), the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant (MCAAP), many architecturally-interesting church buildings - some old and some new, the Steven W. Taylor Industrial Park, and the Italian restaurants which are a testament to the heritage of the thousands of Italian pioneers (who were predominant among the many nationalities involved) who first arrived in this area as new immigrants to the United States and seeking work in the coal mines of the early 1900s.

McAlester was home to Carl B. Albert, who represented the 3rd Congressional District of Oklahoma for more than 30 years and who rose to near the pinnacle of American government when he served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives - Carl Albert Parkway is named for this great man. McAlester is home to Gene Stipe, our long-time State Senator, who holds the distinction of having served longer in a state legislature than anyone else in American history - Gene Stipe Boulevard is named for this great man and J. I. Stipe Recreation Center is named for his father.. McAlester was the first home of Geoge Nigh, who served as our State Representative before being elected repeatedly as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma and then for two terms as Governor of Oklahoma - George Nigh Armory and George Nigh Expressway are named for this great man.

McAlester is located 20 to 30 miles south of excellent public recreation facilities (beaches, marinas, boat ramps) on Lake Eufaula, and is surrounded by outstanding fishing, hunting, hiking and other recreational opportunities. The great fishing of the Sardis Lake and the beauty of the Kiamichi Mountains, the thrills of the Illinois River (famous for canoe fun), several smaller lakes (Lake McAlester, for one) are all around our city. The city maintains quite a number of public recreational facilities including swimming pools, wading pools, parks (including Rotary Park which was conceived and built by the Rotary Club of McAlester and which contains the Elmer Hale Amphiteater), monuments and memorial statues and structures, softball fields (including a 4-field complex with complete facilities). We are fortunate to have the best Boys' & Girls' Club in the nation right here in McAlester, which arose out of the needs of the children of our community and the minds and work of many McAlester Rotarians), with its new building located at Chadick Park and sports fields located near Will Rogers Elementary School and Puterbaugh Middle School. McAlester has a full complement of service clubs and organizations, led (of course) by the Rotary Club of McAlester (one of the oldest Rotary Clubs in the world, founded in 1914). Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting each have a long history in McAlester and continue to be popular with our children here. The Kili-Hoti Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) is centered in McAlester, and the Pittsburg County Historical & Genealogical Society is located next door to the Courthouse (and was founded by Carl Albert, Rotarian Dr. Thurman Shuller, and Evelyn Duran, the Rotary-Ann of Rotarian Otis Duran). The United Way of McAlester has long benefited from the leadership and work of hundreds of Rotarians.

Two major civic events, at the beginning and end of the summer season highlight the year in McAlester. For over 25 years the Italian Festival (sponsored by the McAlester Italian Festival Foundation, Inc.) has honored and celebrated the heritage of the thousands of Italians who came to American seeking a better life and found work in the coal mines of southeastern Oklahoma in the early 1900s. While many other nationalities contributed to the true "cultural melting pot" of this part of America, the Italian heritage is predominant and also accounts for the many excellent Italian restaurants we have today, which all stem from family kitchens and are still owned and operated by those families. The Festival brings thousands of people to the Pittsburg County Regional Exposition Center each Memorial Day Weekend (Saturday and Sunday only) for food, fun, games, entertainment, and the largest arts and crafts show around. The McAlester Prison Rodeo (co-sponsored by the Department of Corrections of the State of Oklahoma and the City of McAlester and the McAlester Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture) continues a long tradition, over 40 years, of "the largest behind-the-walls prison rodeo in the world!" This traditional American rodeo includes events featuring both actual prison inmates (ask someone in McAlester about "money the hard way") and professional rodeo cowboys (a sanctioned PRCA event is part of this great event). This event takes place on Labor Day Weekend, with performances on Friday and Saturday evenings - some years there is also a Sunday afternoon performance.

The Christmas Parade of Lights downtown always draws a huge crowd and highlights the Christmas season in McAlester. The City has purchased and installed, with the help of the McAlester Board of Realtors) an incredible number of delightful lights that make the downtown area and much of Carl Albert Parkway look like a true winter wonderland during the holiday season even apart from the annual parade.

The Armed Forces Day Parade and other weekend events (luncheon, banquet, ball and so on) takes place earlier in McAlester than around the rest of the nation - this is done so that we can get first choice on honored guest speakers and on military units for the big parade downtown. The close working relationship of the people and organizations of McAlester with the American military and the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant (MCAAP) south of the city bespeaks the deep and abiding patriotism which runs deep in McAlester. In McAlester, old-fashioned patriotism is a source of personal pride and not something to be ashamed of. Nowhere is that patriotism more evident than in the giant fireworks celebration at the Pittsburg County Regional Exposition Center each Independence Day when great crowds gather with their families and lawn chairs to enjoy a variety of entertainers leading up to the patriotic music and a fireworks show of a size and quality not often seen outside of major metropolitan areas. Thanks to the generosity of Rotarian Wanda Bass and her husband Clark Bass, this show is a truly big one and not to be missed.

McAlester is a special city, combining the advantages of living in a small town with the convenience of living near enough several major cities to have an incredible choice in just about everything imaginable. We believe that McAlester is a Rotary City - not just in having a local Rotary Club, but in having been built and nurtured by McAlester Rotarians at every step of its 100-year history. For more information ask any McAlester Rotarian, or call the McAlester Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture (which numbers many Rotarians among its long list of presidents and executive directors or managers) at 918-423-2550.