“Library of the Future Is Here Today” exclaimed the Tulsa Tribune when the Florence Park Library opened in January of 1955. The library was designed to resemble a Japanese tea garden, and architect Robert Buchner’s design for the building included Japanese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, a unique circular fireplace with pink glass inserts and mobiles, and blue glass walls in the reading room. The interior was certainly colorful, with orange chairs, gray tables, and a yellow circulating desk When it opened, the Florence Park branch also housed the library system’s bookmobile and extension service. Florence Park was the eighth library in the Tulsa City-County System to open. It was replaced by Schusterman-Benson Library in 1997.
