And little by little, travelers on State Highway 66 started stopping again. He and volunteers painted the whale, cleared the grounds of weeds and cleaned up the water. So, in 1995, work began to bring Blue back to life. 'Dad had passed away, and we knew that he would not like the idea of people tearing up the place that he had worked so hard on,' Blaine Davis said. Nature took over, grass and weeds grew 'armpit high,' and vandals began wrecking what the Davises had built. In 1988, his parents saw an opportunity to close up shop and shut down the old swimming hole.Īfter that, it quickly fell into disrepair. 'When that happened and the kids didn't have to associate with those other kids, then the interest started falling off,' Blaine Davis said. The Blue Whale was a popular destination for Catoosa kids until the mid '80s, when backyard pools started becoming more common. It took two years, 126 bags of concrete mix, 19,400 pounds of crushed stone, $3,000 in materials and at least that in sweat equity before the whale finally was dedicated to Zelta Davis as her 34th wedding anniversary gift.

One handful of concrete at a time, Hugh Davis constructed his labor of love. So, when Hugh Davis began work on the whale, the kids in town knew it would be something grand. Hugh Davis loved nothing more than kids and animals, Blaine Davis said. 'So, it was nothing to have a houseful of animals all the time.' 'He would bring all the sick animals that needed attention home, and mom would baby them back to health,' Blaine Davis recalls. Hugh Davis had retired from the Tulsa Zoo. What used to be a dock for diving and sunning has half-fallen into the pond and is cordoned off.īut Blue is still a great Oklahoma story that Blue's caretaker, Blaine Davis, tells anyone who wants to hear it.ĭavis is the son of Hugh Davis, who built Blue in the early 1970s as a sort of anniversary gift for his wife, Zelta Davis. The lifeguard tower in the pond still stands, but it's unmanned. Nature Acres is shut down and boarded up. The ARK is swallowed up with weeds, and the wood it's built with is splintered and rotted. Today, Blue still smiles broadly, but what he sees isn't what it used to be. 'And there weren't, because there were so many kids in there, a snake wouldn't even think to come close.'īut kids don't swim there anymore. 'My mother wouldn't let me because she was terrified of snakes, and she was afraid there were snakes there,' she said. Now the chairman of the committee working to preserve the whale, she remembers being 10 years old and jealously watching friends frolicking in the coveted swimming hole. Alligator Ranch later became a kiddie zoo called Nature Acres.įor locals such as Jennifer Edwards, a day spent with Blue was a great day. So there.Alongside Blue's pond, there used to be an ARK (Animal Reptile Kingdom) and Alligator Ranch, where kids could have a birthday party and buy snacks. May be reproduced in any form, by any means, Of this web site or its constituent elements The html files, are creative products coveredīy copyright law. All images, graphics,Īnd written content of this web site, including Visit a Blue Whale, Catoosa, Oklahoma Atlas Obscura article.Ĭontent of this web site is solely the editorial Images are from 2010, after the first restoration (early 2000s) but before the second restoration (2020). Much of the scrub brush has been removed and the walking path on the north side of the pond has been cleared. The Whale itself has had a good cleaning. Since Catoosa has taken ownership of the land, there have been several improvements. In April 2020, the city of Catoosa, Oklahoma, purchased the Blue Whale and its surrounding 23 1/2 acres from its longtime owners, the Davis family.

Hugh Davis' son, Blaine, was the caretaker at the property for many years. In the early 2000s it was restored by the people of Catoosa and employees of the Hampton Inn. Subsequently the Blue Whale fell into disrepair. Hence, the Blue Whale became a Route 66 attraction for only a few years because Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985.īy 1988, the Davises found that they could no longer handle the management of the attraction and it was closed. The Blue Whale in Catoosa, Oklahoma was built by Hugh Davis in the early 1970s as a surprise anniversary gift to his wife Zelta, who collected whale figurines.

Blue whale of catoosa