Ottawa W. Gurley

Arkansas-born former educator and Indian Territory postmaster, O.W. Gurley purchased 40 acres in north Tulsa in 1906 and began selling lots exclusively to other Black families — founding what became Greenwood. He built the Gurley Hotel, the Gurley Building, and was a founding trustee of Vernon AME Church. He lost an estimated $200,000 (over $3 million in today's dollars) in the 1921 massacre and never recovered financially.