The city of Tulsa is the second-largest city in Oklahoma and the seat of Tulsa County. Despite its status as the "Oil Capital of the World," the city has always made a conscious effort to keep its wells and derricks in the background so it can maintain its cultured, cosmopolitan image. This agenda was made clear as early as 1901, when Tulsa lured the oil men away from Beaumont, Texas by inviting to come make their homes "[w]here there are good churches, stores, and banks, and where our ordinances prevent the desolation of our homes and property by oil wells." (Oil Man: The Story of Frank Phillips and the Birth of Phillips Petroleum, Michael Wallis)

In 1834, the Lochapoka Muscogee natives moved into the region after being driven from their home in Alabama. They established their settlement at the foot of the Ozark Mountains, near the Arkansas River, and named it Tulasi ("old town" in the Muscogee language). In 1846, Lewis Perryman (who was part Muscogee) built a log cabin in the area and established trade with the natives. Over the next couple of decades, the community gradually grew into a trading post and cattle town known as Tulsey Town. Many residents fled the area during the Civil War, but its growth resumed in the Reconstruction period. When the first post office opened in 1879, the town's name was officially changed to Tulsa.