Our History

The Junior League of Tulsa was organized in 1923 with just 13 members. This small but determined group of women established the Convalescent Home for Crippled Children, later known as Children’s Medical Center.

By the 1940s, Junior League programs included war bond drives and a specialized medical clinic at St. John Hospital. During the ‘50s and ‘60s, JLT organized the Children’s Museum at Philbrook; established preschool deaf therapy and vision screening, and diagnostic nursery at Children’s Medical Center.

JLT established Leadership Tulsa, the Natural History Museum at the Tulsa Zoo, and the Oxley Nature Center in the 1970s. In the following decades, projects included a domestic violence program (later known as Domestic Violence Intervention Services), Ronald McDonald House, Frances E. Willard Home for Girls, the Harmon Science Center, and the development of Child Abuse Network (CAN). The League also organized Mayfest and published Tulsa Art Deco and Tulsa History: A to Z.

The Junior League has implemented a “Skills for Life” program at Tulsa’s Day Center for the Homeless and DVIS. The Junior League also most recently organized “It’s My Life,” a collaborative effort with Youth Services of Tulsa and the YWCA to offer transitional housing and life skills training to girls leaving the state foster care system.

Today, there are over 500 active and sustaining members of the Junior League of Tulsa.

Past Presidents
1923-1983
1984 – Present

Historical Timeline of Annual Community Projects