Forest Park: wooded lots around a 1920s golf course
Forest Park started with a golf course. In the mid-1920s, golf architect Perry Maxwell bought about 180 heavily wooded acres around Twin Hills Golf and Country Club, the course he was designing just northeast of Oklahoma City. The land was divided into 154 residential lots, sold through the 1930s and 1940s, and by 1954 there were 66 homes. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture describes the lots as large and most of the houses as substantial, many designed by architects, with parks and bridle paths as part of the plan. Twin Hills, host of the 1935 PGA Championship, still borders the town on unincorporated county land.
Oklahoma City annexed the area in May 1956 to gain its tax base. Residents answered by voting to incorporate on July 11, 1956, and a district court sided with the new town in October 1957. Forest Park later grew to about 2.1 square miles, running from Bryant east to Bartell along NE 36th Street, north to NE 50th Street and south to NE 27th Street. Town hall sits at 4201 N. Coltrane.
Housing in Forest Park: owner-occupied and built to last
Forest Park is a town of owners. The American Community Survey counts about 400 housing units, nearly all detached single-family homes, and about 92 percent of occupied homes are owner-occupied. The 1950s were the busiest building decade, with about 143 units, and the estimated median year built is 1967. In a town this small the Census margin of error is wide, about eight years either way, but the picture is clear: more than half the houses here are over fifty years old.
Large, older houses bring their own plumbing patterns. Long runs from the water heater to a far bathroom mean a wait for hot water, which a hot water recirculation pump can fix. Houses that have been remodeled several times often hide a mix of copper, galvanized and plastic pipe, and the oldest section is usually the one that fails first. A Forest Park plumber also has to work around finished spaces, so we plan access carefully before opening a wall or ceiling, and we keep the opening as small as the repair allows.
Trees, roots and sewer lines
The woods that drew buyers to Forest Park are hard on buried pipe. Tree roots grow toward moisture, and an older clay or cast-iron sewer line with loose joints gives them a way in. The result is a drain that slows down, clears up after a snaking and then slows down again a few months later. Often the first sign is the lowest drain in the house gurgling or backing up while the washing machine empties. When that pattern shows up, a camera inspection tells us whether the roots are entering at one joint or along the whole line, and sewer root removal followed by a lasting repair keeps them out. Where a prized tree stands over the line, trenchless methods can replace the pipe without a long trench through the roots.
Freezes, utilities and permits in Forest Park
Forest Park gets the same arctic outbreaks as the rest of the metro. Oklahoma City hit minus 14°F on February 16, 2021, its second-lowest reading on record, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, and IBHS treats 20°F as the alert threshold for pipes in southern homes. On a big lot, hose bibs, sprinkler backflow assemblies and pipes in garages are the first to freeze.
The town bills its own utility accounts through an online portal, and town hall answers account questions at 405-424-1212, Monday through Thursday. The town's utility directory lists Oklahoma Natural Gas for gas service. Building and remodeling permits also go through the town: the application is emailed with project drawings, a copy of the contractor's license and an insurance certificate naming the Town of Forest Park as certificate holder. We prepare that paperwork whenever a job calls for it.
