Tulsa's oil-boom wealth built museums and an art-deco downtown that together make it one of the most surprising cities in the central United States. The Philbrook Museum of Art, set in a 1920s Italianate villa with formal gardens, is the standout; the Gilcrease Museum holds one of the country's largest collections of Western American art. The Boston Avenue Methodist Church is one of the finest Art Deco buildings in the United States. Downtown has more art-deco buildings per block than almost anywhere else in the US — the Philtower Building and Philcade Buildings on S. Boston Avenue are a good starting point.
The Greenwood District is essential history — this is where Black Wall Street stood before the 1921 Race Massacre, and the Greenwood Rising History Center opened on the centenary is the most complete account of what happened. Gathering Place on the Arkansas River is one of the best free urban parks in the country. The Center of the Universe is a five-minute detour worth making for the acoustic mystery alone.