Blue Whale of Catoosa

Hugh S. Davis, a zoologist, sketched a whale that kept growing until it reached 20 feet tall and 80 feet long. With his friend Harold Thomas he spent two years welding the metal frame and covering it in hand-mixed cement, one five-gallon bucket at a time, and the City of Catoosa dates its completion to July 1972. The city tells it as a place for his grandchildren to swim. The story most travellers hear is that it was an anniversary present for his wife.

The spring-fed pond soon drew swimmers from town and from the highway. Davis brought in sand, picnic tables and lifeguards, opened it to the public, and it grew into a roadside stop with a small zoo, the A.R.K., or Animal and Reptile Kingdom. The park closed in the late 1980s and the whale began to crumble. In 1996 the Catoosa Chamber of Commerce led an effort to recondition the concrete, with volunteers and the staff of a nearby hotel, and the whale was painted its original blue again.

The City of Catoosa now owns and runs the park. With a $1.8 million grant from the Oklahoma Route 66 Commission it built a 4,000-square-foot visitor center under a neon sign, with a gift shop and historical exhibits, which opened at the end of May 2026 and keeps 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Swimming is no longer allowed. Fishing, feeding the turtles and picnicking are, and there are restrooms.