Home of Woody Guthrie Water Tower

For decades, visitors driving along Interstate 40 through central Oklahoma could see a water tower outside the small town of Okemah bearing the words 'Home of Woody Guthrie' in gold paint — a simple, civic declaration that this was the birthplace of America's most important folk singer. The tower was erected in 1972, and the decision to paint Guthrie's name on it was not without controversy: the Okemah City Council and local Chamber of Commerce initially resisted, concerned about Guthrie's leftist politics and his reputation as a suspected communist.

That resistance eventually gave way to pride. Okemah leaned into the Guthrie connection over the years, and the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival — held each July — became one of the most beloved roots music gatherings in Oklahoma, drawing artists and fans from across the country. The festival continues to this day, centred on the town's streets and venues, celebrating the man Okemah once wasn't sure it wanted to claim.

The water towers themselves are now gone, having been dismantled by 2022 when they reached the end of their structural life. The site at Ash Street and South 8th Street is where they once stood. The message they carried, though, has outlasted the steel — Okemah's identity is inseparable from Woody Guthrie's.