You are standing just south of the I-244 overpass at what was once 127 Greenwood Avenue. Facing east before you there is a grassy area, cut short by the expressway. Several businesses once thrived here, including the Hotel Alexander and the Little Pullman Café, but the feature attraction was The Williams Dreamland Theatre.

Escaping the racial oppression of the Deep South, John and Loula were drawn to the “Promised Land” of Oklahoma. At the turn of the century, Tulsa was a not yet segregated western boomtown. The reputation of Greenwood and the opportunities it presented were obvious, especially to an ambitious couple like John and Loula.

John was an expert in the new gas-powered engines that were rapidly transforming society. Loula was a gifted entrepreneur, her expanding empire of businesses flourishing.

In 1912, they first built the three-story Williams Building at the corner of Archer and Greenwood. The three floors included Loula’s popular confectionary, their home, and office space for rental.

Owning and operating a movie theatre was not part of the Williams' master plan. After John and Loula became the first Black Tulsans to own an automobile, John turned his mechanical skills into a full-time auto repair business. To support its growth, a new building was planned. It would have a first-floor garage and a boarding house on the second.

A city ordinance that prohibited housing from being built above a garage changed those plans. Inspiration struck when John and Loula read about the closing of a theatre in Oklahoma City. They purchased its equipment and, in 1914, launched The Williams Dreamland Theatre. The 750-seat venue became the first Black theatre in Tulsa. It entertained audiences with mainstream silent films, all-Black productions, and live entertainment.

On the evening of May 31, Loula and her then sixteen-year-old son Bill were at the Dreamland. During the show, a patron went up on stage telling the audience, “We’re not going to let this happen. We’re going to go downtown and stop this lynching. Close this place down.” No one knew then that a plan to save a teenage boy from being lynched would turn their dreamland into a nightmare. By the following day, the Dreamland and the boarding rooms above it had been reduced to a pile of smoking ruins.

As early pioneers of the area, taking risks and being “first” was a way of life for John and Loula. Their response to heartbreaking losses was no different. The Williams family was one of the first to begin rebuilding. Though denied their insurance claim for both of their burned buildings, Loula remained undeterred.

Not content just to rebuild the Dreamland as it once was, the new version would be better than ever. On September 22, 1922, the Oklahoma Dispatch, Oklahoma City's Black newspaper, celebrated its return, describing it as “splendid” and equipped with the “latest electrical theatre fixtures.” The paper boasted that the total cost for the new theatre was 2.5 times of the previous Dreamland.

This time, the Williams family made their home on the second floor. John and Loula Williams knew how to be first. They also knew how to overcome adversity and persevere. Unwavering in their pursuit of the promise and dream of a better land.