Golden Driller, Oil worker monument at Tulsa Expo Center, United States
The Golden Driller is a 76-foot (23 m), 43,500-pound (19,700 kg) statue of an oil worker in front of the Tulsa Expo Center. A steel frame covered with concrete and plaster, it stands with legs apart, right hand resting on a black metal oil derrick moved from a depleted field in Seminole, Oklahoma, and left hand on its hip. Its belt buckle reads "TULSA".
The Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth built the first Golden Driller in 1952 as a temporary feature of the International Petroleum Exposition, and a second was erected for the 1959 show. The company then donated it to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority, which had it redesigned and permanently installed in front of the Tulsa Expo Center for the 1966 exposition. The Oklahoma Legislature named it the state monument in 1979.
The name honors the oil workers from Oklahoma who shaped the region. A wide belt at the waist shows the word TULSA clearly.
The sculpture stands at the fairgrounds on 4145 East 21st Street and is visible from the road. Access is free during daytime hours.
The statue's proportions are given as a 48-foot belt circumference, shoe size 393DDD and hat size 112. Its belt buckle originally read "MID-CONTINENT" and was changed to "TULSA" in 1979. In May 2020 a vinyl wrap briefly turned the face into a caricature of Elon Musk, with "Tesla" on the buckle, during Tulsa's bid for a Tesla factory.
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