NewView Oklahoma has improved the lives of the blind and vision impaired in Oklahoma since 1949, and the buildings that have served as our base of operations have been intertwined with Oklahoma City’s history and growth.

 

Our first office was donated space in the basement of the Huckins Hotel at 22 N. Broadway Ave. In the early days of statehood, this building had served as a temporary state capitol until the current capitol was completed.

 

Our founders realized that in-house manufacturing would provide the stable employment needed for the blind and visually impaired to lead independent lives. Space for this new endeavor was found just around the corner.  Soon, the Merchandise Mart building at 25 W. Main St. housed the beginning of our industrial contributions to the city.

 
In 1958, we were able to expand operations with the purchase our own building at 106 N.E. 2^nd St. This building offered all the space we needed to fulfill large service contracts with government and private industry and served as our headquarters for 15 years. 

 

In 1973, after years of planning and fundraising – and the generosity of retailer and civic leader C.R. Anthony – NewView Oklahoma purchased the 156,000-square-foot building at 501 N. Douglas Ave. we now call home. 

 

The white, 5-story building was formerly a working brewery for the Progress Lone Star Brewing companies, once known as the world’s most beautiful brewery. Lone Star generously sold the building to us…for one dollar!

 

The building’s past is honored in our Board room. The original floor-to-ceiling murals and beer-barrel-style taps – no longer functioning – grace the walls, and create the feel of a Bavarian village. And across the beamed ceiling the icons of various brewmeisters still shine.

 

NewView Oklahoma fuels the local economy, providing a positive economic impact of $25 million annually for Oklahoma County. We are an official business incubator for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and provide more than 100 jobs through in-house manufacturing and a growing number of service contracts with major employers at the local, state and federal level. 

 

In recent years, we have also reopened and expanded our vision rehabilitation department. With support from community partners and renewed investment, we are able to provide vision rehabilitation therapy to people losing their vision, orientation and mobility services, computer assistive technology training, Braille instruction, support groups, job training and placement and more.