 | We are coming up on the 10 year anniversary of Google's presence in the Pryor Creek community. What started out as a rumor and some unusually land purchases in the Mid America Industrial Park, is now a full-fledged regeneration into a globally significant location of the information age. Google is all about secrecy. They secretly arranged the purchase of lands, When the deal was completed they began a modest construction project which was briefly interrupted by the 2008 global market crash. Eventually they went online with their data center, housed in one metal building with massive cooling towers and their own electrical substation from Grand River Dam Authority. |
| When phase one was determined to be successful, Google announced phase two and began building huge concrete structures with many times more capacity to acquire, store, and distribute data gathered from around the world. These concrete structures are built to withstand earthquakes, twisters, and other calamities. Their plant security is intense. The Google campus is a massive and secretive city. they recently acquired the neighboring property of Pepsico's largest Gatorade plant. This building alone had the footprint of 14 college football fields all under one roof. Upwards of 1000 electricians spent the last 3 years wiring up the campus and ground is being prepared for the next phase of new building plans. |  One of the bunker buildings of Google's phase two, in Pryor Creek, OK |
 Google joins Pryor Creek's mayor to announce the wi-fi city. Read more about the free citywide wi-fi at The Pryor Times. | Why Pryor Creek? The Mid America Industrial Park was one of Oklahoma's largest & most successful, even decades before Google arrived. The land was partly a WW2 Army prisoner compound for captured German soldiers. It was 5 miles south of city limits, but now the city fathers have annexed land right up to the industrial park. Other property owners explain that 3 major transcontinental fiber optic networks converge within the park. The Grand River Dam Authority provides perhaps the cheapest electrical rates in the nation. Courting A Good Community Relationship Yes, Google pays property tax on their campus land. bBefore it's done, that evaluation is expected to top $1 billion dollars. If that isn't enough to make the 'city fathers' smile, Google has also stepped up with several other overtures. Google has made Pryor Creek a free wi-fi city. In 4 phases, Google set up wi-fi transmission equipment downtown and slowly spread to the neighborhoods. Two more phases are expected to come, whereby the entire city will have free wi-fi. |
