Of all the families who have been prominent in the history of Oklahoma City, none have been more colorful than the Sinopoulo. This home, built in 1918 by G.A. Nichols, was bought by one of the Sinopoulo brothers, Peter, the first of three generations to move into the neighborhood.

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Born in Magula, Greece, near Sparta on the Peloponese, Peter was the middle of three brothers. His older brother, John, saved enough money to emigrate to America, then settled in St. Louis where he earned more to book passage for his brothers Peter and James. Together, they sold roasted nuts and candies to patrons leaving theaters at night until they opened their own candy store.

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In 1900, after becoming naturalized citizens, the brothers moved to Oklahoma City during the boom. In 1902, John Sinopoulo and Joseph Marre established Delmar Gardens, the first amusement park in the territory. They leased 140 acres from Charles F. Colcord and put in a hotel, restaurant, outdoor beer garden, theater racetrack, scenic railway, ferris wheel, dance hall, and swimming pool patterned after Delmar Gardens in St. Louis. Peter assisted John in the enterprise and James went into the restaurant business elsewhere in the city.

Although a financial success, the Delmar Gardens closed in 1910 due to prohibition and flooding on the nearby North Canadian River.
John and Peter then opened the Lyric Air Dome Theater at 1st and Robinson, one of the first combination vaudeville, motion picture enterprises in Oklahoma City. In 1917 they purchased the old Overholser Opera House, which they remodeled and renamed the Orpheum. By the 1920s they owned several theaters with Peter managing the Lyric and Orpheum.

In an effort to improve life in their homeland, the brothers built a park, cemetery, library, school, church, and hospital near their birthplace in Magoula. King Paul of Greece subsequently knighted both John and Peter.

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In 1919 Peter met and married Ruby Tote, a native of Nebraska, and purchased the home on 17th from G.A. Nichols. They had two daughters, Patricia and Mary Betty Jane. The Sinopoulos added a brick porch and vestibule on the front, rooms on the first and second floors on the northeast corner, and a balcony. Peter died April 15, 1955. After his death their daughter, Betty Taylor, moved back in and made a few more changes. She removed the porte-cochere and massive brick columns, and updated the kitchen. Betty’s son, Patrick Wilson, the grandson of Peter Sinopoulo, moved into the house in 1982 to become the third generation to live there. John and Peter Sinopoulo were inducted posthumously into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1995.