PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 This week an email came in from a law student at Oklahoma City University (graduates in May) asking about info on Ardmore’s famous attorney, James Mathers (1877-1961).  Mathers was the first County Attorney after statehood in 1907, but soon resigned to defend Clara Hamon at her…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Spring has arrived and storm season is right around the corner. I’ve heard those of us in Carter County who applied for the FEMA money in October 2009 to help pay 75% of the storm shelter cost (up to $2,000) hopefully will be receiving our…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 The mystery I spoke of last week about Charles Ringer and the memorial tree planted at the courthouse in 1927 brought some responses and shed some light on who he was.  Charles was a druggist in Ardmore back in those days.  His daughter, Mary Margaret…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Elisha S Mason established a post office in 1882 1/2 mile east of the present site of Healdton, Oklahoma. The community, called Mason after its founder, sported a few houses, a general store, and a wagon yard. Charles H. Heald became the postmaster in 1897…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Last week when I sent out my newsletter about 170 bounced back saying something like “does not have sbcglobal.net account.”  I had deleted about 8 or 9 subscribers when I realized something was wrong.  Hopefully those 8 or so will let me know, so I…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Note: anyone on my mailing list who has an sbcglobal.net email account, as far as I can tell, those emails all bounced back.  Said ‘does not have sbcglobal.net account”. Of course I know that’s not true.  About 173 emails bounced back to me.  So something…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 We’ve had some lots of snow, twice in 2 weeks, and record cold in Oklahoma last night, reaching down to 31 degrees BELOW zero north of Tulsa.  burrrrrrr, that’s too cold for Oklahoma, bring on the warmth, I’m ready.  And the forecast says we should…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Hope everyone is making it through all this ice and snow, seems to cover about 30 percent the country.  Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas were hit harder then we in southern Oklahoma.  The frigid temps sure makes it rough on people who have to work…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 This week I was talking to a friend and he showed me a 1951 newspaper clipping about General Henry Leavenworth.  The article said General Leavenworth left Fort Gibson in 1834 on an expedition to bring peace between the Osage Indians and the plains Indians who had…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 I was off work last Monday for MLK Day so Jill and I decided to take a short road trip to the west.  Our first stop was Waurika, Oklahoma.  We found a couple of antique stores on Waurika’s Main Street downtown, and one had a…