PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 I can hardly believe six months has passed since I announced I’d retire from the Carter County Commissioners office at the end of June 2015. But here I am counting the days until June 30th. When I first told the commissioners last December I’d retire…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Oklahoma and Texas continues to receive more and more rain, almost daily. If you’ve been watching our local, or the national news, you know flooding has been wide spread in both states. Lake Texoma went over the spillway a of couple days ago for the…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 The last few evenings I have not been able to work on my newsletter because of the storms and even one tornado that passed just 3 miles south of our house. The night before last, Tuesday evening, we had a pretty close call with mother…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Cecil Elliott in Oklahoma City called the other day and reminded me of a grave at Fort Reno cemetery. I had visited Ft Reno in 2009 which is located NW of Oklahoma City. The cemetery has a section for U.S. Army soldiers who are buried…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Southern Oklahoma and other areas have received a lot of needed rain this week. Lake Texoma is above normal, it’s been years since we’ve seen that much water in Lake Texoma. Even Lake Murray is doing better. Murray is one of the most beautiful lakes…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 In last week’s newsletter I mentioned the Allen Speake memorial granite in the front lobby of the courthouse getting a facelift, white letters to make it much more readable. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/SpeakeMemorialBeforeAfter.jpg In this issue I want to show you the remarkable before and after picture of…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 After the completion of the Carter County courthouse in 1910 one of the first three county commissioners did not live to see its completion due to a heart attack he suffered at home in 1909 near Woodford, Oklahoma in northern Carter County. Allen Speake represented…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST The Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, Oklahoma, Friday, October 31, 1930 Seminole Deputy Sheriff Injured Oklahoma City- Elbert W. Collins, 40, Seminole County deputy sheriff, stationed at Konawa, was reported in a “very serious” condition today at a local hospital and four women…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST Three Shot, One Killed, Two Wounded, Alleged Result of Family RowSaturday April 13, 1918 – The Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, Oklahoma W.B. Bentley, a carpenter, who lived at 315 Fourth avenue northwest, was shot about 10 o’clock last night at his…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 January 1931 – Nearly a thousand unemployed men raided a grocery store within three blocks of the state capital in Oklahoma City. A hundred police and scores of other officers made wholesale arrests. The riot occurred after a delegation of men visited the Mayor and…