There are a number of
bridge crossings into Texas at the Red River from the southeast end of Oklahoma to
the southwest end of this state. Ardmoreite Steve Hamm sent in an interesting picture this week
of one such river crossing. Below are a couple of photos he took at a crossing near
Hollis, Oklahoma (Harmon County) in the far southwest end of Oklahoma. The
location of this old wooden slat bridge is 7.5 miles south of Highway 62 just
west of Hollis, OK. (If your on a dirt road, your probably on the wrong road,
its all blacktop to the crossing.) Steve took these pictures in September 2005.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/RedRiverHollis7a.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/RedRiverHollis7b.jpg
This is a map showing where
the bridge is located south of Hollis, Oklahoma.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/HollisOKbridgeMap.jpg
Here's a couple more pictures taken along
Highway 62 south of Hollis. This first one is the marker for the 100th
meridian.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/100thMeridian.jpg
Remember the "Welcome to Oklahoma"
signs that greeted travelers as they crossed the bridge into Oklahoma? Seems
like the last time I looked, the one along the I-35 crossing is gone. Here is
one Steve took on the Oklahoma side of the Highway 62 south of Hollis.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/WelcomeToOklahomaSign.jpg
Thanks Steve for the great pictures taken along
Highway 62.
The above old wooden bridge
reminds me of the one SE of Durant at the Red River, of which I took a picture
back in August 2002. The small community of Carpenter's Bluff is across the one lane bridge on
the Texas side.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/photos2/hendrix2.jpg
Jill was in Decatur,
Illinois last week visiting her daughter and son-in-law, and greatly enjoying being with
the two grandchildren, Belle and Victor. We kept hearing most about the
heavy snow in
NY, but central Illinois got quite a bit of snow too. Outside her daughter's
home in Decatur, snow was about half way up the mailbox pole in the front yard.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/SnowDecatur021607.jpg
Here is a couple of pics
her daughter snapped of Jill and the grandkids at the Decatur airport, as Jill
waited for her plane back to Oklahoma. Boy, I was ready for Jill to get back
too, seemed like she was gone a month, even if was only 9 days. lol
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/JillAndVictor.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/Jill2grandkids.jpg
Speaking of Jill's airplane
trip, after doing some research on the internet, we found tickets from Lawton,
Oklahoma to Decatur, IL were about $115 less when flying out of Lawton then flying from OKC or DFW to
Decatur. There were 2 stops (Dallas and St Louis) on the Lawton to Decatur trip whereas only 1 stop
in St Louis from DFW/OKC to Decatur. And its
still 100 miles to the airport whether Jill left from Lawton or Dallas or OKC. But
the difference is like day and night using the Lawton airport. No traffic
problems, no parking problems, no waiting in long
lines, and no waiting in a terminal with 1,000s of other people. Completely
stress free. I loved that part.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/JillLawtonAirport7b.jpg
And a person has to search
around for the best prices on airline tickets. There are so many websites
offering deals and all. Prices can vary widely. And like the most popular
sites don't even show you the prices for JetBlue
Airways. So one really does need to do their homework before buying
airline tickets. Here's one I found that offers good prices, especially if you
book a month or two in advance.
http://www.UltimateFares.com/
Here is a photo of the front and back of an old
token coin by Hoffman Drug store of Ardmore from before 1907 Indian Territory.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/HoffmanDrugToken7a.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/HoffmanDrugToken7b.jpg
Last week we talked about
the old time 19th century station wagon.... the wagon used to haul people from
the depot to the hotel. Here is an email I received:
"Hello Butch: The Brewster & Company
(New
York, NY) Station Wagon used in the Antiques Roadshow program is but one of
over 150 horse-drawn vehicles we have in our
Rodeo Museum,
70 of which will be in our LA FIESTA DE LOS VAQUEROS PARADE Thursday the
22nd of Feb. The Tucson Visitors and Convention Bureau will be riding in
this piece during the Parade." -Bob Stewart
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/StationWagon7a.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/StationWagon7b.jpg
This is an old photo postcard of the Ardmore Depot in 1908.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ArdmoreUnionDepot1908.jpg
I received an interesting
picture this week from Correna Wilson Pickens at Wilson, OK. Last week on
Valentine's Day Correna was looking for a special valentine with some kind of
heart as the theme for her husband, and when she walked out into her backyard,
there it was, right in front of her. Her grapevine had twined itself into a
heart shape.... and just in time!
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/GrapevineHeart021407
After the sudden
death of
Dale Thogmartin in April 2006, and closure of
Dale's Superette and
50's Cafe, and I
been wondering when another hamburger joint would open in Marietta. Well, last
week it happened. Its Donna's Cafe (580-276-3880) and its right on Highway 77
just a block north of Main Street in Marietta. I stopped in this week and
bought their large burger and let me tell you, owners Donna and Roy Howell make
a mean burger. And no ordinary run of the mill burger, but one made from ground
chuck! With the first bite you can taste the meat. And you sure won't be asking
"where's the beef" because these are thick meat patties. First, here's the
outside view of Donna's Cafe.
Outside View
Here's an inside view with
employees Becky
on the right and Willma on the left.
Inside View
And now what you all been waiting to see, that
great tasting home style burger
Donna's Burger
Next time we're down that way I'll try Donna's
small burger at $1.75 and post it on here! But I did over hear some Marietta old
timers bragging about Donna's great breakfast too, so if its still early, we'll
try that. Whichever the case, I'm sure the meal will be good!
Chuck Stallcup has made a big dent in building the overlay for
Google Earth with
locations of old schools in Carter county. If you know of any old school house
from bygone days in Carter county, send him an email at [email protected]
A T&T reader told me several weeks ago about a great place to
get a hamburger in Velma, Oklahoma. Last week I was driving by Velma, so I
pulled off Highway 7 and drove around Velma. I had never drove out Velma, even
though I been by the town many times. I was surprised just how many people, and
homes and schools and stores were in this little community. But look as I did, I never
saw one sign that mentioned hamburgers, or cafe, so I gave up and left.
But I did see a new
eating place called the Chuck Wagon (580-444-2729) on Highway 7 at the west edge of Velma.
That place was packed at noon, so I can imagine the good tasting BBQ that awaits
the person who stops in. Might have to do that soon. Makes me think back
to the 80s when we had a Chuck Wagon here in Ardmore... great bbq.
Talk about being packed, Jill and I drove by Bill's Catfish
(580-228-2372) on
Highway 79 three miles west and then south from Waurika, OK at the Red River. It was
about 7pm on a Tuesday night and that place was packed with vehicles out front. I
haven't eaten there since the 70s when I'd stop on the way back from Sheppard
Air Force Base where I took patients who had military medical benefits. Another
place we'll have to try someday.
At the southeast edge of Lawton by I-44 is a hamburger place
called Leo and Ken's Truck Stop and Restaurant that's been serving hamburgers
since 1950. When I was in Lawton to pick up Jill from the plane, I tried one of their old fashion burgers. It was a good hamburger,
but kinda over priced at $4.10 for just the burger. Ouch. For $5.10
one could get the burger
and fries or onion rings. So I added the onion rings.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/LeoKenRestaurantLawton.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/LeoKenBurgerLawton.jpg
I received an old fashion letter in the mail this week, you
know the kind made of paper with a 39 cent stamp on it (remember when we used to
send those?). It was from Tom Arnold
of Tulsa (his family owned Arnold's Monuments on C Street SE for many years) and
in the envelope was an interesting newspaper clipping from the Tulsa World dated
Feb 14, 2007. The article (and pic of bell), talks about an old bell that used
to be at Kendall Hall at the University of Tulsa since 1911. Then it went silent
for about 14 years back around 1943 when it was taken down and moved, to what
some think is now the bell at Kendall
Hall. But no one knows for sure if this is
the same 1,500 lb bell from 1911 or not. One man thinks the original bell is at
Bayless Plaza there at the Tulsa
University. Anyway, some very interesting
history. Thanks Tom. And maybe Tom can find a picture of the old Craddock
and Arnold Monument place and let everyone see it. It's gone now, just a vacant
lot.
..... and now the rest of the story from my "bell expert "
Carl in St Louis, Missouri:
"Interesting argument (in the above clipping about the bell)!
The bell in the photo is obviously NOT the original "1,500 pound" bell. I
suspect it doesn't weigh more than a couple of hundred pounds, and probably
less. The C.S. Bell
Company. did make bells as large as 1500#, but they were a LOT
bigger. As to the "TU" bell at Oliphant
Hall, that's not the original, either. I
saw it years ago, when my son was attending TU, and I know it was made of
bronze. I don't know who made it, but I suspect that it was not one of the
well-known bell foundries, because it has a rather odd shape. I've always
wanted to know the story behind it; but certainly this is not THAT story! Thanks
for sending the article!" -Carl
MAILBAG
"Mr. Bridges, I host a non-profit research/resource website
focused on the FAA's age 60 rule. I occasionally get a query as to the status
and qualifications of the flight crew on the American Flyers crash at Ardmore,
OK on 22 April, 1966. The available records indicate that the pilot (captain)
suffered a heart attack in flight, thus it was the co-pilot who made the
approach and landing. Can you confirm that this is correct, and speak to the
qualifications and standing of the co-pilot that was flying at the time of the
accident. I intend no disrespect to either pilot. Only clarification as
to their flight status and qualifications at that time. Thank you." -Samuel D.
Woolsey [email protected]
http://www.age60rule.com
"I just stumbled onto your site
while I was searching for information on Jo-o-Kay and I saw your Oct 2004
messages on the subject. I grew up with Jo-o-Kay. My father, grandfather, and
uncle were wholesale representatives and between them their territories covered
most of the mid-west. My father traveled MT, ND, SD, NB through almost all of
the 70’s; his father covered CO, WY, AZ, UT from the ‘50’s to about 1980; and
Dad’s brother spent a couple years covering KS, IO, MO, AR. I was young at the
time, but everything in my world was about leather, Jo-o-Kay, Corral Sportwear,
Tandy, and related companies. I cut my teeth on a leather key wallet, grew up
carrying leather purses and wearing leather coats, and never really appreciated
or understood it. Because of the information I found in your newsletter, I was
able to learn much about my grandfather's career and figure out exactly what he
did before I was born and while I was too young to really be aware. Thank you so
much for the information that lead me to a greater understanding of my late
grandfather."
From the 2004 T&T:
"About Jo-o-Kay leather goods.
My dad was owner of Western Supply Company here in Ardmore, home of Clifton's
hand tooled leather goods, and he was instrumental in getting John and
Katherine (Kay) Simpler to move to Ardmore......back in the 1950's I think. I
always enjoyed playing with their three sons, John, Ronnie, and Steven almost
every Saturday night when our parents "cooked out" together. Dad's plant
manufactured the hand tooled purses, belts, billfolds, etc. and he helped John
start the suede leather coats business. Because John and Katherine were the
owners, they decided to name the company after them, Jo-Kay........HOWEVER,
according to their son Steve who lives here in Ardmore, the Jockey (underwear)
company thought the name was too close to theirs, and said if they would put
the extra "o" in the middle and make it Jo-o-Kay, that THEY would even pay for
their trademark. So John and Katherine agreed, and that solves your mystery. By
the way, Katherine is still alive and lives with Steve and his wife on their
ranch east of Ardmore." -Carol Jean Wood Thomason
"In last week's T&T I
enjoyed John Gow's description of the Rock Island line into Ardmore that
branched off the RI's east-west main line from Memphis to Amarillo. Mr. Gow
stated it was Wilburton, but according to a January 1910 Official Guide of
the Railways it was Haileyville, OK which was 17.6 rail miles west of
Wilburton. The line came thru Tishomingo, and Mannsville and was 117.6
miles long. There was one scheduled passenger train, No. 651 down and No.
652 back to Haileyville. It departed Haileyville at 8:05 AM and arrived in
Ardmore at 1:15 PM taking 5 hours and 10 minutes! Average speed was 23
MPH!!! No. 652's return trip back to Haileyville took slightly longer, 5
hours and 20 minutes at an average speed 22.6 MPH. South of McAlester it
crossed Highway 69 on an overpass and I recall at this location two large
stone piers on each side of the highway in the 1950s. I'll bet some of the
T&T readers will also recall them." -H E Huber, Plano TX
"Hi Butch, When I came to Ardmore in January of 1971, to begin a
career with the US Postal Service I often carried the downtown route those first
few years. I particularly remember delivering mail in the Ardmoreite Bldg, and
riding the elevator up to the forth and fifth floor. There was a lady who
operated the elevator manually, every place else in town had the newer elevators
that didn't require an operator. What I remember about this lady she was
probably at least in her fifties maybe older, she had long red hair which was
done up in a style that was popular in World War 2. In fact she dressed in a
manner which was very reminiscent of the 1940's. I rode this elevator countless
times during the 70's and it seems that she operated this elevator well into the
80's. Does anyone remember this lady? When did she retire and what was her
name? I spoke to her every time I rode the elevator she was one of those
characters you got used to seeing and associating with the down town area. The
fact that she maintained a 1940's dress code all those years made her stand out,
and even though the WW 2 era was before my time I have always liked the era and
the fashions from that era." -Mike Jones
"John Gow here again. You also asked about the rail line to Ringling.
It was built in 1913 by John Ringling, of Ringling Bros. Circus fame. Its
official name was the Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Pacific Railroad (almost every
railroad name west of the Mississippi ended with "and Pacific" to show it had
lofty goals of reaching the west coast, though most never came close),
though locally it was always called the Ringling Railroad. An interesting and
long-lived myth grew up around the line. I heard it when I was a kid in Ardmore
40 years ago, and it's still circulating, and that was John Ringling built the
road to have rail access to a new "winter camp" for the circus, at Ringling,
Oklahoma. In fact the line was built purely as a transportation business
venture, with the original plans calling for building a line west from Ardmore
through Waurika to Lawton. It would connect with other railroads in both Waurika
and Lawton and mainly serve the agricultural market of southern Oklahoma.
Grading of the line began in May 1913, and track started being laid west from
Ardmore at the beginning of August. However, a mere 6 days after track-laying
began the Healdton oil field was discovered. This changed everything. By pure
luck the railroads owners were sitting on a new and unexpected source of
tremendous profit, just 28 miles west of Ardmore. The plans to continue west to
Lawton were shelved. The line was soon so busy the rail sidings on the Santa Fe
for 50 miles north and south of Ardmore were full of cars waiting to get onto
this line.
Interestingly, the current town of Healdton is not the original Healdton. There
was a town by that name close to the oil fields, but the railroad wanted a
slightly different location to serve the oil fields and also wanted to employ a
common money-making scheme used by railroads at the time. The railroad located
its town about 1 mile west of Healdton, and named it New Healdton. It was
obvious that all the business of serving and supplying the oil field would flow
through New Healdton, as well as the money to be made serving the field workers:
they were going to need food, shelter, clothes, supplies of all kinds. The
people of Healdton saw which way the wind was blowing and bought land lots in
New Healdton which the railroad conveniently had for sale, and moved to the new
site. After only a few weeks the Post Office declared the town would change its
name from New
Healdton to just Healdton, and that is the town we know today.
The line was leased in 1925 to the Santa Fe railroad, the main railroad in
Ardmore. It bought the line in about 1927. For reasons I have not yet been able
to discover the Santa Fe moved the original location of the Ringling Road in
Ardmore farther south, where the last remnant of it still exists today crossing
over Washington Ave on steel trestles as the street curves under it on its way
to Hardy Murphy Coliseum. The original site of the Ringling Road was on
Washington Ave and 3rd Street, where the old high school is, close to downtown.
Ringling's Ardmore depot still stands at this
site and has been an American Legion Post for decades. Stand back and look at
this building and you can see immediately by the architecture that it's a
railroad depot, and a very handsome one, very late 19th/early 20th century
style. And at the top of the depot on the side facing Washington Ave is a
concrete casting that says "Ringling Road". So Ardmore has the distinction of
having 2 large railroad depots, the Santa Fe depot and the Ringling depot, when
many towns its size have none.
The tracks left Ardmore by going west from this depot (you could see the hump in
the road on A street, B street, C street, etc where the rails crossed the street
when I was a kid. Perhaps you still can), eventually following Grand Ave. There
was apparently a large servicing facility (like a
steam locomotive roundhouse, etc) where the Ardmore Mall is today. The line
produced less and less oil over the years and was finally abandoned west of the
Uniroyal Tire Plant in I believe the late 1970s."
Wilson Has Fire Scare
March 25, 1915
Last Monday fire was discovered in the upper
story of the Frick-Reid Supply Co.'s building here. Mr. Rogers of the
National Supply Co., was one of the first to see the fire and he at once
took the National's chemical hand apparatus and commenced a valiant fight
against the flames. He was soon joined by several others with small
chemical fire fighting devices, and later by a bucket brigade, and the fire
was subdued with a loss of a few hundred dollars in damage to building and
supplies that were carried in the upper floor rooms. The volunteer fire
fighters are entitled to a great deal of credit for their prompt action and
zeal. Mr. Edwards of Edwards Bros. climbed to the top of the railroad water
tank and started a brigade of about 50 buckets, which were of inestimable
service in fighting the fire. The chemicals kept the fire back until the
bucket brigade got into full swing, and thus a big conflagration was
avoided. It is supposed the fire was caused by explosion or over-heating of
an oil stove in one of the bedrooms upstairs. Contributor's note: The
Frick-Reid Supply Co. was located SW of the railroad depot. -Mindy Taylor
"Butch, I am a bit slow in getting
these pictures to you, but these were taken from my front porch (the icicles)
and from my back deck. One of the icicles grew to 31 inches long. Really was
lovely and I could enjoy it as I didn't have to get out in it." -Joh in Sulphur
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/SulphurIce07a.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/SulphurIce07b.jpg
"Butch, reference Plat School
District 1909 (Plainview School):
"Laid Out and Organized" and "Approved March 1909 Ardmore,
Oklahoma" DESCRIPTIVE BOUNDARY AND OFFICIAL RECORD OF SCHOOL DISTRICT
NO. 27. BEGINNING AT SOUTH CENTER
LINE OF SEC.5, 5 SOUTH, I EAST, ETC, ETC, ETC (continues till it
completes it full legal description) FOLLOWED BY: original
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS- T.J. Heron, Director
J.A. Zellner, Clerk Arthur Lynch, Member. There
is a picture [pg. 149] of the original school and Mr. O.C.
Reynolds, Superintendent - Next page [150] is a picture
of the 3 school board members followed next page by picture of the
Teacherage and a 2 page description of the school and its geographic
location etc.- There are several pages that follow which show the
students and their teachers but you must remember that these follow up
pictures are peculiar to the 1923 era (not the 1909 period) I think it
is clearly revealed that the school will be 100 years old in March 2009.
Incidentally my daughter-in-law (Valerie Jo Martin) is one of their
excellent teachers at this time. All of the above info came from the
1923 Kate Galt Zaneis school book" -Ernest Martin
Note: Here is a picture of the old
Plainview school. I noticed it has a bell on the front and it was
rung from the second floor. -bb
http://news.webshots.com/photo/1016571394029536729exRYipUotS
A caravan of cop cars and trailers traveled
through
Lawton
,
Oklahoma
on
Thursday February 15, 2007
. Little did onlookers know that
morning, a bus with a design team led by Ty
Pennington was already in town. A
family in Lawton, Oklahoma
was indeed chosen by Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to receive a newly built
house to meet their needs. For more
information you can peruse through www.kswo.com
and www.extremeok.com.
The
Moore
family went to the area to see the excitement on Tuesday February 20.
After catching a shuttle bus from a nearby parking lot and walking a
couple of blocks, we reached the site only to be baffled by the amount of effort
poured into this daunting task. They
really do build a house in less than a week!
As luck would have it, the famous Ty Pennington was in
Arkansas
that day. However, we did get to
see the governor of
Oklahoma
as he walked out of the house. We
also got to see Tracy
Huston of the design team, the brunette at the end of our photo montage
(formerly the blonde). Following
are a few photos from behind the fence in the spectator area.
Enjoy!!!
Today is the big REVEAL
Day. This is in a very small
neighborhood and it will be very hard to get into so I guess we will watch it on
TV. We have heard the show will air
on
15 April 2007
, but that is not a sure thing. The
demolition took place last Saturday and the keys were turned over last night to
the design team. They really can
tear down and build a house in a week or less.
Oh, and by the way,
the new Miss
America
, Lauren Nelson, is
from
Lawton,
Oklahoma
also. -Robert Moore and Family
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ExtMakeoverLawton7a.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ExtMakeoverLawton7b.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ExtMakeoverLawton7c.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ExtMakeoverLawton7d.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ExtMakeoverLawton7e.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ExtMakeoverLawton7f.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ExtMakeoverLawton7g.jpg
CONFUSING WEATHER
by Joh Gainey in Sulphur
Spring was great, if just for a day,
Between the shivers and ice,
And everyone was saying
"Isn't the weather nice?"
But when I stepped out
in this morning's dawn,
Thinking to greet the day,
My bones were chilled
By a blast of wind
From up the North Pole way.
Now, I don't mind the wintertime.
I understand the need
To allow a dormant bit of rest
For each little daisy seed.
But couldn't it be consistent
After the trees are bare,
So when you get up each morning
You will know what you need to wear?
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Nashobish Ikana
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
