If you’re looking for a certain article I wrote in a past issue of “This & That” you might find it faster by doing a “search” with your browser. With Netscape just click your mouse at the top at EDIT and then FIND and type in the word or words you’re looking for. If you use Internet Explorer, just click on EDIT and then FIND ON THIS PAGE to do a search.Below is January 4, 2003 to February 22, 2003.
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Saturday February 22, 2003 T&T Weekly Vol 7 Issue 305
I was over at Tishomingo and surrounding area last week, so I had to stop by and see the Pennington Creek Dam on the north edge of Tishomingo. To get to the dam go north on Ward Street off of Main Street a couple of blocks to its dead end. Ward Street runs along the east side of Pennington Creek. On this particular Saturday the water was really flowing, in fact, the whole area must have received some good rains lately. All the creeks full and the pastures were so soaked, I’m sure the ranchers and farmers have a hard time getting into the fields in many places. Here is a pic I took of the Pennington Creek Dam in Tishomingo on February 15th. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/tishdam03a.jpg
I’ve received some emails in the past asking what is that little concrete building at the east end of the dam. It was an old pump station. There is still a non working electric pump and some piping in the building. Here is an inside look at the building and all its grafitti. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/tishdam03b.jpg
I stopped by the Chickasaw Museum in Tish on the east side of the old courthouse and found it closed. But I did find two bronze plaques in front of the museum that caught my attention. One is dedicated to Te Ata the Chickasaw storyteller. She lived to be nearly 100 years old, and her ashes were mixed with flower seeds and scattered along the banks of Pennington Creek. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/teata.jpg
The other bronze plaque in front of the Chickasaw Museum is dedicated to Euel “Monk” Moore. Monk was a major league baseball player in the 30s. After leaving the major leagues in 1939 and a stint in the Army, Monk moved back to his birthplace Tishomingo with his wife Gwen. Monk served as a State Game Ranger for 27 years. Monk died February 12, 1989. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/monkmoore.jpg
Here is a photo of the Chickasaw Museum in Tishomingo. I see in the photo that old bell is still mounted on the north side of the building. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/chickmuseum2.jpg
The old 1898 Chickasaw Nation capital building is next to the museum. Magnificent building! https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/chickcap03.jpg
This is a pic I took of the Johnston County Courthouse in Tishomingo. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/tishcourt3.jpg
I noticed a lot of construction work going on behind the courthouse. Only steel girders are in place right now. Does any Reader know what is being built behind the Johnston County courthouse? https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/tishwork2.jpg
West of the courthouse I found a new mural on the wall of a building on Main Street. Maybe someone knows who painted this nural that depicts some of Tishomingo’s history. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/tishmural2.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/tishmural3.jpg
Speaking of murals, we have a couple on the side of buildings here in Ardmore but the weather has taken its toll on them. Maybe someone will re-do them, or paint new ones. I would like to see some of the old signs restored on buildings in downtown Ardmore. There is one behind Cooks Paints at Hinkle and South Washington that would make a nice restoration project. The sign is on the back west side of the old B.L Owens Furniture store. I spent the first 21 years of my life living at the Carmon Lumber yard in the 50s and 60s. So I know what a 16 penny nail is, or a 3 1/4 inch carriage bolt looks like, or I can put an eye to a 1×4 to see if its straight. And you know, I’m still pretty salty when it comes to using a paint brush and a gallon of paint. Maybe someone will volunteer to help me paint the old B.L. Owens sign some Saturday. I might even ask my friends Todd and his dad at Cooks Paints right next door to the old B.L. Owens sign if they might furnish the paint. The restoration could include the date B.L. Owens started business. I’m not sure the exact date, but it started around 1925. Here is a photo of the old B.L. Owens sign. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/owenswall.jpg
Last weekend all of you who have msn.com email accounts probably didn’t get your T&T. Seems the msn.com mail Server was down when I sent out my T&Ts. Some of you emailed me asking to resend. If you don’t get your T&T for whatever reason, let me know and I’ll gladly resend it.
Our little group has sure been taking advantage of WorldxChange’s great long distance rates, including their low international rates. This month there’s been calls to India, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, and England. That don’t count over 8,000 minutes the past 22 days made all over the U.S. by our group! When you have a good thing, word gets around. I’m reminded of that old saying, “If you build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door.” That’s exactly what is happening here with our group saving money on their long distance calls! Check out all their great rates at… http://www.worldxchange.com/agent/228072
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK’S MAILBAG
“The bridge wasn’t removed. It burned. I never fished under that bridge. I went to a late night campfire/cookout near the bridge when I was dating my husband. His entire softball team had a cookout there. It is a place where kids meet to party. In the Nocona/Spanish Fort/Prairie Valley area as far back as I can remember, the bridge has been called “The Old Burned-Out Bridge”. The very ends of the bridge existed on both sides of the river for as long as I can remember. It seems that I heard a rumor in the last few years that the ends have now been taken down.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/airlinebridge2.jpg
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“Butch I remember a bridge that looked like the one in the picture that I think was south of Oscar it was still there in the late 40’s or early 50’s all the floor wasn’t in it, you couldn’t drive across at that time but you could walk across it.”
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“The menu ordering thingy” used at Ponder’s Super Dog Drive-In on Commerce is called an ORDERMATIC. They were installed in the late 1950s. If you would like to see one along with other Super Dog memorabilia, go to Ponder’s Restaurant on I-35 exit 33, Veterans Blvd, Ardmore. To tjenkin6@tampabay.rr.com – the very best chicken fried steak is served at Ponder’s Restaurant. It is an 8 oz steak, served with potatoes of your choice, soup or salad, a hot roll or Texas toast and of course lots of cream gravy. Hope to see you there during your Healdton High School reunion. -Joe Ben, Frances and Pat Ponder (our daughter who is now manager).”
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“Does anyone remember the GLOBE theater and Confectionery on main street in Ardmore, Ok. I’d like to read something about it.”
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“Pig Latin was commonly used and understood when I was growing up in the 1930s and 1940s in Perry, Oklahoma. It also showed up in books for or about teenagers, in movies, and on radio programs. It would be an unusual teacher or other adult then that did not know what it was…some of them could speak it better than the kids.” ————————————————————————
“Hi Butch, The last couple T&Ts as usual brought back memories. I was just a tadpole’s tail at the beginning of 40’s, but old enough to remember my family trying to move back to Ardmore from Pampa, Texas. My dad bought an old Buick sedan, packed everyone and everything, and headed back. I don’t know how far we got, but the right rear tire (sometime the left) blew out. They would patch it, pump it up and manage to get a little further. A lot of times we would go back to find the boot. (Know what that is?) Somehow we managed to get to Wynnewood, Ok., daddy’s sister came from Ardmore to get us, and the Buick went to a junk dealer. In the last issue someone wrote about ‘dragging main’ and being pulled over. I remember two times being pulled over in Ardmore. For a different activity, I started following a police car. I was a ways back, but keeping him in sight. He also had me in sight because it wasn’t too long until he wanted to know what I was up to. The second time involved our favorite pastime, “Dragging Main.” That was the only time I’ve ever been stopped for going too slow! What memories!”
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“That Frasers chili is still the best ever. Thanks so much for giving Tobe Bice credit as he was one of the sweetest, kindest men ever known. The chili was made in immense black iron pots that sat on gas burners and was constantly stirred by a longtime employee John Nails, who was a Freedman (sp). It was delivered to restaurants and grocery stores within a 100 mile radius of Ardmore.”
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“Fraser Meat market was one I remember. My Dad always went there to buy meat for his Brick Chili (the same recipe that Hunts Gro. sold) and I would go with him. I am a cheese lover and they had a big round brick of Cheese on the counter (Daddy called it rat cheese) and the butcher would slice off a piece and give it to me. If Daddy wanted really good steaks we went to Frasers. I always went especially for the cheese. I often wish markets were still like that.”
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“I’m sure you’ve had many theories from people as to why the onion burgers at Hamburger Inn used to be so good. My theory is that they cooked the onions on the same griddle where they fried bacon. EVERYTHING is better with bacon!!”
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“Hi, Butch your doing a great job, enjoy the T&T weekly very much. I would like to make a quick comment about Lincoln School. There was an alley that went North along the west side of the school where a little candy store was located. I am speaking about the the period between 1943 thru 1947. We would spend our nickel for a bag of candy to eat on the way home from school. I lived on C st. S.W. and always spent a great deal of time at the rail road turn table which was located about where the south west water tower is now. It was really something if you were lucky enough to watch the workers turn the engine around to head it back up the tracks.”
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“Good Morning Butch: As always, your news letter is most interesting, and makes me miss OK even more. I am searching for “old” book 1927 and earlier on the history of OK. If anyone can provide the books, or information where I might purchase one or two; I would be most grateful. Thanks.” -Ruth Adams http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ok/county/atoka/index.html
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“Hello Butch! Someone wanted you to visit Dougherty. I lived there in the late 1920’s, Depression times. Most of the men in town worked at the Crusher. I believe the rock was blasted from the side of the mountain, the men loaded it by shovel full into machines that crushed the rock. Btw Dougherty and the Crusher there was a creek, Rock Creek. When the creek was up no one could cross. So the men couldn’t get to work. I was 5 or 6 years old so I don’t remember many details. But I know my father, who was the town barber, was instrumental in getting a bridge built across the creek. I do remember celebrating the bridge opening. The whole town came under the bridge (the creek was nearly dry that day) Ladies brought cakes and Lloyd Samples who owned the General Store furnished free ice cream for everyone.”
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“Butch. I would like to tell Edgar Wallace what I think went with the Jack Rabbits of Oklahoma as well as the Swamp Rabbits. lol lol During and after the depression we ate them. lol lol No, really, that was a source of meat as was squirrels, but we sure didn’t thin out the squirrels, Shawnee seems to be over run with them.” -NellsN2@aol.com
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“My husband just told me that he attended Lincoln Elementary in Ardmore from 1st grade to 4th grade. The tiny store was on the west side across Scott street. People thought it was an alley because the City didn’t open it up. Thanks for the good history lessons. He said that South of the school was a tunnel under Stanley Street so that the kids wouldn’t have to cross the street to get to the other side, and he remembers steps going down to the tunnel.”
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“Butch, Do you know anything about AD Chase WagonYard, Ardmore, IT? We found this a few years ago. It is about 1 1/2 by 2 inches. Brass. And has a #67 on it.”
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“I was wondering if you or anyone might remember some sort of “fun” place that had trampolines there to jump on. My memory is quite limited about this but it seems they were at ground level with pits underneath them. I think it may have been somewhere near where the old drive-in theater was east of town. Maybe I just dreamed it! Thanks for your great ezine.”
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“I asked if anyone remembered the Globe theater or the Globe confectionery on main street of Ardmore, OK? Also does anyone remember a little cafe in Wilson, OK back in the 1950’s. It was located on a side street across from Dr. Rector office? Would like to read about memories people have of Wilson, OK back in the 1950’s. How about the Barker’s nursing home there in Wilson does anyone remember it?”
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“Butch, I am very interested in finding a 1985 Madill High School Yearbook. Would it be possible to ask your readers if they might like to sell one or if they know where I might get one?” paula@jrmints.com
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“Hi Butch, Hey, we sure missed your T&T Newsletter out here in Nevada this past Friday night. Guess something got fouled up and we failed to get our favorite paper. I wrote to a cousin out in Western Oklahoma and she forwarded a copy to me, but, I sure don’t want to miss another one if I can help it. You always manage to put a smile on our faces when we open up your letter and find some familiar names and places that someone has written about. You might call it a “taste of home!” Be sure and remember me next weekend, please.”
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“Was glad to see the mention of Ms Tucker from Davis (1949 Rodeo Queen) she and Rudy did a lot for rodeos in our area for a good many years.”
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“Went for a drive to Tooele County (too-ill-a) just to the West of Salt Lake City on the other side of the Oquirrh (Oker) mountain range. As we drove down through the small town of Vernon (about 85 miles SW of Salt Lake City) we noticed a bell on top of the Vernon School so we took a few pictures just for you. Hope you enjoy the pictures from the high country.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/vernonutah.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/vernonutah2.jpg
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“I just happened onto your newsletter and would like to subscribe. My great-great grandmother died in Springer, OK in 1896 and is buried there. I visited there in 2001, and have been searching for information about the Rev. William C. Sparks family and when they made the move from Texas into Carter county. I’d love to hear some early information about that area when it was a part of the Chickasaw Nation. Hope maybe someone else knows a little more about it than I do.” judygibson00@hotmail.com
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“I just put some photos from Ardmore up on my website at: http://users.lmi.net/tyr/kathrynbyrne/ It turns out that my great-grandmother took a whole bunch of photos from Ardmore with her to California in the 1930’s, and consequently, I’ve inherited a bunch of photos (most of which have people who I can’t identify!). Anyway, as I get some free time, I plan to scan some more, and maybe someday make a nice website of them!” -tyr@lmi.net
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“Butch, I am looking for information about railroad facilities in Ardmore. I am trying to find out about locomotive facilities in Ardmore that the Santa Fe (GC&SF) had. In particular fueling facilities, water tanks, location where locomotives might have been parked overnight, where the Ringling branch locomotive was kept, were there switch engines used on the Santa Fe and where were they serviced. I found the following Rock Island facilities: Rock Island listed facilities in 1910 – Ardmore at the end of 117 mile branch. Brick 4 stall roundhouse – stalls 77′ 3” long. 70′ steel turntable. Coal shoveled from cars into tenders 80,000 gal water tank. Passenger depot joint with GC&SF and StL&SF and CRI&P owned joint GC&SF and CRI&P. Freight depot owned by CRI&P – operated joint with StL&SF. Any information and or any photos would be helpful.” -jbmnem@mindspring.com
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“Hi Butch, The two attached photos are from a book, “Cloud Chief”, by Doyle Penn, which I borrowed from Mrs. Pauline Whitford (nee Rainbolt) who was born in Cloud Chief, Okla. And these were the good old days??? Thought your Okla. history buffs would enjoy.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cloudchief1.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cloudchief2.jpg
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================================================‘Courtesy the Red, White and Blue’
Sung by Toby Keith who was born in Clinton, Oklahoma in 1961American girls and American guys
Will always stand up and salute
Will always recognize
When we see Old Glory flying
There’s a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our headMy Daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Till the day that he died
He wanted my Mother, my Brother,
My Sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the freeNow this nation that I love
Is falling under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flying in
From somewhere in the back
As soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man we lit up your world
Like the Fourth of JulyHey, Uncle Sam put your name
At the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly
And it’s going to be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringing her bell
And it will feel like the whole wide world
Is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy
Of the Red, White and BlueSee everyone next Saturday!
Butch Bridges
Lone Grove, Oklahoma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday February 15, 2003 T&T Weekly Vol 7 Issue 304
This week a Reader in Kansas brought me a fascinating piece of Ardmore history! I am still jumping for joy! The booklet was made in September 1949 and reads: “Madison Square Garden Championship Rodeo, Gene Autry in Person, Fair Park Ardmore Oklahoma, September 7, 8, 9, 10, 1949”. This booklet is 28 pages centered around the fair in 1949 at Fair Park, later known as Hardy Murphy Coliseum. Richard Simmons of Wilson was the President of the Carter County Free Fair in 1949. Bill Sparks of Ardmore was the Secretary/Treasurer. Other members were: Creede Speake of Milo, G.M. Cunningham of Ardmore, Alford Shores of Dillard, H.T. Smith of Ardmore, M.A. Thompson of Ardmore, John Preston Taylor of Woodford, and Finis Smalley of Ringling.
In 1949 Herman O. Hunt was Mayor of Ardmore, along with City Commissioners Iley E. Oxford, Fred Hicks, Joe W. Shinn and James A. Bevins, Jr. Other city officials were L.M. Thurston, City Clerk; N. Center, City Treasurer; J.B. Moore, City Attorney; Hubert E. Bartlett, Chief of Police; S.P. Matthews, City Engineer; Royce E. Coe, Fire Chief; Ancel Love, Water Superintendent, and Clarence Harris, City Manager.
The Kiwanis Club wanted a fair. They appointed Bill Sparks in 1948 as chairman of the committee to get the fair going again. 1948 was the first free fair after the completion of the Exposition Building (coliseum), the first free fair since 1939.
The Mulkey Hotel was being managed by Lawrence Hodgeon, and the Mulkey Coffee Shop was under the management of Harry McClennin. The Sports Club was sponsoring for Color Guard Miss Rosemary Colborn, and Miss Carolyn Colborn, both performing on their horses each night of the rodeo. Everett E. Colborn from Dublin, Texas was manager of the World’s Championship Rodeo, Gene Autry and Associates, producers of Madison Square Garden Rodeos.
On one page in the booklet are the pictures of the nine rodeo queens for 1949. They were Jimy Brady Alford, Ardmore; Lola Tucker, Davis, Oklahoma; Lorena Bartlett, Ardmore; Charlene Cobb, Marietta; Joan Ewing, Madill, Oklahoma; Dottie Cude, Ardmore; Jimmie Hill, Ardmore; Eugenia Woolard, Tishomingo; and Elizabeth Nichols of Sulphur, Oklahoma.
These 28 pages are full of photos and history of area businesses and businessmen, and it was all made available by a Reader in Kansas! It will take me a while to get all the pages scanned and burned to CDs but it will be worth it. I’ll let everyone know when this new history CD is available! https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/fairparkcover.jpg
Thomas McClure ‘Mack’ Fraser (1912-1986) was Carter County Commissioner for District 3 from 1959 to 1978. Before statehood the Fraser family home was located where the Carter County Courthouse parking lot is now. Mack’s father, David Stoddard Fraser, opened Fraser and Sons Grocery-Wholesale Meats at 419 East Main in 1918. About 1936 Mack’s father continued operation of the meat market at 501 East Main along with Mack and his other son Louis Edwin, known as ‘Mutt’. If there is one thing I will always remember Fraser’s Meat Market for, it will be their delicious chili. My mother wouldn’t buy any other brand. Jon Hargrave’s father-in-law, Edward G. Bice, was the person who taught Mack and Mutt how to make that famous chili. Mr. Bice was known by his friends as Tobe, but he will always be remembered as the man who shared with the Fraser boys the secret of how to make the most delicious chili in southern Oklahoma. I remember in the 60s Ernest Brown of the Hamburger Inn buying all his meat from Frasers. Mr. Brown knew if you wanted quality hamburger patties, you had to start with quality meat and Fraser’s was the only place to buy it. During Mack Fraser’s tenure in office he was instrumental in the formation of the Southern Oklahoma Ambulance Service in 1962, served on its board, and continually fought for funding of the ambulance service. Before Mack’s death in 1986, I transported him several times in the ambulance. Mack was a friend to many, especially the poor and the elderly, and he was a friend to me.
This is a photo of Thomas ‘Mack’ Fraser from his 1974 county commissioner campaign card. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/fraser74a.jpg
This is Mack’s campaign card and one thing I want to point out is that little logo under the words Carter County. That logo was used by printing companies like Sprekelmeyer back in those days to signify the printers were members of their Union, at least that is the way I understand it. Back in those days, if you didn’t have your campaign materials printed at a “union shop” you were already out on a limb and chances of being elected were slim. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/fraser74b.jpg
Here is a close-up of that union label. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/unionlabel.jpg
Carter County courthouse electricians and maintenance crews have been busy upgrading the electrical on the first floor the past few weeks. In the process, they notice how plain jane the light fixtures were around the rotunda. So they cleaned of the old white paint, and they were made of beautiful brass. I snapped some pics of before and after. They sure look nice. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lightfix3a.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lightfix3b.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lightfix3c.jpg
Ardmoreite Ray Gibson had an old photo of the Air-Line Bridge that existed years ago south of Wilson at the Red River. This bridge would take you on to Jo, Texas. We don’t know when this photo was taken, who the man is standing on top of the bridge, or when the bridge was removed. From looking at the map, this 700 ft bridge could have crossed the Red River at Courtney or Leon, Oklahoma. Maybe someone remembers this bridge??? https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/airlinebridge2.jpg
Thanks to everyone who sent me emails on help finding a contraption to hold my camera while I take pics of those large map pages. But you know what, I think I can just lay my tripod across a table, pointing the camera down at the floor, and snap the pics that way. I still need to do some fine tuning on the focus to get the best photo, but it sure looks promising. But a Reader in Madill bought a Camera Copy Stand at a garage sale, and has offered its service to me. I’m going to check that out too. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cs3copystand.jpg
I was thinking this week how some students in high school back in the 60s used pig latin to communicate between themselves. It was really funny, none of the teachers or adults understood it. As a matter of fact, neither did I. I am sure some of you learned the art of speaking pig latin. I did use my handy dandy pig latin translator to translate the first email in the Mailbag below for everyone’s amusement!
Carter County Clerk Cynthia Harmon found herself in a predicament this week. Some had a goat sent to her office and she had two choices. Either kiss the goat or give ten bucks to the March of Dimes campaign. You get two guesses which she did! https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cynthiagoat.jpg
I snapped a pic of what looked like a green pickup with what looked like the back end of it was broke down…. like the tail end was sitting flat on the pavement. But come to find out it was specially rigged with an air compressor, air tanks and all, so the back end could be raised up. The driver had parked along side the curb, let the air out of his truck, and so down it went. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/grntruck3a.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/grntruck3b.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/grntruck3c.jpg
I haven’t mentioned in a long time the good Oklahoma history reading at Dee Cordry’s Home Page. He has some great stuff on Oklahoma lawmen and hombres of the past. The Carter County Government Website passed a milestone last Tuesday. Over 100,000 Hits since its creation January 8, 1996. http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
A Reader in Texas reminded me that McAfee also has a free online virus scanner along with their other free removal tools. http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/freeservices.asp
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK’S MAILBAG
“Butch, in tonight’s TnT, somebody wrote about Maurice Bridge marrying a Mrs Murphy. Her name was Natalie and her first husband was Lowell Murphey. Her children were Don Murphey and Dolores Murphey.”
“Utchbay, inway onight’stay TnTAY, omebodysay otewray aboutway Auricemay Idgebray arryingmay away Mrsay Urphymay. Erhay amenay asway Atalienay andway erhay irstfay usbandhay asway Owelllay Urpheymay. Erhay ildrenchay ereway Onday Urpheymay andway Oloresday Urpheymay.” http://www.snowcrest.net/donnelly/piglatin.html
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“Butch just wanted to say how much I enjoy your newsletter. I hope you will take the gentlemen up on their invitation to go to Dougherty. Its a lovely little town. Driving into and out of Dougherty from Davis is a lovely drive. Several years ago my husband and I while visiting my parents in Davis, drove over there. We were driving slowly down one of their unpaved streets when we saw a movement at the side of the road. My husband slowed down our pickup and much to our surprise an old mother hen started out from the weeds , As we came to a complete stop we noticed following her was this brood of little chickens following her, across the road directly in front of our pickup. They seemed to be completely unaware that we had driven up on their morning walk. Now you take two city people from Dallas and you will know what a site that was to us. Sure wish I had had my camera. I believe that was the highlight of our weekend. Hope to see and hear more about Dougherty in the near future.” ————————————————————————
“Hi Butch, Great job, but sounds like you need to get yourself on up to Dougherty. And, the cookie factory has not closed, in fact they are in the process of expanding. The retail part did close though. Have a good weekend, and keep up the good work. We do enjoy it all.” Jerry Landrum aone@brightok.net
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“Butch, I have a question that perhaps some of your readers can answer. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR JACK RABBITS? I haven’t seen one in several years. I grew up in the Orr, Okla. community and traveling to Ringling or Waurika we would see many of them across those pastures. I now live in Abilene, Tex. and travel back to Ardmore quite often and as we drive across these large prairies not a jack rabbit is to be seen. I see lots of cottontail rabbits, in fact, two have decided that our back yard is their home. I have some ideas about the vanished animals but it is just my opinion. I thought perhaps someone could come up with a more scientific answer. Thanks.” -Edgar Wallace
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“Just to let everyone know….the cookie factory in Marietta is NOT closed down. It is called Bake-Line. They just don’t have a shop on site that is open to the public. Sorry to say no more broken cookies for sale.”
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“Butch my grandfather Thomas King Pursley along with his father, Joel Thomas Pursley, and his grandfather, James Guion Pursley & families moved to Dougherty in 1886 from TX. The deaths of my grandfather’s mother, Nancy Ann (Kirkpatrick) Pursley and grandfather, James G. in 1892 & 1893 caused the family to move shortly thereafter. They are buried in the Dougherty Cemetery. Other members of the family are also buried in this cemetery. I have wondered what might have caused their deaths. James G. had been a Confederate soldier from GA, and has a government marker at his gravesite. James G. had a License as a ‘Dealer in Groceries, Cigars & Tobacco’ for a store in Dougherty, Indian Territory, OK. Joel T. was what we would have called a ‘trucker’ today, using a wagon and mules to carry supplies in and out of Dougherty. Joel T. was a Charter member of the Dougherty Masonic Lodge, which was the first in Indian Territory and before statehood in 1907. This lodge was probably still #1 before 1909 when it consolidated. The Masonic Lodge in Guthrie later showed it as Lodge #33. Nancy belonged to Chapter #13 of Eastern Star in Dougherty, Indian Territory. I have registered these ancestors in the ‘First Families of the Twin Territories’, an OK Genealogical Society project.” -Juanima McFarland
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“The tiger is a work if art by Al Crawford, he retired from the Uniroyal plant and he is a very talented individual. He did the tiger at East Central. You give him a call and go check out his artwork, he would be more than happy to show you around. The last time I talked to him he was working on a stagecoach replica exactly as they were done back in the western days.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lgtiger3.jpg
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“Hi Butch, I just read your newsletter and found this lovely poem by Sylvia Moore from Ardmore. Can you please direct her to The Southern Oklahoma Writers’ Guild. We invite writers to join us. All forms of writing are explored. We meet on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month at the Ardmore Public Library. Our S.O.W.G. information website address is; http://luharper.homestead.com/WRITESITE.html
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“Hi Butch, I just read this weeks T&T and enjoyed the story about Hoss and Gerald Cobb. What was not told was that this was a Press conference for Hoss and Ben. Waco Turner got mad about something and locked himself in the whiskey vault so nobody could get any liquor but him. So Hoss jumped in the Corvette he was driving (the chevrolet was Bonanza’s they always furnish him one where ever he was) and ran to Marietta and loaded it up with Whiskey and took it back to Turner Lodge so the party could continue. This was told to me by someone who was there.”
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“Butch, what did they put on those fried onion burgers to make them so good?” MUSTARD!!!”
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“I have a clipping of Dr. Godfrey in moms stuff somewhere. He was my doctor too. And the calendar…..where did it come from? That was funny. I had to look a bit to figure it out. I got smart and started counting and saw it skipped 19. But I’m still not convinced your not crazy! hahaha ” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/jan2003.jpg
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“Butch: I have to comment on three items in your last T&T. First, if you know someone with an old style B&W photo enlarger it may serve your copying purpose. Most of them have a vertical tube with a counter-balance attached to a 2’x3′ wood base and a knob with a threaded shaft to remove the enlarger housing. The threaded shaft fits the tripod adapter on most cameras. You can move the camera up or down to adjust to whatever height you need parallel to the wood base. Second, I was interested in the photos of the 1915 explosion. I collect photos and pictures of the old steam locomotives. I printed a copy of No. 1952. I’ve occasionally read about the “great explosion of 1915” in T&T, but have no idea what caused it. Do you know? Third, your story of the “stringy hair blonde” brat at the post office reminded me of a similar incident that happened to me about ten years ago. I had put gasoline in my truck at a discount gas station where you go to a security glassed cage to pay the attendant. When I took the money from my billfold I dropped a $1 bill onto the floor. A scraggly looking blonde guy about 20 years old put his foot on the dollar bill. I thought he was going to pick it up for me (a 65 year old man) and hand it to me. Instead he put it in his pocket. I said, “Hey, that is my dollar bill” to which he replied, “Not anymore. Its mine now”. I said, “If you need it that bad keep it”. At my age I wasn’t going to take on a 20-year old guy. Too bad so many of our young people have so little respect for anything.”
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“I remember hurriedly scrounging at the Ardmore Public Library in March 1981 for photos of the Hardy Sanitarium. That was the day that Reagan was shot, and around 5 pm is when I found out the alleged gunman, John Hinkley, was born in Ardmore. I was not familiar with using the term “sanitarium” for “hospital”, and I wondered what people across the country would think when they heard Hinkley was born in a sanitarium. We sent the footage to CBS in New York, along with an early morning shot of the big SE water tower emblazoned with ARDMORE, but I don’t think the video was ever used.” -Kathy Conry
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“Butch, Those pictures of the 1915 explosion are a treasure. For what it is worth, a run through Photoshop made them even better.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15d.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15e.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15f.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15h.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15i.jpg
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“Butch, there is mention in this section of this weeks T&T that refers to a Mrs Goodnight, the teacher. There is also reference to an Elizabeth Goodnight that lived on Springdale Road. This Elizabeth Goodnight on Springdale Road was not a teacher and should not be confused with the Mrs Goodnight that taught in the Ardmore School systems for many years.”
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“In the 50’s my little brother and I used to ride the Jordan Bus Line from Healdton to Madill on Saturdays to see our grandparents. I remember one time a bus had lost control and had run out into field on the side of the road and our bus had to pick up the passengers. There was a one-armed man checking the situation out that I think worked for Jordan.”
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“Butch, Someone came in your house a took your 19th right off your calendar didn’t they?? You need to start locking your doors…. I have been hearing about those days snatcher for years…. You go about your daily life and then one day you look up and you just can’t seem to understand where the day went….LOL” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/jan2003.jpg
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Butch, Does anyone know around what year was that “Old Map of Love County” supposed to have been made??” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lovemap.jpg
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“Members of the Ardmore HIgh School Class of 1942 gathered for their 60th class reunion. Pictured are, from left: front row — Dixie Hefley Lovell, Virginia Phillips Sampson, Marion Robinson Fry, Margaret Spradlin Paschall, Elizabeth Jones Peard, Mary M. Mills Farris, Billie Grieder Jones, Odessa Argo Crosby, Bernice Chadwell Thomas, Betty Ruth Parish McClure, Cleta Burton Turner and Janie Alexander Chadwell; second row — Euna Lee Davis Jones, Truman Richardson, Mary Beth Lynch Payne, Bobbye Bennett Crane, Maxine Pinkard Gale, Frankie L. Mayo Pontius, Warren Wood, Guilda King Elliott and Mary Gene Wilson Jackson; third row — Betty Lou Patterson Dunlap and Helen Jo Fletcher Laughlin; and fourth row — George Gurley, J.D. (Don) White, Norman Harris, Don Cummings, Kenneth Lamb, John Thomas Spears, O.L. (Hobo) Gilstrap, Tim Berryhill and Bill Brady. Ardmore High School’s graduating class of 1942 met recently for their 60th reunion with 35 members attending from Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Together with their guests, the classmates enjoyed activities at Cafe Alley, Denney’s and Ponder’s restaurants. They remembered their 70 departed members, four of which died while serving the country.Graduates recalled this class was the first to graduate after World War II was declared in December of 1941 in President Franklin Roosevelt’s speech to the nation broadcast over the public address system to each class room. Members of the National Honor Society were assigned to the four elementary schools to help register each resident of Ardmore for ration stamps which would be required to purchase food, gasoline, tires and many other items which were in limited supply. Due to the shortage in materials, the cover for the Criterion yearbook was made from a burlap-type material. The class was told their cover would be the last made for any class for the “duration” (of the war). After graduation, boys went to war and the girls went to work to help do their part for the war effort. Through it all, they learned perseverance, to pray and have faith, to face problems head-on and to do without, when necessary, they said.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ahsclass42.jpg
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“Hi Butch. I think that tiger statue in Lone Grove is a creation of Al Crawford, local bronze sculpture. He actually made this as a commission for East Central University in Ada. The original tiger is located on their campus. The one in Lone Grove is a duplicate of this tiger.”
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“Butch: I’ve been meaning to mention this to you for sometime. Back in the ’50s, there was an “alleyway” that ran north-south on the west side of Lincoln school. The school addition obviously sits on top of that alley, now.Someone with a sharp sense of capitalism operated a “penny” candy store on the west side of that alley. We kids would stop there daily on our way home from school and spend every penny we had. The whole thing was probably no bigger than 200 square feet, and I think it was part of a larger structure which no longer exists. The alley was used for trash collection, etc., and of course we kids used it as a “shortcut” between Stanley and Bixby and the Lincoln schoolyard.
Also, earlier this year, when mentioning local grocery stores, I’m surprised no one brought up Thompson’s at the corner of McLish & Q SW. It served the residents of that part of town for many years.”
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“Greetings from Ohio. Hope I can pick up on a couple of items from last T&T and tie them together. Must have been a lot of “good folks” born at Hardy Sanitarium, including our son one week before Christmas in 1947. Our doctor was also Dr. Godfrey. Son still takes a little kidding about being born in a “sanitarium”. Some think that he must have a strange beginning as opposed to being in a hospital. Other tie in with last week- at time he was born I was also in “On the job training” at Goddard Flying Service, supposedly to be trained as Airport Manager. I also worked there while Heavy Broughton and Olin Dyer were “keeping them flying”. Never had heard the story of the nickname “heavy” so now 56 years later learned something new! Still hope! Also remember pilots Jack Chinn and “Smitty” . They finally talked me into flying after a long time of “pressure” on me. Not bad once I got up! Also saw Gene Autry one day at the airport- he sure needed a haircut, but don’t believe anyone dared to mention it! Thanks for all you do week after week! It is a special treat.” -B. Farrington
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“Hello, I am researching the MITCHELL line. Lewis Ely Mitchell wife Nellie Mae Prater Son’s: Joe, Bill & Lewis. Lewis Ely Mitchell had a half brother his name was Trotter Mitchell. Nellie Mae (Prater) Mitchell had a brother Will Prater. These Mitchells lived, farmed and ranched in the Carter and Love county area. Ardmore, Overbrook & Marietta, Oklahoma. Just any bit of information would be great.” bmontgomery001@charter.net
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“The JSC Manufacturing in Wilson, Oklahoma was founded by the O’Dell’s and has grown to be much more. They do casting in several metals in their foundry. The focus now is in Artist rendering of statues, small and big. For years their work was on the corner of Main Street and NE 1st Street. The area of old South Ward was purchased from the City of Wilson, where they are building a larger foundry there. This is a full block from Rotary Avenue to SW 1st Street and from Davis Street south to Edmond Street. The move will take time and more equipment is coming in to enlarge there abilities. Those around town have seen some of the wonder work there on NE 1st, especially the tiger they left outside for days. We all thrilled by that sight. Jim is enthusiastic on the new visions he has. More employees will be added and more possibilities for local artists to show their talents. The tiger was molded by Alan Crawford of Lone Grove. Jim Miller, of Wilson area, has done some western scenes. I am planning to visit with them and take pictures of some of their work for the newspaper. Jim also told us about Randy Hacker being a up coming artist. His has molded an Indian Man’s bust for casting. As Jim said, he has a progressive business and looks forward to having more artists doing fine art work. He hopes to welcome other better businesses here, knowing it will improve our town. When the art work is done he can give attention to the artists and let us know how well things are going for these projects.” -Candy Rockwood https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/jsctiger.jpg
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“Hi Butch, attached is a letter with information about a very worthwhile cause that I would like to share with your Readers. Our Carter County Courthouse team will be collecting $2 donations specifically for eligibility to win a pair of 20” hand-crafted Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls. The “Walk” is scheduled for Saturday, April 27, at Central Park in Ardmore. For any of you who would like to participate, there is a $10 entry fee. You will need to contact Denise in order to be registered as a walker. All proceeds must be turned in to the March of Dimes by Wednesday, April 23, 2003. Please tell your friends and family about this worthwhile cause and remember, no donation is too small.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/moddoll.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/modletter.html
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“Butch, you being from Ardmore and the Ardmore High kids thinking Sonic was the only place to go……..missed out on a really great experience. I bet lots of your Readers remember hanging out at the Super Dog! The Mitchell Brothers have or use to have the menu ordering thingy in their barber shop. You should get a picture of it for us. Boy, did they have the best chili-cheeseburgers in the world! And of course who didn’t love the Super Dogs! My parents worked evenings and to keep from being home alone I spent lots of time there. And the kids of today missed out on another great experience…..THE DRAG. Yeah, I know they had a drag but not like ours. We would go around the Sonic, across Commerce and around the Super Dog, back down Grand to G….then to Main and around by the Police Station on Hinkle, back up to Main….Turn Left*yeah, I said left….before the one-way street*back up Main and do it over again. And then there was the Chinese Fire Drill where you’d stop at the red light and everyone get out of the car and run around it….get back in before the light changed. It was crazy but so much fun. I wish I could live one night of that time over again but can’t go back forty years!!! I also remember with all that driving that we could get gas for 18 cents a gallon…Sounds cheap but the salaries were cheap too. My daddy didn’t like me putting all those miles on the car(we didn’t have our own cars back then until you got a job and bought your own…you drove the family car) so I would go by the gas station on G and Main. He would unhook my gas mileage meter at the beginning of the evening and then before he would close the station I’d stop by and he’d hook it back up. One night I didn’t make it back before he closed and I was in trouble….Daddy found out what I had been doing. Frank Stribling was another memory. He was a friend of my daddys and everytime I got out He’d pull me over. I thought him being constable (or whatever he was)….was the reason for that. My daddy was a County Jailer and knew there were some guys out there he didn’t want bothering me and Frank kept watch over his little girl for him. I guess I should have noticed that Frank didn’t pull everyone else over. I use to hate that guy until Daddy confessed that he was the reason he bugged me. And then there was the A&W on Lake Murray Drive. There is nothing like the real frosted mugs of root beer. On a hot summer day that really hit the spot. We didn’t have a soda shop hangout like “Happy Days” but we had just as good. And if you went to Dickson School everyone there went to Sullivans Cafe. Now Dickson is growing….they just put in another eating place!!! Sullivans use to have a monopoly on that but things change. We also had a great thing in August every year. The allnight singing south of town. There would be big busses with really good quartets and the singing went all night until the sun rose Sunday morning. One of the main things I remember there were the outdoor toilets with four or five holes lined up together. That was an experience I really didn’t enjoy.”
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“My wife got the picture of Dan Blocker and Loren Greene at the rodeo in late 50s or early 60s when they were here, she shook there hands. Also Dan Blocker was an English teacher. He fought in Korea with F Company 2nd Battalion 179th Infantry 45th Infantry Division. His LT was LT. Garrison he was there from about Sept 1950 to July 1952 according to Bill Mitchell who served in Korea with him.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/blocker6.jpg
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“Butch, My wife and I will be in Ardmore for several days in June and need a fix — a chicken fried steak fix, that is. Where is the best place to get it in or near Ardmore? We’ll be there for the annual Healdton High School reunion and will be staying at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore. Appreciate any help with this need.” tjenkin6@tampabay.rr.com
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“Just a quick update on what’s going on with the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial (O.L.E.M.) organization. The 35th Annual Oklahoma Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Service will be conducted on Friday, May 9, 2003, at 10 A.M. at the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial in Oklahoma City. We have asked Governor Brad Henry to be our guest speaker and Maci Wainwright will be our featured vocalist. The O.L.E.M. web site should be back up soon with many improvements. The O.L.E.M. is incorporated as a non-profit organization in Oklahoma and has been granted status as a charitable organization under Section 501 (c)(3)of the U. S. Internal Revenue Code. This means that donations to O.L.E.M. are tax deductible for the donor to the extent permitted by law. O.L.E.M. has obtained a limited number of the much sought after book “MARSHAL:The Story of the U. S. Marshal Service” by Norm Goldstein, published in 1991 by DSI Publishing. The book is a 12.25″ x 9.5″ hard back with dust cover and weighs 4 pounds. The books are first editions in new condition. The 253 page book is a history of the first 200 years(1789-1989)of the U.S. Marshal Service and is the most accurate portrayal of the Service ever published. O.L.E.M. is offering a copy of this book as a gift for a minimum $40 donation as long as the books last. Donations may be sent to O.L.E.M. at PO Box 10776, Oklahoma City, OK 73140-1776 or you may drop them off at the Oklahoma Chiefs of Police Association’s office at 3901 SE 15th Street, Suite 100 in Del City. Please contact me if you have any questions. Remembering and honoring the sacrifices of Oklahoma’s law enforcement officers and their families.” -Dennis Lippe, Chairman. OKLEMEMORIAL@aol.com
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“My dad worked there for several years when it was Little Brownie. He drove a big blue delivery van with the Little Brownie logo on it. He would always bring home the out of date cookies or ones that had been busted up and would feed the busted ones to his chickens. Sweetest hen eggs I’ve ever eaten. 🙂 I remember they used to bake a good portion of the Girl Scout cookies.”
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“I would like to pass on an experience about the Hamburger King along to your T&T gang. I was in the Hamburger Inn and Ernest was telling us about things that had happened there in the past. He told of a fellow that came in to buy a pie. Ernest said that he asked him if he wanted the pie sliced in 4 or 6 pieces. The man thought a while and said 4 pieces cause I don’t think I can eat 6. He told of a man that would come in and bet other customers that he could drink a bottle of tobasco. He would always win and head for the liquor store. I did not see anything mentioned in anyone’s response about the employees. There was Chock, Baldy, Jean and her sisters & Ronnie Burns, plus many others that I can’t recall. My uncle, at one time, was one of the cooks there at the Hamburger Inn. His name was Roy Parker, but we called him Bubba. He was mildly retarded due to Rheumatic Fever when he was 6 years old. Roy also worked at Ponders for many years. I think he also worked at Bill & Barb’s, too, but can remember all too well.”
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“I have recently redesigned and added to my web site. Though we are still “tweaking” the site I would appreciate your input and suggestions.” -Wil Tifft http://www.tifft.com
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================================================“The United States is like a boiler. Once the fire is lighted under it, there is no limit to the power it can generate.” -Winston Churchill
See everyone next Saturday!
Butch Bridges
Lone Grove, Oklahoma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday February 8, 2003 T&T Weekly Vol 7 Issue 303
Nellie Combe of Shawnee sent me some photos of her fathers’s taken of Ardmore’s Great Explosion of 1915. These photos have probably never been seen before, until now. She said the negatives were very small, about inch square, and they had no way of having them developed into full size photos. That is until today’s technology came along. In one pic I see Engine 1952 and in another I see a dead horse laying on the ground. All the photos are in the Mailbag below.
A while back someone was telling about the old Skyview Drive-In Theater on old Highway 70 (now Highway 199 East). Today it is pretty much grown up in those blasted cedar trees. But the big screen is still standing. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/skyview203a.jpg And the second floor projector room with the concession stand underneath is still standing too. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/skyview203b.jpg
I took some pics of the 1928 Lincoln School (3rd Ward School) at 615 Stanley SW this week. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lincoln203a.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lincoln203b.jpg Here is a pic I took of the old red brick road in front of the school which I believe is where a street ran on the west side of Lincoln school before the new addition was added. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lincoln203c.jpg
I remember one Reader writing in a year or two ago and telling how there used to be a tunnel under Stanley SW in front of Lincoln School. This allowed the children to leave the school and go under Stanley to the south side of the street, avoiding the danger of the cars.
1922 – Cook Paint and Varnish was located at 100 East Main
1926 – Theatorium Theater was at 114 West Main
1926 – Adelphus Theater was at 117 West Main
1926 – Harvey Brothers Funeral Parlor was located at 300 West Main
1928 – Randol Building was at 101 East Main (west side of Daubes)
1928 – Greenberg’s Jewelry 117 East Main (east of Daubes) Max, Ralphael and Sophie Greenberg
1930 – Dixie Motor Coach Station was located at 300 West Main
1930 – Mary E. Green and Sarah M. Green, a teacher, lived at 203 London Street in SE Ardmore
London Street – From GC&SF (Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway) southeast to Fifth Avenue, 1 south of Moore Street.In Ardmore “B” Street SE intersects Moore SE. In 1924 this two block section of “B” was called Glover SE. In 1924 where Glover SE intersected with Moore SE, was another street called London Street. London SE went off to the SE from Moore at an angle.
Just a few feet south of F and 1st SE was a little short street that went to the east off F street called Walnut Street back 1924.
In 1924 the Ardmore Water Works and Pumping Station was located 3 1/2 miles NW of the county courthouse.
In 1924 Ardmore’s City Hall was in the SW corner of South Washington and Hinkle. The fire department was in the south end of City Hall. The city water works office was on the west side of City Hall and the Police Station on to the west at the SE corner of Hinkle and A Street. The calaboose was between the police station and the water works office.
In 1924 the Oakley-Askew airport hanger was in the SE corner of Locust Street and Chickasaw Blvd Northwest.
Maybe someone knows of a copy stand that will hold my digital camera and take photos of book pages about 2ft by 2ft in size. I have even thought about trying to make such a holder using conduit or square tubing. I know if Mr. Frank (and Fannie) Lytle (1904-1992) who lived three blocks east of me on Third Street NE was still alive, he could make such a gadget. He was a machinist from the Pennsylvania steel factories, and there was nothing he couldn’t make with a metal lathe and a few tools. I remember as a young teen watching him in his garage next to his house take a raw piece of metal and turn it into something of precision. He was a true craftsman, something you can’t hardly find these days. Mr. Lytle would tell me of his times working at a company on Moore southeast in the early 60s. An engineer would bring him blueprints of something to make on his lathe. He’d say ok and take the plans to his workbench. But looking over the blueprint called for him to make a 5/16th inch bolt to go into a 1/4 inch hole. Mr. Lytle would take the blueprint back to the engineer and show the mistake. The engineer looked at it a minute, then said, just go fix the part as the plans call for it. In a few days, the engineer would bring him a new set of corrected blueprints. And Mr. Lytle would make the same parts again, only this time in the correct dimensions. He said he wasted tons of 440 high carbon steel making blunders like that. Mr. Lytle was one of the finest Christians I’ve ever met. I sure miss him.
Anyway, back to my gadget. There is a hand drawn set of 1928 maps of Ardmore (about 10 pages) I have access to, if I could just figure out how to make a contraption to hold my camera at the right distance from each page as I snap a photo of each page. Each page is about 2 feet square. I have a good tripod, but I believe the camera needs to be held about 3 feet above the work to get a good shot. Any ideas anyone?
A couple of weeks ago I was looking at my calendar by my computer checking the correct date. But later when I looked at my calendar in the living room, something was wrong. I went back and forth between the two calendars a couple of times, then gave up and went on to do something else. The next day I thought about those two calendars and the strange thing going on with them, so I went and looked again. Sure enough one was off. I knew I am not crazy. hahaha https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/jan2003.jpg
I noticed another statue out west of Lone Grove the other day. I think it is a tiger, but I’m sure going to feel silly if its suppose to be something else. It was on the south side of Highway 70 about a mile west of the Lone Grove Police Department. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lgtiger3.jpg
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK’S MAILBAG
“Thanks for the memories…. I can’t believe the ballpark is still the talk. I am sending a pic of one of the players, Rollie Rice.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/rollierice.jpg
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“Here’s another article from the Shrine Rodeo Book 1983 about the movie stars coming to town. We had Shoji Tabuchi here and I don’t remember him.(see next to bottom line)…saw him at Branson a few years ago and he was great! I also noticed a picture in it of Convention Hall before the Civic Auditorium was built. I didn’t realize we had a convention hall to start with. Mrs. Goodnight had brought the picture to them..remember her??? She wasn’t one of my favorite teachers. I miss talking with you. You probably are glad though cause I don’t interrupt your important business. Anyway I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I enjoyed your T&T as usual and always wonder what you will come up with each week. I really enjoy all the peoples input too as they have so much more information than we know just for the fact they lived it.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/rodeo1983.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/conhall83.jpg
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“Just me responding to several items in this weeks T& T. Maurice Bridge married a Mrs. Murphy (a widow). She had two children, a very nice looking son and a pretty daughter. I can’t remember their names at the present but remember them well.I had two of my children at Hardy Hospital and Sanitarium. One in 1948 and one in 1953, At that time a room was $9 per day. I still have the check I wrote for my bill. I think it was $45 or $50. Dr. Cunningham charged $75 for prenatal care and delivery. We furnished our own clothing and diapers for the baby. And I rode home in a hearse but it was a pretty blue one. Later as I would pass the Post Office with out of town friends I would tell them that was where two of my children were born. They would look surprised and say “In the post office?”
During WWII we also had to save our toothpaste tubes and turn them in so we could buy another tube. Everyone used the little squeeze things to get out every little bit of toothpaste. Canned food listed the number of coupons required for each can. I remember that peas and corn were 2 coupons per can. Dad would buy a whole case at a time. I worked on the candy counter at S.H. Kress so I was there when chocolate candy came in. I could buy huge blocks of chocolate that I could send overseas to my brother and it would not melt. I stood in line at Anthony’s and Penney’s for hose (we were allowed two pair) and later for sheets when I became engaged. It was disappointing to stand in line for long periods of time then have them run out of hose or sheets before I could even get into the store. I was always hard on hose and shoes. We would mend our hose. I had to use my shoe coupon for leather school shoes but was fortunate to find dress shoes made of manmade material and did not require a stamp. I also used one coupon to buy my skate shoes at Klein’s. I kept them until I sold my house in Ardmore about 7 years ago. Finally threw them away. Had to replace the wheels a number of times but the shoes were still in rather good shape. I really took good care of them.
When I lived in Marietta we would come to Ardmore for District MYF meetings. After the meeting we would all go to Hamburger Inn and have hamburgers. I made many friends in MYF who scattered across the country after graduation. Every time one would come to see me we would go to Hamburger Inn. I remarried after my first husband died. My new husband was from out of town. One night I told him to go to Hamburger Inn and get a bag of burgers. Can you imagine my disappointments when he came home with “educated” burgers. I was all set for the taste of “fried” onions. He had no idea what I was talking about.”
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“Butch, the top of the map does not go North as in most maps. North in this case is about 45 degrees off the top left of the map, there is an arrow indicating North on the map. Just wanted to let you know your writer had it right, the Ponderosa is Southwest of Reno almost on Lake Tahoe. It is under six feet of snow right now. Still a beautiful place. I have seen a couple of small school house type bells there in time past. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ponderosamap.jpg
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“Hi Butch! Sorry to read in this week’s T&T that the cookie factory in Marietta has closed down. Traveling from Missouri down to Texas once or twice a year, that would be a favorite stop, to load up on a big bag of cookies. I read somewhere that they supplied half of all the Brownie cookies in the country. My dad’s uncle at one time owned the land that that was on. Change is inevitable, I guess.” -Bob Taylor
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“My brother and sister were born at the Hardy Sanitarium and my mother’s doctor was Arthur T. Godfrey (I think that’s the correct name. I’m glad somebody finally spoke up about the “burned onions” on the hamburgers. They were cooked on the grill and not burned at all. I used to go to work with my dad and he would take me to lunch there with him and I was so short I could hardly get up on the stools and then I was afraid I would fall off. I didn’t remember any of the employees names until reading the T & T today. I remember dad using Chock’s name. Was he a Choctaw Indian? Is that why he was called Chock? Thanks for all the memories you and your readers stir up. It’s like a trip to the past every Saturday morning. I get up and get on the computer the first thing so I can read T & T.” -Loretta Koons
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“Hi Butch, As I remember the rationing, the A B C books for gasoline, We as farmers, using mule power, had an A book and were entitled to 2 gallons per month for the Model A Ford that we had. We also owned a gasoline powered “Maytag” washing machine. They gave us 5 Gallon worth of stamps for the washing machine. Mother probably used no more than one half gallon per month. which gave us plenty for the Model A which had 1 to 2 flat tires on it most of the time anyway. We gave most of the stamps to my grand parents who were retired and still got only 2 gallon per month.” -Jim Brown
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“I ran across the picture of the old Milo school in your companion picture site, and it brought back quite a few memories. My father and mother would have been in about the sixth and fourth grades, respectively, in that building in 1923. I remember that the Milo church also had Sunday School and church in the same building, and I would attend there when visiting with my grandparents after we moved to Wirt (a.k.a. “Ragtown,” west of Healdton). During and after WW II (no, perhaps it was the Korean War??), long after this building had been abandoned as a school, parts of it were moved about 80-100 yards to the west, renovated and added to, and became the Milo Baptist Church building (also in your photos) that was burned down in 2001. At this same site, I also found the 1923 picture of the Dundee High School, where I attended for 12 years (That includes grade school and junior high also; I didn’t stay 12 years in high school—-honest!), and graduated in 1954. That class had an unusual phenomenon: It had co-valedictorians, each of whom had perfect 4.0 grad averages, YET NEITHER ONE OF THEM WAS IN THE TOP 10% OF THE CLASS! Give up?? – The class only had 18 graduates, so the two of them constituted 11.11% of the class, thus neither was technically WITHIN the top 10%. Oh, well—I guess you just have to be interested in details like that to appreciate it.” RKWard@SWBell.net http://community.webshots.com/photo/16560143/16571629ZveiUaSXrt
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“Butch, someone was talking about the ration books. I remember shoes were rationed, too. Didn’t bother us much, as the kids went barefoot until absolutely too cold. Sugar was also rationed. That didn’t bother us much either, as we didn’t have the money to go along with the stamps. Mom couldn’t even get enough to make jelly one year.” -Bud Caudle
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“The last time I was by the cookie factory a month or two ago the factory was going strong. It was just the retail store that was closed, after Keebler took it over. Has the factory been closed now?”
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“I was interested in the comments concerning the sign on the side of the mountain on Highway 77 displaying Lazy S Ranch owned by Moss Patterson. That sign was first constructed on the mountain by my father, Sam McDaniel. It read Drink Coca Cola With Delicious in smaller letters on one side and Refreshing on the other. It covered a larger area than the Lazy S Ranch sign. The sign was built by piling rock to form letters and painted white. The actual work was done by Nick Cunningham, long time employee of my dad. My dad was the Coca Cola bottler in Ardmore for many years. He would be very surprised to see the county jail built on the location of his bottling plant.” -Carol Brown
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“My Father has been dead since early 1959, my mother long years before that and the only family member left that would have bee around as a teenager at that time probably has lost her memory. You know maybe how you kinda forget the family stories after a lot of years. All I do remember is that he told me there was a man walking on top of the tank cars of the train and inspecting them ( and they must have contained fuel of some kind). A man on the ground saw him and realizing the immediate danger took off running, and just in time to save himself before it all blew. I was born in 1934 and this was old news before my time I believe. These negatives were stored in an envelope my dad had that was he had received mail in from a Kodak Company he did business with. It is dated 1946 but no telling how long he had had these negatives. I don’t remember ever seeing the pictures even though he was a photographer. His name was Sam Fox and he lived at Marsden for a lot of years before I was born, back when there was a real little town there. We had a 40 acre farm just a mile south and 1/4 east of Marsden. He made pictures for schools, churches, went to peoples homes all round the area. When he passed away he had boxes and boxes of pictures of a lot of people I didn’t even know but I don’t remember there being any photos of the explosion.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15d.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15e.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15f.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15g.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15h.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/explo15i.jpg
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“Re: Weaverton, Oklahoma. I believe it is west of Madill on 99C just west of J&I Manufacturing.”
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“Hey – you also need to remember that our Grandfather (Pa Bridges) was cook for the Army and also at Tinker AFB in Midwest City before his death. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories to a cousin who dearly misses our ‘Pa Bridges’.”
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ONCE AGAIN
By Sylvia Moore
Ardmore, OklahomaOnce again the images
We watched in so much sorrow
The brave ones on Columbia
Would see no more tommorrow.
Our President said it best
They didn’t make it back to land
But the one who made each star above
Now holds them in His hand.
Once again our nation mourns
And tears fall like the rain.
Once again we cry to God
To come and ease our pain.
Once again we’ll survive
And stand tall with pride
Once again we’ll go forward
And take the blows in stride.
Lord, let us give it all to you
To help us heal once more
We need your touch upon our land
Please cover us from shore to shore.
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“Butch, what did they put on those fried onion burgers to make them so good?”
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“Hey Butch, Just reading through your This & That when I see an email from the guy whose father worked for them. At the Wilson Museum we have been searching for information about the bus stop in Wilson. I wonder if he has any schedules or records on the old Jordan Bus Line. He did not put his email address or his name. So you will have to run him down..Teehee.”
———————————————————————— “Butch, Can you tell me how to print a copy of the Old Love County Map? All I am able to get is the left half when I try to print it. Thank you.” joe-ruby@brightok.net https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lovemap.jpg
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“I have a picture of Hoss Cartwright and me taken at Waco Turner’s Lodge in 1960 I think. The reason for the smiles was Hoss had just said, “You are the first sheriff that walked up to me with a smile on his face.” -Gerald Cobb https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cobb1960.jpg
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“OK, Butch, I have been begging for ages; now I think I’ve found the hook which will yank you into Dougherty, Oklahoma!!! Today, I sat in “Akers In and Out”, the only store in Dougherty. I listened to 6 men talking about Dougherty…way back when… in Douglas and Margaret Akers’ store the main meeting place in this town. Ed Samples brought up the subject of, “T & T”, and the many times I’ve asked you to come here and write about Dougherty. He said, “We just need to find a bell for Butch and he’ll come here.” I agreed and alluded to the church bell I hear every Sunday morning. Adolphus Baldwin immediately spoke up and starting telling us the history of the church bell just a block from my little house. It’s a fascinating story of a man who worked on the railroad. This enormous bell on an old steam engine was damaged. This man somehow managed to give this bell to the church… Knowing how much you love bells, the look and the sound of this one will stop you in your tracks….Do you know it and the story of it? Gee, I hope not. Maybe we’ll finally get you here to Dougherty. I look up to Don Pinkston as an unreachable idol. He is a famous painter, etc. But these dear people tell me that he is “an everyday fellow”; a “common person like you and me”. I have begged you to visit the Main Street Restaurant, located in the old Buckhorn Cafe in Davis. It is owned by beautiful people, Judy and Diddle Hale of Dougherty. They and their 4 kids keep it the best place in Davis to find great food and down-home friendly comfort. In the Main Street Restaurant, you can see the painting, by Don Pinkston, of the old, OLD pickup truck which I’ve written about to you several times. As I told you, the REAL pickup can be seen next to the new post office in Dougherty. I have been told that this old truck was converted into a school bus for Dougherty School. Today, in the office of Akers’ In and Out I saw a black and white original, by Don Pinkston, of this old truck which took my breath away. The men I talked with today also told me the old stories of the Burning Mountain, and the White Mountain….You need to write about these for all the folks who remember them. If you will let us know when you can meet at Akers’ In & Out, 6 men have promised to be there to meet and talk with you and share the beauty of this little ole’ town, AND SHOW YOU the bell with the great story which surrounds it. And if I’m brave enough, I’ll even contact the icon: Don Pinkston, and ask him to show you his world ..as a renouned and famous artist, etc. Have I succeeded this time…to get you to delve into the deep history of this beautiful little town?” -Susan B. Nance mornsidemtn@hotmail.com
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“What was the name of the Air Field at Springer, Oklahoma where the District 1 County Barn is located now and was it a military field at one time?”
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“The airport at Springer (where the county barn is now) was owned by the city of Ardmore but due to its location, it was probably called the Springer airport more often than the Ardmore airport. I am not sure of the year it was opened, probably in the early 1930s. It was there for many years until it was relocated to Ardmore Industrial Airpark after the base closed. While at Springer, several individuals operated the field. Arthur Oakley moved there after the Oakley-Askew airport ceased operation when the hanger burned. Dorsey Askew, no longer a partner with Oakley, had taken a job in 1926 flying US Mail with United Air Lines. He was the first pilot to fly mail between Dallas and Chicago. John Heasty and his wife, Veda, managed the airport during the early 40s. While they were there, it was one of a few fields in the southwest who contracted to train flight instructors for the Army Air Corps. The program was known as the Advanced Civilian Pilot Training Program. Individuals from various geographic areas who wanted to be Army Air Corps civilian instructors paid $500 a month for the four month course and were certified as such when they finished. Three Ardmore men who were known to complete the program were Walter Adrian “Heavy” Broughton, William Kenny and Kenneth Johnson. There may have been others. Aircraft mechanics who kept the aircraft in top shape for the program included Walter Adrian “Heavy” Broughton, also a top-notch licensed airframe and engine specialist (Ardmore), Connie Brewer (Shawnee), Floyd Greer (Ardmore), and Tommy Kennedy (Wilson). Charles Kincaid, Timothy Kincaid, John Heasty, Veda Heasty and Evelyn Heasty, John’s sister, were flight instructors. The Heastys operated ten aircraft, several of the planes were Beech D-17 Staggerwings. When the war began, Mr. Heasty was appointed Group Commander of the Civil Air Patrol in early January 1942 by Moss Patterson, Oklahoma CAP Commander. When Bob Goddard returned from the Army Air Force following WWII, he assumed operation of the field. Walter Adrian “Heavy” Broughton was his chief A&E person. Why the nickname “Heavy” —Mr. Broughton has never been heavy. Several ex-fighter pilots, recently discharged from the Air Corps, frequented the airport and exchanged war stories about their contributions to the war effort. Mr. Broughton, listening to the stories, went about his work never saying anything about his service time. Eventually, they asked what he did in the war. He said “I flew in the heavies.” From that point on, Walter Adrain became “Heavy” Broughton. Mr. Broughton later became Mr. Goddard’s Paddle-G Ranch manager until his retirement. During the 1950s, the runways were in bad shape and were actually dangerous unless you were familiar with the bad areas. The Civil Aeronautics Administration, later FAA, eventually cited the city to do something about it. When the Air Force left Ardmore in 1959, the city was compensated for damage to the Ardmore Air Force Base runways in the amount of $93,500.. This fund, plus $9,400 from the Oklahoma Right-of-Way Department, was designated by the City Commission to make necessary improvements at Springer. Hamp L. Caron was operator of the airport at that time and operated it until the early 1960s. The Downtown Executive Airport and the Lake Murray Airport were both opened in the mid-1960s. The Ardmore Municipal Airport is still located at the Ardmore Industrial Airpark. A stipulation, in the release of the base to the city, was that it shall be maintained as an airport. The fixed base operator there is Lakeland Aviation. Maybe some of the readers can fill in the gaps as to dates and airport managers.” gsimmons@brightok.net
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================================================Sometimes I wonder what is going to become of our country as our rebellous children take the reins someday. I was in line at the post office not long ago with probably 7 or 8 other people and in front of me was about a 20 year old blonde headed girl. In front of her was a little 70 or 80 year old black lady. This black lady stepped our of her place in line about three feet to look at some post office literature on a table by the north wall. In a couple of minutes or less she stepped back to her spot in the line, and this stringy haired blonde girl said in a loud hateful voice, “Hey, are you cutting in front of me!” Boy, anyone who knows me, knows that went all over me. The little black lady said excuse me I didnt mean to get in front of you to the girl. She started to go back to the end of the line, and I stopped her and said she can get in front of me, that it was fine with me, which the elderly lady did. All those “you can’t give whippings to your kids” during their growing years, is going to come back to bite us.
See everyone next Saturday!
Butch Bridges
Lone Grove, Oklahoma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday February 1, 2003 T&T Weekly Vol 7 Issue 302
That past couple of years I’ve received some phone calls and emails asking if I knew or was kin to a man who owned Bridges Jewelry on Main Street years ago. I didn’t think I was kin to the man, and after doing some research this week, I find the man’s last name was not Bridges but Bridge. Bridge’s Pawn Shop started out next door to Daubes at 119 East Main back in 1918. The proprietor was a man named Henry P. Bridge. Where the confusion with the name Bridges comes in is his shop was listed as Bridge’s Pawn. The pawn broker later added Jewelry, thus Bridge’s Jewelry. The Bridge family lived at 419 D NW in Ardmore and a Maurice L. Bridge would later be owner of the shop see. I see in the Ardmore Directory that in 1940 the location was 115 East Main.
While I was researching Bridge’s Jewelry, I did find out my grandfather Esco Bridges was a chef at the Palace Cafe at 211 West Main Street back in 1926. The owner of the Palace Cafe was Norman J. Hall who lived at 702 North Washington.
Speaking of Ardmore cafes, the infamous California Cafe was located where the present day Stolfa Hardware (#15 East Main) is now back in 1918. It’s owner was a Mrs. C.C. Goon. The California Cafe was where Ex-Deputy U.S. Marshal Dow Braziel was killed by Carter county deputy Bud Ballew back in 1919. https://oklahomahistory.net/braziel.html
I received a phone call this week from Van, Texas. Carol Reynolds is doing some research on her grandfather, John Spellman Worthen, and came across something interesting on his funeral home record. John Spellman Worthen died April 12, 1921 here in Ardmore at the age of 54. On the charges there are two items: $1.36 for ticketts (that is how it is spelled on the record) and another charge of $2.50 for Health Officer. Carol is wondering if anyone knows more about these charges and what they represent. I hope someone out there can shed more light on these two unusual charges. carollee@ballistic.com
I always look forward to reading the Lone Grove Ledger every Wednesday because in each weekly issue there is a “history column”. The history is grouped in three categories, ’20 Years Ago Today’, ’50 Years Ago Today’ and ’84 Years Ago Today’. In their January 15, 2003 issue under the ’84 Years Ago Today’, something amusing caught my attention…. “Jim Carter, deputy sheriff, was called to the Pentecostal mission and arrested seven men and boys and took them to the county jail charged with disturbing public worship. It is alleged they were throwing pepper on the floor, causing much sneezing, and were laughing and talking to such an extent to disrupt services.”
Everyday we hear and read in the news we’re heading toward war with Iraq. Well I can tell you we are already in a war with someone, but you’d have to be a computer network manager as I am to realize it. This week I have never seen the relentless attacks on computer networks using viruses, trojans and worms. I remember 20 years ago before Windows and the World Wide Web when all we had were XT computers and 300 baud modems and a Command Prompt to contend with fighting viruses. Back then there was only a couple hundred viruses circulating that were made by mostly college students within the U.S. Today there are thousands of viruses attacking every computer operating systems they can find a “hole” in. Many of these viruses I’m sure are coming from enemies overseas. As I said, this past week is the worst virus situation I’ve seen by using my ‘sniffers’ and network monitoring software. It gets real frustrating fighting a relentless bombardment of virus attacks. But you know, they are not going to win.
Back twenty years ago there was hardly anyone in Oklahoma to call and help rid a computer of a virus. Through a worldwide communications program called FrontDoor I made friends with a man whose name I can not recall right now who was probably the number one virus expert in the state back then. He was an employee of the State of Oklahoma and worked at the prison in Granite, Oklahoma. When I had a stubborn virus I couldnt get rid of, this expert friend in Granite came to my rescue.
I hope everyone has some plan, some kind of software installed to combat this ever growing world wide virus threat. Not a day goes by that my anti-virus software does not catch an email with a virus attached. This antivirus stuff gets complicated for the average computer user. But I have put together a webpage to help just those people combat these viruses. I’ll be updating the webpage from time to time, and hopefully some of you more savvy antivirus fighters can add to the this informational Page. https://oklahomahistory.net/virushelp.html
I guess the word is getting around how great the long distance calling rates are that our little history group has been enjoying. We’ve added three new people this month who are now using WorldxChange Long Distance. We’ll end January with nearly 1,000 calls and over 12,300 minutes! http://www.worldxchange.com/agent/228072
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK’S MAILBAG
“Hey.. run a spell check next time.. LOL .. Lorne Green’s name was LORNE not Lorene. Dan, Michael and Lorne came to the Oklahoma state fair Rodeo in 1971, shortly before Dan died. I was fortunate enough to meet them again, as our Symphony Hi-Notes Chapter was ushering and we were taken back stage to meet them. I had met Michael and Dan when I was a young child at Frontier City, USA, in OKC.”
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“In the days when intercity bus service was frequent and well patronized, most of the major routes were operated by either Greyhound or the National Trailways Bus System. The Oklahoma Transportation Company, and its sister company Mid-Continent Coaches, had the good luck to dominate some major routes of both systems. Buses from the north (Kansas City, Lincoln, Wichita and beyond) were operated by Oklahoma Transportation Company between Oklahoma City and Ardmore, and by Dixie-Sunshine Trailways between Ardmore and Dallas. This gave the O.T.C. a virtual lock on the Oklahoma City-Dallas bus business. Practically all the schedules ran through between Oklahoma City and Dallas with no change of bus; many of them were through buses from or to much further distance places. O.T.C. also had the dominant route between Fort Smith and Oklahoma City, a major segment of the Greyhound Atlanta-San Francisco route. They had several other very busy routes, including the Oklahoma City-Wichita Falls route on which O.T.C. and Mid-Continent Coaches shared the service (many buses through for St. Louis or beyond and to El Paso and beyond.) They also had an Oklahoma City-Denver route (I think that was Mid-Continent Coaches, in which Moss Patterson was dominant) that ran from Oklahoma City through Enid to some place in western Kansas, and from there operated by Trailways. Jordan Bus Company and Denco Bus Lines were associated, and when I lived in Konawa they provided the bus service through there, along with a considerable portion of southern and southeastern Oklahoma. There really was a Mr. Jordan, although I forget his first name.” -Wes Leatherock wleathus@yahoo.com
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“Enjoyed reading about my father, George Connely (principal of Washington School for years). It brought back memories of that time. I would like to hear from other people also. I have lived in Ft Worth, TX since 1980. I retired from the Air Force in 1989 after serving 21years. My email address is b52d2000@yahoo.com Thanks” -John Mark Connely
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“Oh my goodness, I had almost forgotten the Jordan Bus Line. My Step-Father worked there in the very early 30s and he once told me a story about he and a couple more employees were supposed to re-paint one of the buses one night. It must have been a slow going job so they decided to use brooms rather than brushes. He worked there for a good while after that so guess the boss wasn’t to upset.”
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“Hi Butch, Your readers never cease to provide interesting subjects, and I’d like to give a thought to a couple of them. While I was Chief of Maintenance at Will Rogers District (Calif. State Parks), which included about six park units besides W.Rogers, we gained possession of Dan Blocker State Beach. It was presented to the state by the heirs/estate of Mr. Blocker after his sudden death. It was a narrow stretch (approx. 350 yards long) of prime real estate just north of Pepperdine College and the Malibu Beach colony of jillionaire beach homes. It was in a sad state of repair, with lots of trash and an eight foot chain link fence which had been cut and vandalized. I was given the job of repairing that fence, and they only gave me about $2400 to do it . I finally persuaded a fence company to bid on the job, and they did an amazing repair job in just two days, and exactly as my drawings called for. We then turned the entire park over to Los Angeles County to operate. We were glad to get rid of it. Did you hear before that Dan Blocker was more than just a big ol’ Bubba cowpoke. He was quite the yachtsman, too. For several years he took part in the annual boat race from Marina del Rey out to, and around Catalina Island and back to Santa Monica. He competed against hotshot blue water boats in a regular cabin cruiser, but with state of the art engines, which he pretty much wore out in that one race. That’s about 85 miles of ocean at full bore. The other item was about Oral Roberts. My favorite aunt Bertie used to have a very good friend who was a great looking redheaded gal, and they were both sort of looked down upon by the churchy women of the day, there in Sulphur, because they were known to occasionally drink a beer or two (gasp). I can’t for the life of me remember her first name, but her brother was the then not-so-famous Oral Roberts. They didn’t cotton to one another much because he thought she was a bit “wild” and she thought he was a fake. I think they both were wrong——-!!! Lookin’ forward to every T&T.” -Bob Elliston
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“Dear Butch, Since you were talking about the baseball park on Monroe I thought you might like to know how Monroe St. got its name. It was called Boundary for years because that was the last street in town but the town grew and there were lots of houses north of Boundary St. My parents lived on that street for 53 years. I remember my mother collected signatures to have the name changed to Monroe Ave. It was named after my grandfather, Monroe Crawford Taylor, a postman in Chandler.” -C. (Maxwell) Jensen
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“Butch, I sent you this old photo a couple of years ago, but thought some of the readers might want to see it again since we’ve been reading about the old ball teams. This picture was taken in the late teens or early 1920’s. Notice that some of the shirts say something besides “Ardmore” on them. The only person I know in this shot is my grandfather, Grover S. Wells, standing second from the right on the back row. Sorry to say that I don’t know the name of the team or where they played.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ballteam20.jpg
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“Hi Butch. It’s me again. I remember the old ball park. The Ardmore Indians & Benny Warren was the coach and catcher. He could peg second without getting up to throw the ball. My father took my brother and I to most of the games. I also remember a trip to Miller’s Dairy Queen for ice cream after the game. I would like to pass an experience about the Hamburger King along to your T&T gang. I was in the Hamburger Inn and Ernest was telling us about things that had happened there in the past. He told of a fellow that came in to buy a pie. Ernest said that he asked him if he wanted the pie sliced in 4 or 6 pieces. The man thought a while and said 4 pieces cause I don’t think I can eat 6. He told of a man that would come in and bet other customers that he could drink a bottle of tobasco. He would always win and head for the liquor store. I did not see anything mentioned in anyone’s response about the employees. There was Chock, Baldy, Jean and her sisters & Ronnie Burns, plus many others that I can’t recall.”
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“My grandfather Benjiman S Poindexter and his wife came to Ardmore around 1890. Her maiden name was Amanda Frances Cartwright of the Texas Cartwrights. Her father was a sheriff in west Texas My grandfather was a Texas Ranger when they met. so a Cartwright in Ardmore is a good thing.” paskell ppoindex@rcsis.com
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“Hi, Butch. Was just wondering if there are any compiled records some where listing the folks that died in the big flu epidemics of 1915 and 1918. I’m trying to research as much as possible the folks who are buried at Legate Cemetery. Many of them died during those two epidemics – complete families within a few days or weeks of each other. I’m also wondering about records of Woodsmen of the World lodges. Does anyone know if those would be available for research? Is there still a Woodsmen lodge in the Ardmore area?” -Bud Caudle in Guthrie BnLFAMILY@aol.com
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“Hi Butch, I finally saw the Dillinger picture recently mentioned in T&T and looked for the Ardmore area locations closely this time. It brought to mind two other movies made in the area. First, was “Home in Oklahoma” staring Roy and Dale which was was filmed in and around the Flying L Ranch which was owned at the time by Bill Likins. Turner Falls was in the picture but as I recall was named “Rainbow Falls” by the Holleyood people. I also recall seeing the Dougherty Depot with the sign on the building reading ” Hereford Heaven” instead of Dougherty. The town in the movie was named Hereford Heaven. Roy and Dale became good friends with Bill Likins during this time so decided to be married there later. For fear that this is getting too long, will save the other movie till next time. I enjoy T&T each week. Thanks for all the time required for you to get it out each week.” -Roy Miller, OKC
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“Hi Butch! Enjoy the T/T! The rationing stamps were in little books, issued to each residence I think it was, according to the # of people living there. They covered tires, gasoline, sugar, coffee, etc. There were A,B and C automotive books. You could get a couple of gallons of gas per week, I think, with an A, more with B, and a C would get you all you needed. Tires were almost not accessible, unless you were govt. workers, etc. and so much coffee per month…trade in the stamps plus money (of course). There were other things rationed but I don’t remember for sure. I do remember that margarine was white and we had to color it with little tabs of red powder. There were no chocolate nor women’s hosiery. And yes, I do remember Mr. Brown and those burgers with fried onions on them! You could smell them two blocks away! Darn, wish I had one of those right now!” -Bob Taylor
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“How well I remember the days when folks had to use ration books during WWII for almost everything. You couldn’t buy much of anything without the book. This included sheets, hose, meat, and most everything else. I was a teenager living in Ardmore at the time; however, I married a sailor, and we moved to Ottumwa, Iowa. I had to take on the job of finding meat to cook. There was a small grocery store not far from the house, and Mr Davis – owner of the store – would call me when he got in anything that did not require ration stamps. One day, he called and said he had saved some bones for me, and he said they would make a good pot of soup. I didn’t have much training when it came to cooking such, inasmuch as I was used to cooking beans and potatoes; however, I made a pot of something. I threw it out before my husband came home from work – it was so bad, even I couldn’t eat it. I remember another instance when we were able to buy a pound of bacon. We did not have a refrigerator, so I put the bacon on the back porch. When I got up the next morning and went out to get it, it was gone. I thought my husband had pulled a trick on me; however, I realized later that either someone or something had stolen the bacon right off of my porch. In spite of the war – WW 11, I have many wonderful memories. Janice Miller Brasher , an ex-Ardmoreite.”
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“Butch, I was born in Nov. 1947 at Hardy Sanitarium. I can remember the family going back by there just before it was torn down and looking at it. Wish I had taken a picture. I was the first baby my mother had in a hospital. The others had been born at home. When she went into labor with me, they called an ambulance to come by and “carry” her to the hospital, and it brought her home when she was released. At that time, she said it was one of those old black “hearse-looking” ambulances and that there was no charge for its service. I think it operated in conjunction with the hospital or something. Anyway, when I was a freshman in high school, we moved to the Plainview School district. The first morning I went to school, I met another 9th grade girl on the bus. She offered to show me around school and to introduce me to everyone. Plainview was a very small school then, with probably around 100 students. Anyway, we later compared birthdates and discovered that we had been in the nursery at Hardy Sanitarium at the same time. She was born 2 days before me. At that time, a mother didn’t have her baby one day, and leave the next. They were there for up to 5 or 6 days. She and I have remained close friends ever since and she named her first daughter after me. Just a little interesting connection in my life to the old Hardy Sanitarium.”
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“Butch, You may already know about this site, but I ran across it today in some info I received from IRS e-news. This is also the web site where you can file for free, if you qualify. There are various tax software companies offering this service. ” http://www.irs.gov/app/freeFile/welcome.jsp
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“I originally did my taxes on the free Tax Act program three years ago. I have ordered the deluxe version for the last two years for $19.95 each year, so I could get the Oklahoma State tax. It’s very easy, the program guides you through it, prompting for deductions. I’ve been very satisfied. Filing on line is great.”
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“Butch, I remember well going to the Hamburger Inn during my lunch time (in the 1960’s) from Ardmore Jr High. We would race down there, go to the little order window in the alley on the south side of the building, and get our hamburgers and drinks. If we had time, we would go across the street to the little bakery and get a cupcake or something else sweet. After wolfing down our food, we would once again race back to the school, getting back just in time before being tardy. Don’t know why we thought having to hurry and eat like this was so wonderful? Guess it was worth it all to get an “onion burger”. The cafeteria at the school had great food. You could go thru the lunch line and pick and choose what you wanted. I usually go mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, a hot roll and iced tea. All for 25 cents. What a bargain! Back to the onion burgers. Last weekend I took my 3 grandchildren there and they ate their first Hamburger Inn onion burger, although the 4 year old didn’t want the onions. And surprisingly, the onions did not give this old lady indigestion. Onions usually do. Maybe it was because they were fried. Don’t know, but do know that that hamburger was delicious. The pies they had looked wonderful but after eating my burger and half an order of homemade fries, I couldn’t eat anything else. Guess I’ll go back just for a piece of pie and cup of coffee. Thanks for all you do, Butch.”
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“We have a Hamburger King here also on East Main in downtown Shawnee. It has been here forever I guess. It has pictures and history on the walls, movie stars who have visited etc. They too have really good hamburgers but the onions are not fried like those in Ardmore. If you are ever up this way you should try their food.”
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“I was just looking at the map from the ponderosa. It is backwards to reality. All of those places on the map are west of Reno. I was out there in 2001 and I am sure of it. Funny I wonder why they did the map that way.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ponderosamap.jpg
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“We made a nostalgic trip back to Ardmore recently. Went by Marietta to check on the Cookie factory. Sure disappointed to find them closed – for good, I suppose. What a disappointment. That was always one of our favorite stops. Then on by the cemetery, by the old homestead, drag main, then back to the Callaway’s catfish place at Lake Murray, – so good. Our son was here in Texas from Pa., & he had not been there for many years. Was a good trip.”
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“Thanks so much for all the great information. My sister and I reminisced about the old Hamburger Inn and how Daddy never called him Mr. Brown. It was “Brown said…” He was really a quiet person as far as I can remember. I miss those burnt onions. A question-do you have any info on a Dr. Richard Frank Finney who worked in that area around late 1890-early 1900’s. He later moved to west Tx. and was well loved by many. Keep up the good work.”
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“Hi Butch, Have two comments on your T&T this week. One on the sign on the side of the mountain Lazy S Ranch, owned by Moss Patterson. I have been told all these years that my father helped put the sign up there in rocks! The other is about the Cartwrights coming to the Rodeo here in Ardmore in the 60’s. I have an RCA Victor record of the TV’s original cast. They all sing and the back of the record reads that all of them play Banjo, Fiddle, Guitar but it doesn’t say who plays what. There is a picture of Adam (Pernell Roberts) playing a guitar. There are fourteen songs on the album and it is a neat recording. I believe it was recorded in 1962. The front is a beautiful picture of the guys in a green field with pines and mountains in the back ground. The name is BONANZA Ponderosa Party Time. Hoss was always my favorite because he reminded me of my brother. I believe the record cost $3.98!!!!” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cartrecord2.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cartrecord3.jpg
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“Hi Butch, I am really enjoying the T & T…thanks for your wonderful efforts. Did I miss the dates accompanying the photos of Hardy Sanitarium? I would be interested in the second and third building span dates. I was born in one of these buildings (1930 – but don’t tell). Dr. Hardy signed my Birth Certificate as Attending Physician. The Certificate reads Hardy Sanitarium, but with no address. Searched my memory and thought I remembered each building, but could have been the memory of photos in the past. I had my tonsils out in one of them, also. However, for the most part, our family medical treatment came from Dr. Boyd and his famous “sugar pills”. People are realizing the efficacy of these homeopathic remedies today. Dr. Boyd would be in great demand. Also, several issue back, I liked the information and the excellent photos of the bells at the Presbyterian Church. Sometime, probably in the early 40’s I had the privilege and delight of playing hymns on the console many early Sunday mornings, reminding parishioners to come to church. The wooden handles were numbered, and the hymns, simple ones, were written with numbers instead of notes and were played by pushing down the handles with the corresponding number. It wasn’t easy, you really had to lean on each one. I think Glenn McGee must have been pastor at that time. There was a black man who was janitor and all around maintenance man (and much loved in the church) whose job it usually was to play the bells. The electronic chimes may be lovely, but cannot hold a candle to the exquisitely clear and thrilling sound of the real bells. Great memories from growing up in Ardmore!” -Fredrica (Horn) Van Sant
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“Re: Weaverton, Okla.: top-drawer source is book, “Oklahoma Place Names,” published years ago by the University of Oklahoma Press. It was recently revised by historian George Shirk, with a new second edition now available. Lists names of over 3,000 Oklahoma cities and towns, past and present. A good many local libraries still have the original. See description and sample pages at http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-8061-2028-2 Price is $19.95, available for about $5 less at Amazon.com” -Bob Peterson, Durant bob@netcommander.com
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“For those of your readers interested in genealogy, I have a website at www.rootsweb.com/~okceme/okcem.htm with all the data on Teller Cemetery which once was in Pickens County (now Johnston County) with pictures of some headstones. I will complete the headstone pictures as soon as the weather warms a little but before the snakes come out! I am seeking family information in hopes of printing a booklet about the residents to sell to raise money for the upkeep of the cemetery.” -Ruby Beaver rbeaver@simplynet.net
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“RE: The Dan Blocker history, he also spent a lot of time as a child around Mill Creek Oklahoma.”
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Butch, Bridges Jewelry was just east of Daubes and this was back probably in 1949 or 1950, His name was Maurice Bridges. I think he was single, he was Jewish so I was surprised at all the holidays we had, He celebrated all the Jewish Holidays and the others also (good for business). He sold a lot of musical instruments in addition to jewelry, was very high-tempered. I was head bookkeeper and had an office upstairs in a balcony overlooking the store. One minute he would be screaming at the employees and the next minute a customer walked in the door and he was Prince Charming clasping both hands together and with a smile on his face would greet the customer as if they were royalty. Needless to say my tenure there was less than a year. I only stayed because the pay was good and I had children to feed. I parked my car at the back of the store and he told me to park it in front because Caddo Street was so close to where I parked and was dangerous. I can[t remember much more about it. It was my first job and I needed the experience. I had just finished Broughm’s (forgot the spelling) Business college, upstairs in the west end of town and Mrs. Overturf, the owner or adm. of the school got me the job.” -Ruby Beaver rbeaver@simplynet.net
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“Butch, Our family has been going through the possession of my aunt, Flora Paul Houghton, she graduated from Healdton High School in 1930. We found the attached photo and thought you might like to post it. My aunt for some reason glued her face on the picture. She either didn’t like the picture she had or maybe she had been left out and wanted to add herself. She is first on the left, second row from top.” -Jean Paul Hattensty“Class Autograph Book” she has written class officers:
President – Lyman Dale
Vice Pres – Robert Vickory
Sec/Tres – Elmer Caudill
Reporter – Opal Meador
Seargent of Arms – Basil Wright
Yell Leader – Anita PattonThe Senior Class Roll 1929-1930 (Sponsor Mrs. W. H. Dixon) included
Lyman Dale Raphel Wilson
Bill Rakestraw Lucile Wilson
Zella Cooper Anita Patton
Wilma McKay Woodrow Hulme
Katherine Smith Marguriet McAnally
Opal Meador Robert Victory
Martha Cowger Billy Eldridge
Floyd Silvers Everette Bedford
Ruby Kennedy Basil Wright
Elmer Caudill Lee Blocklinger
Woodrow Caudill Flora Paul
Esther Horn Brince McKelvey
Estella Morris Fred Burney
Elziabeth Fletcher Horace Couch
Zack Tayar Bessie Taylorhttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/healdton30.jpg
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“Mr. Bridges, I am writing a book set in the Ardmore area, and I was hoping you and your readers could help me out. You were kind enough to mention my project in an earlier newsletter, and the response was helpful. I was hoping I might impose upon you one more time, in an effort to reach even more people with my request for information. The book is about Buck Garrett, former Chief Of Police of Ardmore, and Sheriff of Carter County from 1909 to 1921. I would like to communicate with anyone who might have first-hand (not much chance), or second-hand knowledge of Sheriff Garrett, or of his Chief Deputy, Bud Ballew. I have, of course, been to Ardmore to do extensive research, and will no doubt be there again, and there is a wealth of information on the internet about both men. I have all of that. Now I would like to interview descendants of these two famous Oklahoma lawmen wherever possible. I can be reached at WhismanRd@aol.com or the surface mail address below. Thank you for your informative and entertaining newsletter. Everyone in Oklahoma should be reading it.” -Dale Whisman, 3436 S 96 E Ave. Tulsa, OK. 74145
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“You asked about the ration stamps and how they were used. Very simple, back during the war the neighborhood stores were thriving because people didn’t have the gas to waste going to the Safeway as often or to the A&P. If you bought sugar you could get a 5 lb bag maybe a dime and a stamp. Coffee about the same and a stamp. A pair of shoes maybe 50 cents and your shoe stamp. A gallon of gas for the car, or 5 gallons if you had the stamps and I really can’t remember how much that cost because I didn’t drive but when I was 15 and in Colorado I paid 25 cents a gallon but that was after rationing. If you saved your stamps you could get your rubber tires for the car. Some people that had businesses could get more stamps for such things as tires and gasoline. Bacon was a hard thing to come by and chocolate like Hersey bars were really special. Nylon hose were almost impossible to get, back then they had seams in the back and women would draw lines down the back of their legs to look like hose. It was a simple thing back then and people were proud to be doing without because there was pride in giving up for the men who went to fight the war to keep America a safe place for the women and children. Pride in your Country was taught in school, you were even taught that you should eat all your lunch because someone somewhere went without so you could have it. Pride in America was the normal not what is happening now. I’m 69 yrs old and I still feel that pride when I see the flag over the government buildings. Now the American flag is burned right here in America. Hurts some of us who gave up sons, fathers, and other members of our families in those wars.Butch, those onions on the hamburgers weren’t burned, they were sauted’ or as they say now carmelized. I still do mine like that especially in the winter and until the new ones come into the market or garden. That brings out the flavor. I was 3 when I was able to walk to the window at the Hamburger Inn and ask for my own hamburger and I’d say I wanted younons and when I was 14 I’d go in and Mr. Brown would say give her younons on that burger.
Talking about the Hardy Sanitarium. I remember my brother having his appendix out and was in the hospital 5 days. One night we went up to see him and my dad could never be still very long. My brother was on the left side of the hospital just beside the drive way there in the picture. I was looking out the window across the drive to the Nursery, there in the nursery was daddy looking at all the babies when a nurse ran in and ran him out. He loved babies and just walked in to look. Didn’t stay long though.”
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“Butch- The Oakley-Askew Airport on the north edge of Ardmore in the 1920s was not in the area of the Charles Evans school. The airport was approximately one-half mile north of there and several hundred feet east of Carter Seminary. It would have been south of the present day Ardmore High School and north of Cottonwood Street. The northwest part of the Brantley housing addition presently occupies most of the old airport area. The location information was given to me by several people who visited the airport as youngsters. The location was confirmed by an aerial photograph of the hanger showing nearby houses of that time period. One shown in the photograph, just south of the hanger and field, still exists in the area. The hanger would have been in the general area of where present day Harris Street ends at Locust.” gsimmons@brightok.net
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ardaport20s.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/airportplanes20s.jpg
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================================================Words to a song in a presently running TV commercial in Oklahoma.
“Sometimes a hurt is so deep deep deep
You think that you’re gonna drown
Sometimes all I can do is weep weep weep
With all this rain falling down
Strange how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
When I’m holding on underneath this shroud.”-Patty Griffin
See everyone next Saurday!
Butch Bridges
Lone Grove, Oklahoma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday January 25, 2003 T&T Weekly Vol 7 Issue 301
Carter County Sheriff Harvey Burkhart received an interesting piece of history in the mail this week. The Texas Department of Public Safety had in their evidence lockers a couple of 22 caliber bullets that was sent to Texas in 1951 for testing and identification in a shooting that took place near Rexroat, Oklahoma (western Carter county). In 1951 Sheriff Jack Powledge had requested the help to determine if the bullet in a lady’s arm was fired from a rifle owned by a suspect name Smith. The bullet was sent to Camp Mabry, a military encampment near Austin for testing at the Bureau of Identification. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cartwright2.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cartwright3.jpg
These are pieces of paper the bullets were wrapped in and returned to Ardmore in a little box. The words scribbled gives the name of a lady named Cartwright who was shot in the arm. The other paper reveals the name of a suspect named Smith. His rifle was use to fire the test shots for comparison to the bullet in Mrs. Cartwright’s arm. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cartwright4.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cartwright5.jpg http://www.kwanah.com/txmilmus/about/mabry.htm
Talking about people named Cartwright, I remember back in the 60s Hoss Cartwright coming to the Ardmore Shrine Club Rodeo. In fact the whole Cartwright family of the TV show Bonanza made it to our rodeos at one time or another. Dan Blocker from Texas played Hoss Cartwright, Pernell Roberts played Adam Cartwright, Michael Landon played Little Joe and of course there was the father Ben Cartwright played by Lorene Greene. And of course Hop Sing the cook was not a Cartwright but he was one of the family for sure. A Reader sent me photos of the burial place of Dan Blocker at DeKalb, Texas. DeKalb is a town of 3,000 people located just east of Paris, Texas. Dan Blocker died unexpectedly in 1972 of a blood clot after some surgery when Bonanza was in its heyday. The show never recovered from his untimely death, continued to drop in the ratings and was later dropped by the networks. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/danblocker1.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/danblocker2.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ponderosamap.jpg http://bonanza1.com/hoss/hoss1.html
A Reader requested help in finding Weaverton, Oklahoma this week. I looked in my “Town and Place Locations” book and found Weaverton, Oklahoma is in Marshall County in Section 1 6s 4e. Maybe someone knows exactly where Weaverton was located in Marshall county.
Talk about little known towns in Oklahoma and those that no longer exist in Oklahoma, I have a booklet titled “Town and Place Locations” that list 4,500 towns in Oklahoma. It is 56 pages in length. Listed are some towns in the oil boom years and are no longer. Some are just ghost towns and have completely vanished from the landscape. The booklet was first published 40 years ago by the Department of Highways. Copies are still available for a $1.50 charge from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Reproduction Branch. Towns show their location by legal description i.e. Section, Township and Range, and what county the town is located. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/townandplace.jpg http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/osdiv/priceg.htm http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/osdiv/orderg.htm
The Red River Limbhangers Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation is having their 3rd Annual Membership Superfund Banquet this coming March 30th. The gala affair will be held at the Heritage Hall (old Civic Auditorium) in Ardmore. Doors opening at 12:30pm with Dinner being served at 1pm. There will be a drawing for 12 guns to be giveaway! Contact Kirk and Julene Potter at 580-223-4753. You can email redriverlimbhanger@yahoo.com for more info. This is a family oriented banquet with no alcohol served. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/limbhangers.jpg
One page on the “Pages of History” CD I’ve talked about the fast month is dedicated to Lawrence Sprekelmeyer of Sprekelmeyer Printing here in Ardmore. Sprek came to town in 1900 with his parents from Houston, Texas when Ardmore was a thriving cotton center of 4,000 inhabitants. In 1902 Sprek accepted a job from Sidney Suggs of The Ardmoreite, thus his beginning in the printing business. In 1926 he bought $16,000 worth of printing equipment with the help of a $12,000 loan and opened his own printing shop. In 1953 he sold his shop to Bob Downing and John Frazier of Pryor, Oklahoma. Downing and Frazier moved to Ardmore to continue the operation of Sprekelmeyer Printing. Here is a photo of Sprek from that History CD. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/sprek.jpg A photo I took near the front gate at Rose Hill Cemetery last week of his tombstone. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/sprek03.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/pagesofhistory.html
Ernest Martin emailed me a photo he took with his digital camera of the tombstone of Carter county sheriff Buck Garrett. Garrett is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery too. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/garrett1871.jpg
Ernest also sent me photos of the gravesite of Dr. Frederick VonKeller who is buried at Rose Hill. The VonKeller hospital was located at 12th and North Commerce and was torn town in the early 1970s. I remember around 1970 sneaking inside that spooky abandoned building and looking around when I worked for the ambulance service (behind the old Seventh Day Adventist Hospital). https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/vonkeller1861.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/vonkeller1861b.jpg
A while back we talked about Carter county oilman Wirt Franklin. He too is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery not far from the front gate. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/wfrank03a.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/wfrank03b.jpg
A Reader in Lone Grove wrote me this week saying she had her mom’s old WWII ration stamp book. She has always wondered how those ration stamps were used during the war. I’m sure there is someone out there that can email in the answer to her question. I really don’t know myself how people used them at the grocery stores. In the Mailbag below another Reader sent in a pic of her kin’s ration book. I scanned the actual stamps a couple of years ago. Here is a pic of those stamps that belonged to my mother. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/rationb2.jpg
I received a letter the old fashioned way this week via the U.S. Post Office from a Reader reminding me about an old map of Love county I had in an issue a few years ago. She had been researching her family roots and knew they came up from Texas and about where the crossed the Red River. The map lists at least 12 ferry operators back in those days, and helped her determine how her family crossed that muddy fast moving river. There was Courtney Flats Ferry, Sorrell Ferry, Scanlin Ferry, Rector Ferry, Burney Ferry, Sevill Ferry, Thacker Ferry, Watts Ferry, Browns Ferry, Tucks Ferry, Fletcher Ferry, and Tipton Ferry according to the map. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lovemap.jpg
I received a surprise phone call from The Daily Oklahoman last Monday asking what I knew about Ardmore’s hamburger king Ernest Brown of the famous Hamburger Inn here. Mr. Brown died last week. People will always remember those burnt onion burgers at the Hamburger Inn! The best part is they are still being cooked at the Hamburger Inn! https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/brown2003.jpg
I found another website that lets you do tax returns online free. http://www.taxact.com/
An exArdmoreite sent me something that looks interesting if you are in to utilities for your computer. “SectorSpyXP/98 is a utility that you can use to examine your hard disk–thoroughly. Supporting FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and floppy disks, SectorSpyXP/98 is the type of utility that you would use to retrieve lost information. However, unlike most such utilities, SectorSpyXP/98 is freeware.” http://home.carolina.rr.com/lexunfreeware/SectorSpy/SectorSpy.htm
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK’S MAILBAG
“Butch– as always I am amazed at all the things(items) you come up with each week. I think you do a great job— so many of us who lived in Oklahoma as children,kids,young people, find great comfort in the nostalgia of all your information.There have never been any people as good as the people of Oklahoma—I remember nothing but kindness,help and comfort from all my neighbors and friends. It is so good of you to give your time to record the days that have gone but will never be forgotten—I hope you will keep up the great work until I have tottered off to that great neighborhood gathering in the sky. What a day that will be!!! Thanks for all your good work.” -s. binkley
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“Dear Butch, that email from Nevada about Arthur Willingham mentioned in your T&T is my kin. Can you tell me who sent you the note?” -Minnie Lou Whittington kenco@pldi.net
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“The old Hardy Sanitarium pics sure bring back memories……I worked for “Bull” Hardy running the switchboard on weekends all thru high school. Only quit when they built the “new” hospital……Sure learned some interesting things and saw some interesting sights there. My mom was the OB nurse for many years but she worked all over the hospital…I remember one Sunday going in and one of my jobs was to see who had checked in the night before. George Baumann was in there. A bull had gored him the night before. George was a great guy.” http://www.ardmoreite.com/stories/042402/obi_baumann.shtml
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“As always my good friend came thru with a great T&T. You should have had a big celebration though…………. 300……… WOW! I ran off a copy of the hospital where we were both born. I vaguely remembered what it looked like. Do you remember when we had city buses. Mom would ride them to and from work at Memorial Hospital.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/hardysan3.jpg
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“A reader asked if anyone remembered the old show ‘miss carol’s club house” which aired out of sherman/denison. I remember miss carol’s clubhouse all too well. I was only 13 & living in connerville, ok when I saw it the 1st time. I remember wanting to get home ASAP after school so I could watch miss carol’s clubhouse!”
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“hi Butch, I went back to the Sapulpa Okla court house again.” http://www.worldisround.com/articles/14133/index.html
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“Butch so many stories about the old ball park at the end of North Washington. The story about shagging the ball brought back memories of a kid that used to come into my dad’s service station at 1100 N. Washington. He would shag balls for the players and they would give him 10 cents to a quarter. He would be so hot and then he would come in to drink Double Cola’s. (They were the largest pop available.) He would drink one —burp real big and drink another. His poor stomach would be so bloated he could hardly walk. Thank you again for helping to recall so many fond memories. Like Puny Sparger used to say “YOU CAN’T BEAT ARDMORE!”
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“Great stuff – like reading about the old ballpark – have fond memories of Davis and Ardmore playing against each other when I was very young. Ardmore had a one-arm player that was probably better than any one I had ever seen play – was (I believe the Center-Fielder) – could catch the ball, remove the glove and throw all in one motion with accuracy. Could hit as well – thanks for the memories.”
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“Butch– I have questions on two areas based on your T and T. First, was the Hardy Sanitarium the only hospital in Ardmore at the time? How did it happen that Memorial came into being? Second, were the Little League Ball parks always on P N.E. where they are now? If not, when did those open?”
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“Butch, my grandfather, J. B. White, made the plans and over saw the construction of the last Hardy Hospital. When the tornado hit Ardmore in 1946 the nurse assured him if it hit that area she would protect him. His reply was, “I am not afraid of this building. I built it.” I don’t know when it was built but I remember it as a child. Also, in speaking of the old ball park at the end of Washington, the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey circus came there one time that I remember because it came out B St NW and we watched from the front porch of my grandparents as they went by. Your newsletter brings many memories of Ardmore.”
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“Howdy Butch, the mention of “Teepees to Towers” re the big 1957 Semi-Centennial celebration brings to mind the structure on the State Fairgrounds with an “atom” symbol on top, and the “Arrows to Atoms” theme. Was a big event in OKC as I remember, and I remember that Dave Garroway did his show from there during the event. Doesn’t seem possible was going on 46 years ago. We lived in OKC then, never in Ardmore, but read T&T faithfully in Colorado every week”
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“Looks like several of us were born at the Hardy Sanitarium. It felt kind of strange while working at the Post Office to know I was born on the spot that I spent most of my working life at.”
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“My memory of the corner lot at N. Washington and Monroe Street is embarrassing. When I was in High School I attended a Circus there one afternoon after school. It came a downpour and water was pooled on top of the tent. Some joker took a stick or something and ran across it. Of course, all the water came pouring in. I had on a black crepe skirt. Have you ever seen crepe when wet. IT SHRINKS!! My skirt was soon as short as a mini skirt of today. That wasn’t acceptable in the 40s. Luckily my pastor was there and gave me a ride home so I would not have to catch the bus in that attire.”
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“I lived in the same neighborhood as Coleman Jones most of the time that I lived in Ardmore. When in high school I looked forward to his visits as I had never seen anyone so dashing. He usually had on a blue double breasted blazer with a white ascot. It broke my heart to see his condition before his death. I always heard that his mother and aunt or grandmother did not approve of his lady friend and discouraged marriage. In later years after both (the mother, etc.) were dead I heard that they got together. This may not be true but it made a good love story. Yes, he did clean the laundromat and several other places. He took all the refuse home and put it on his front porch. I was never in his home after the death of his mother but I was told that the inside of his house was just as full of trash as his porch. The fire dept. finally came out and condemned the place. He was truly a legend. Ardmore’s “character.” I doubt that any other city can boast a “character” as well educated as ours. I will always miss him. His life would make an interesting story or even a movie. Why don’t one of you write it?”
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“Hello Butch, I just wanted to say that at the location of the second Hamburger Inn, there used to be a “Shooting Gallery” for target practice. Also the photo of the Ball Park was very good. I could see the house that I lived in at 105 12th ave. NW. Before the Memorial Christian Church was moved in after WW-2 , there was a small stock tank there with a very small dam and willow trees. Also before the war, 12th ave.ended there at A st. NW. Later it was opened to N. Washington. The Ball Park was the original “Circus Ground”. After the Ball Park was built, the circus was moved to the east side of N.Washington St. The last circus that I remember on the Ball Park side was “Tom Mix Circus”.I also remember when Mr. West had his Dairy. The big house on the corner of N. Washington and 13th. At the time he also had a very large barn with a loft to store hay in. He fed his cattle peanut hay. As boys, we would climb into the loft and eat peanuts from the hay. Mr. West told us it was OK as long as we didn’t have any fires. The old HighWay 70 came in at the corner where the ball park was and turned south on N. Washington and went past the High School to Broadway and turned west on Broadway. Later when 12th ave. NW. was opened from A st.NW. they turned US 70 onto 12th ave.NW. This all happened about the same time that Commerce was opened. Before Commerce street was opened, US 77 turned onto 12th. NW. and went to E street NW where it turned and went past Franklin School to W. Broadway. From this point to where Commerce is now, U.S. 77 and U.S. 70 was routed together. U.S. 70 continued on west and U.S.77 turned south past Hardy Oaks (3 or 4 miles south on 77) and Dallas. I think that Dr. Walter Hardy owned this property. That is where it got the name Hardy Oaks. It had a few tourist cabins and night club life.(beer). It was made of brown field stone. I would like to add that U.S.77 was moved from “E” Street NW to K Street NW. I hope I haven’t confused you too much. Thanks for the T&T.” LEEWAS@aol.com
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“Hello Butch, You must be tired of hearing from me but I don’t remember seeing anything about “The Pentecostal Holiness Church”. This church was on the southeast corner of 8th & D St. southeast. It has another name now. The original church was a wooden building that was later remodeled and cement blocks were installed by O.C. Day, cement contractor in Ardmore. Another point of interest is that the Pastor of this church around 1939 was named “Roberts”. Bro.Roberts and his wife were the parents of “Oral Roberts”, The evangelist in Tulsa,Oklahoma who is also the founder of “Oral Roberts University”in Tulsa. The year 1939 is approximate.(I was younger then) I thought that the History of Ardmore and Oklahoma should mention this fact.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/sedchurch.jpg
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“The “Memory Joggers, 1953-59″ page http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons/mem53-59.htm of the Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Base website http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons mentions the following baseball game. Don’t know whether it was the one in the picture or not. ” Ardmore Fliers baseball team will play the Ardmore Cardinals at Cardinal Park, April 18, 1954. Jim Hosch is manager. (Cardinals won 12 to 1). April 1, 1954-The Daily Ardmoreite”
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“Hi Butch, just wanted to say that my Dad Sidney (Slim) Pennington also played ball and was an umpire for either the Ardmore Cardinals or Indians? This was back in my young years like the 50’s? Also someone mentioned the 1915 Explosion near the “Pennington” wholesale house for obvious reasons that caught my eye. Any further information on this? Thanks and Happy New Year from Arizona!” -Mike Pennington azfop5@msn.com
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“I had my birthday party on Miss Carol’s Clubhouse in 1967 or ’68. It was normally broadcast from the Sherman TV station but we were broadcasting outside from the grand opening of the Sher-Den Mall that day. Of course the weather didn’t cooperate and the rain came down on my party and we were quickly moved to the station. The thing I remember most is whoever was having the birthday got to wear a cowboy hat. I was really styling on TV, I’m sure. I would give anything for a copy of that show.” ————————————————————————
“I have researched the area you are talking about and I have not found any reference to a roundhouse in Edmond. In the time frame mentioned 1895-1900, roundhouses were at Ark City, Guthrie and Purcell. There was a ramp coal chute and water tower at Edmond in that time frame. Oklahoma station (what Oklahoma City was called by the Santa Fe at that time) had a water tower. In 1895 the Arkansas City to Purcell line was part of the Southern Division and was 153.9 miles of railroad. Water was available at Ark City, White Eagle, Perry, Mulhall, Guthrie, Edmond, Oklahoma, Purcell and coal was available at Ark City, Perry, Edmond and Purcell. Turntables were located at Arkansas City, Guthrie and Purcell. As for an engineer at Edmond or Oklahoma City – there was water to be pumped to fill those water tanks – no roundhouses at either of those locations at that time. Guthrie was the closest location. Starting in 1900, additional branch lines were added and the Oklahoma City North Yard (later called Nowers) did get a turntable in the 1920s – but no roundhouse. Does any one have photos of the Nowers turntable and engine servicing area? I am looking for more information about that area.” -John Moore, Albuquerque
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“My name is Ken E. Barrett. I grew up in Wilson, OK. My Dad, Roy E. Barrett was killed in action in WWII. On the section of your website, “Memorial to Carter County War Dead,” my Dad is listed in the WWII section as “Royce E. Barrett” instead of Roy E. Barrett. Would it be possible to correct this. Thanks. Best Regards.” Ken Barrett kebken@cs.com http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/wardead.html
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“Going thru some of my aunts old things and found these campaign buttons of Roosevelt and Truman. Also they had a couple of WWII ration books and my Uncles notice to appear for Physical with Dr Looney at Marietta, Oklahoma in 1941.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/roosetruman.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/warbook3.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/drlooney.jpg
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“Save a Horse, Save Money! Now’s your chance to have that pony you always wanted, even if you live in an efficiency apartment in New York, or a Condo in LA – and you can deduct it to the fullest extent of the law! Sponsor a Wild Horse.” http://www.habitatforhorses.org/
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“Hi Butch, I read the article in the Oklahoman about the Hamburger King man. Very interesting. Especially after reading This and That. My sister in Kingston had mentioned something about years ago there was a garden where people could go pick produce and leave money in a can there in Ardmore some where. I told her she needed to write and ask you or your readers.”
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“Dear Mr. Bridges, My name is Rosie Henry and I am looking for information regarding my Great Grandfather, Albert Newton (“Nute”) Williams. I have been told that he worked for the Railroad in Ardmore in the early 1900’s. Do you know of any list of the workers? My cousin has a watch given to my Great Grandfather from the Railroad that has been passed from G-Grandfather Williams to his son James Terry Williams and on to his daughter. I would appreciate any information that you might have regarding him or his family. Please contact me at Email Address: Cheaphenry@sbcglobal.net
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“Edmond, Oklahoma was the home to the Territorial Normal school, now University of Central Oklahoma.”
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“Hello Butch, I don’t remember seeing anything in T&T about the Oklahoma Transportation Company.(O.T.C.) The Ardmore bus station was on the S.W. corner of West Main and C street. The bus company at one time was owned by Moss Patterson who also owned the “Lazy S Ranch” on U.S. 77 where the hwy. turned to the left going through the Arbuckle Mtn. Mr. Patterson had a big sign made out of rock and painted white and could be seen from miles away. The O.T.C. was the main bus service to Ardmore for many years. The Jordan Bus Company on East Main street was the Bus service to the west of Ardmore.(Healdton, Wilson, Walters) Keep up the good work you are doing for Ardmore & Oklahoma.”
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================================================Well, that’s about it this week. I appreciate each and every one of you who help make this ezine informative and worth waiting on each weekend. I can not begin to tell you the people who say this little publication is the highlight of their week, getting up on saturday morning, fixing that cup of coffee, and sitting down at the computer to read their T&T. I remember one Reader in New Mexico telling me several years ago that some Saturdays she just cries as she reads her T&T and sees the photos. It all makes her want to come back home to Davis so much. I know people will be reading whats recorded here for generations to come. Thanks to all who made the past 300 issues possible. See everyone next Saturday!
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” -Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
Butch Bridges
Lone Grove, Oklahoma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday January 18, 2003 T&T Weekly Vol 7 Issue 300
I get a lot of inquiries about the old Hardy Sanitarium in Ardmore. I find there were three different locations for the Hardy Sanitarium and Hospital. The first one was at Caddo and Main back before statehood. Dr. Walter Hardy’s parents were the original owners of the property around 1895. That building burned and a hospital built by Dr. Hardy at the same location. One interesting note, Ardmore’s first radio station, WOAA, was broadcast from this building around 1921 under Dr. Hardy’s ownership, 15 years before KVSO radio. Here is a photo of the first Hardy Sanitarium (hospital). https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/hardysan1.jpg
Dr. Hardy’s second hospital, also known as Hardy Sanitarium was locate between the present day post office and Craddock Funeral Home on 1st Street SW. Here is a photo of that hospital from the Mac MacGalliard Collection. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/hardysan2.jpg
Dr. Walter Hardy’s third hospital was located at the present day Post Office at First SW and B Street. It too was named Hardy Sanitarium and Hospital. Hardy’s 3rd hospital was torn down to build the present Post Office. The new Memorial Hospital was opened in May 1955 replacing the Hardy Sanitarium. Here is a photo of the Hardy Sanitarium and Hospital where I was born in 1949, the same spot as the Ardmore Post Office. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/hardysan3.jpg
Here is a photo of Dr. Walter Hardy (1870-1954) https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/hardywalter.jpg
A Reader here in Ardmore was going through some boxes of old items at his house and low and below there was an Oklahoma Semi-Centennial label in perfect condition, the backing is still on the back, never been used. The theme on that 1957 decal was “Teepees to Towers”. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/okla50th.jpg
Ardmore’s hamburger Icon passed away this week, Mr. Ernest Brown. In September 1999 I was invited out to Mr. Brown’s house at the end of Woodbine Way here in Ardmore and had the most interesting conversation with him. He told me how he opened the first Hamburger Inn in 1938 at #32 North Washington. This is across the street from the present location which he built in 1956. Here is a photo Ernest Brown let me scan of his first Hamburger Inn on the east side of North Washington Street. You can see those round stools through the front door window. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/hambur47.jpg
This is a 1956 photo of Mr. Brown’s second Hamburger Inn at #27 North Washington. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/hambur56.jpg
Sometimes when the wind is out of the north-northeast just right and I walk out of the courthouse I get a whiff of those burnt onion hamburgers cooking and I think about Mr. Brown, and the wonderful visit I had with him in the summer of 1999 at his home. He will always be Ardmore’s “Hamburger King” to me and a lot of others.
John Harden Cornish and his wife Annie came from Arkansas to Indian Territory about 1880 and founded the community of Cornish, Oklahoma (south edge of Ringling, Oklahoma). Mr. Cornish died in 1920 and is buried in the Oddfellow Cemetery in Ringling.
Saturday January 18th is the pickup day for those of us in the Share Program. I’m looking forward to all those good vettels! $16 (plus sales tax Oklahoma Only) plus $1 Transportation Cost. Lean Sirloin Tips – 1 LB. Summer Sausage – 10 OZ. Breaded Shrimp – 8 OZ. Virginia Baked Ham – 8 OZ. Split Chicken Breasts – 2.5 LBS. Celery Onions – 2 LBS. Colorado Potatoes – 6 Lettuce – 1 Head Veggie Medley – 1 Pkg. Sundowner Apples – 4 Red Pears – 4 Naval Oranges – 4 Texas Grapefruit – 2 Chocolate / Vanilla Swirl Pudding 6 Pk. http://www.HeartlandShare.com
The last three or four years I used the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s Free online tax return service, both Federal and state, to file electionically online. Because of money constraints, the Oklahoma Tax Commission will no longer offer Free online tax returns through their website. So, I am checking out the company below to file my return online. They charge $25 to file both returns. Maybe some of you have had experience with this company? http://www.completetax.com/
Those of you who ordered a “Pages of History” CD should have them by now. I try to mail them the same day I receive the $4. Some of you have already written back and said how you love the history available on the CD. I know I enjoyed doing it. https://oklahomahistory.net/pagesofhistory.html
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK’S MAILBAG
“Seeing last week’s Tribe Park pictures and reading this week’s comments of people who remember it brought back big memories for me also, but from a little different perspective. Living out in the county “hinterland” rather than in the Ardmore metropolis, my interest was in the frequent tournaments they held there for small-town teams that got together around the county right after WWII. My specific interest was in the very good team from the little town of Milo, for which my uncle Cy Caldwell pitched and played second base. I can’t remember where the other teams were from, except that I know one was from Pauls Valley and believe one was from Lone Grove. In some larger-stake tournaments, sometimes a couple of these teams would go together to field a better team. Uncle Cy was a good enough pitcher that the Ardmore Indians tried to get him to travel with them, drive the bus and pitch, for about $250 a month, which wasn’t too shabby in the late 40’s. But it didn’t afford much long-term security, so he went to work for an oil company, ended up as a field superintendent for Samedan for many years, retiring about 21 years ago; and passed away two years ago this month. I can only remember one player of note that Milo played against. He was a good pitcher with the last name of Craighead, I believe. I can’t even remember what team he played for, but I can remember him and Cy squaring off as opposing pitchers in several good games over the years. I had forgotten about the circus grounds being across Washington from the park, and that piece of ground has a much more vivid meaning to me. It, or part of it, was later subdivided into residential lots, and my wife and I built our very first house on it at 21 Hillcrest St. We moved in in 1960, had $83 per month payments, and struggled to make them. The church I attended (Northeast Baptist, now Trinity Baptist), built its parsonage directly across the cul-de-sac from my house. I was last on the street several months ago, most of the houses are still nice, and the neighborhood is very nice to be over 40 years old.” RKWard@SWBell.net
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“Hi Butch, We are enjoying the T&T out here in Nevada, so keep up the good work. I do have a comment to make about the ballpark there in Ardmore. This dates back to early 1950 and the old Indians Ball Club. They were owned then by Arthur Willingham, my Uncle. He operated the ball club there until around mid 1952 and then moved it to Sherman, Texas and was based there for several years before selling it to another promoter in Sherman. He might be remembered around Ardmore as a local businessman and also operated the Willingham Drilling Company there and in Sherman, Texas. He was born and raised around Ardmore and ran a successful ball club while living there. He was a survivor of the 1915 explosion there in Ardmore, but, his father Henry Lafayette Willingham was killed. Arthur and his Grandmother Kerbo were sitting in a wagon beside the Pennington Wholesale House when the explosion occurred. He was about 11years old at the time and was accompanying his Father who was buying supplies for a small grocery store he ran near Mannsville. Even though he and the Grandmother were showered with debris, neither were seriously injured. Regrettably, they never found any remains of his Father, my Grandfather. Arthur passed away several years ago at Oklahoma City and remained a baseball lover until he died.”
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“Hi, Butch, Speaking of the ball park on North Washington brings sweet memories to my mind. That was there in the 1950’s. My parents, Mayme and Jesse Payne, never missed a game. They lived on “A” St. N. W. I don’t remember the name of the Ardmore team, but my mom and dad knew all of the players names. I think some of the players were Cuban. I can’t think of anything that my parents enjoyed more in their lives than that Ardmore baseball team.” -Wilda Stephens
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“I also have fond memories of the old ball park. As a youngster I was a member of the “Knothole Gang”. Kids were allowed in at a reduced price or maybe free but had to sit in a special section down behind the visitors dugout. I remember hearing the announcer making announcements such as “Mrs.. Waco Turner will give $50 for a home run”. Often fans would offer the players cash incentives in this way to try to inspire them to get a base hit or in some way influence the team to score. One player stands out in my mind. His name was Joe Nodar. He was a Cuban who played center field. He was very fast and his specialty was stealing home base. There were several Cuban players on the team. Many of them lived in an old boarding house, I believe it was on Stanley and B or C street, close to downtown. I had my first job there (working for someone other than a family member) as a 10 or 11 year old. This was about 1953 or 1954. An older boy, I believe his name was Robert Long, and I sat out on the score board. We had two jobs. First we were supposed to retrieve the balls that went over the outfield fences and return them. This included batting practice. During the game we were to hang the score numbers on the scoreboard. They were large numbers that hung on a nail and kept track of the score of the home team and visiting team each inning. It was very embarrassing when the announcer had to correct us. We had to keep track to the score ourselves. I lost the job after a short while because I was not tough enough or fast enough and other boys would beat me to the balls that went over the fence and keep them. During my short tenure in this job I got $1 a game, $2 for double headers. Someone mentioned the late Red Sollars. He was a fine man. He remained in Ardmore after retiring from baseball and had a plumbing business. I worked for him one summer. That same summer he was the coach of our American Legion baseball team. I believe it was the summer of 1957 or 1958. Mr. Sollars wanted me to play catcher on the team. When I told him I needed to work to earn spending money he gave me a job as a plumber’s helper. I worked with him when we weren’t involved in a game or a practice. Mr. Sollars was very proud of the fact that In his last game as an Ardmore player he played all 9 positions in 9 innings, a different position every inning. It was a tribute to his all around baseball skills and ability.” -Carrol Evans
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“Hi Butch, I just recently got placed on your mailing list and it has already been a ‘trip’ on nostalgia for me. My youth spent around Ardmore was sporadic. I was born in Graham, Ok. in the late 1930,s near the oil boom towns of Fox and Healdton where my father (Claude Earl Smith aka ‘Fats’ Smith) worked on various oil field leases, most of which were owned/operated by notable oil celebrity named Roy M. Johnson. I graduated from Ardmore High in 1957. I played for the University of Oklahoma Football team; became a law enforcement officer in Cleveland County working for about 10 years, then was recruited by and became an F.B.I. Agent (now retired). I reside in the San Francisco Bay area. Enough about that. I really enjoy your ‘T&T Weekly’ and look forward to it each week. Thanks. Now back to why I am responding to the above reference: You asked if anyone could comment on what might be the items on Police Chief Leslie Segler’s coat pocket and lapel. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s the American Red Cross furnished a little pin ( white background with the Red Cross) when you either gave blood or contributed monies to the cause. This pin symbolized your participation and it also gave everyone a sense of patriotism during that time period. I recognize that pin as being depicted on Les Segler’s coat lapel. The item connected on the end of the chain. I believe is a ‘handcuff key’, because I recall plain clothed peace officer’s usually had it attached to their whistle chain for quick access. Again, Thanks for sharing you ‘This and That’.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lesliesegler.jpg
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“Does anyone have any photos or any information about the roundhouse that existed at the Normal School in OK. It was either Oklahoma City or Edmond. My ggrandfather was the youngest engineer for the ATSF there at age 21 which would have been late 1890s or early 1900s.”
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“The article on the Tom Cooper Dairy Farm company in Ardmore. Just wondering if he delivered milk to the homes in Ardmore. I remember as a young girl visiting with my Aunt Dude, Artie West. Each morning before sun rise, I would hear the milk wagon coming down the street. A horse drawn rubber tired van loaded with milk. The customer would put clean bottles out on the porch and the man would leave the fresh cold milk. I can still hear the horses hoofs on the pavement. I always got up to watch the event take place. The man would step off of the wagon, more like a van, the horse would keep walking at a slow pace. If I remember the man was dressed in white. Just a nice remembrances of the past.” -Jerri Holt
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“Butch, we enjoy your T.&T. Weekly, and especially enjoyed the pictures of the Norton Bridge North of Mannsville. The Norton bridge linked the small community of Norton to Mannsville and the highway. Now all that remains of the community is Norton Cemetery. My husband’s father is buried there, along with an older sister who died in infancy, and other relatives. We have driven over this bridge many times, and although a new bridge is needed, hate to see this one torn down. I’m sure a new one won’t be as beautiful! Keep up the good work.” -N. Norton novetn@brightok.net
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I liked Mr. Jones he was a very nice man, He use to clean up around the old Cox laundry mat on Lake Murray Drive and I would talk to him sometime as he worked. Here is a little poem I wrote about him. Because of the memories “This and That ” brought back to me.‘Coleman Jones’
The whole world was his oyster
His education unique
He was an Ivy League graduate
And dined with kings and queens
He was a joy to talk to
On any subject you choose
He never seemed unhappy
Or seemed to have the blues
Was their some lost love in his life
That made him turn that way
To roam the streets in tattered clothes
His beard so long and gray
My Dad knew him long ago
When he dressed so neat and clean
He said some girl had broke his heart
And his spirit too it seemed.”By Luther L. Wooley
January 8, 2003
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“Do you or any of your readers remember Miss Carol’s Clubhouse? It was a live children’s show from either the Ardmore or the Sherman / Denison station back in the 60’s and 70’s. I was trying to remember what was on the show, how children were chosen to appear, etc. I remember being on the show in about 1971 as part of a birthday party. What ever happened to Miss Carol, anyway?”
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“Thanks, for the picture of the Skyview, Butch. That brings back so many childhood memories. The last time I went to the Skyview was back in the 80’s with my son and some of his friends. But danged if I could remember the movie we saw. It may have been a Star Wars movie, though. I always thought it so said to see the shape and disrepair of that old landmark. I’d secretly wished that someday I’d have the funds to restore the old drive-in, maybe in a 50’s retro style, and put it back into business. But I suppose that will always be a dream for me. Perhaps someone, may someday have that same dream and the funds to do so. Again, thanks for the memory.”
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“Mr Bridges, I just learned of your website from a friend who forwarded it to me to see the picture of old Tribe Park. Some of the players form the D league remained in Ardmore and later played for our Simi-Pro team: the Cardinals and later the Bluejays. Red Sollars, Bob Cramer, Glen Crable, and JC Dunn played for us. We wore the old castoff Cardinal uniforms until they wore out and then came up with our own and changed our name to Bluejays. Back then (60’s) there were several Semi-Pro teams around. Some of the Ardmore men who played were Marland Vance, Jack McGahey, Buddy Jackson, Clyde Kemp, Woodsey Ford, Leslie Gilliam, LaFon Dunford, Gene Shirley, Salty Bridgeman, Jake Rushing (plus the aforementioned Pros) We played against a traveling team that included Satchel Page and Virgil Trucks.”
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“Can you send me the sites for researching Indian ancestry in Oklahoma.” http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/
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“I came across some info about the New Madrid Earthquake Zone in S.E. Missouri. New data about prehistoric earthquakes have led to revised forecasts. In any 50 years beginning in 1985, there is an 85-97 percent chance of a quake of 6.3 magnitude or greater. Chances of one 8.0 or higher were raised to 7-10 percent. A major quake on the New Madrid fault could cause severe damage to St. Louis and Memphis and be felt in all or part of seven states.”
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“The attached is an early day postcard of the Chickasaw Club House and Lake. Might bring back memories for some.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/chickclub.jpg
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========================================================================“You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.” -Charles Buxton
See eveyone next Saturday!
Butch Bridges
Lone Grove, Oklahoma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday January 11, 2003 T&T Weekly Vol 7 Issue 299
I received a lot of great responses (see Mailbag) from that remarkable aerial photo of the old Ardmore Ball Park. Someone wrote in and said it was called Tribe Park. I think some of you were confusing this ball park with the present one at the end of East Main, Cardinal Park. This one was on North Washington at Monroe and North Washington where Will Rogers school is located now. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cardpark100.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cardpark200.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cardpark300.jpg
Talking about aerial photos, here is one taken by photographer Joyce Franks back in the 80s of the old Skyview Drive-in on Highway 199 East (Highway 70 back then). That’s the old Pepsi Plant in the foreground and the Skyview in the back. Remember those old electric heaters that never worked? You keep going from one parking spot to another trying to find one that would put out some heat in the winter months. I can even remember a couple of car fires started by those heaters. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/skyview.jpg
There aren’t many drive-in theaters left in the country. Back in their heyday of the 50s, Texas had over 400 drive-ins. There is only about 6 in Oklahoma still showing movies. Here is a website showing the ones across the country, state by state, still in operation. http://www.driveinmovie.com/mainmenu.htm
A T&T Reader sent in a fantastic photo of Ardmore’s police chief long ago, Les Segler. It is such fine detail. I tried to make out what is on his coat…. looks like a whistle? And a white cross?? The pic is in the Mailbag below. Maybe someone knows what is on his lapel. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lesliesegler.jpg
Another Cater county lawman, James “Jim” Cruce, was “sheriff for 30 days” back in 1925. He was appointed sheriff after an ouster proceeding on sheriff Ewing London. I would like to get in contact with any relatives of James Cruce. If anyone knows any kinfolk of Jim Cruce, let me know. http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/cruce.html
There is a clock in the Carter County Clerks office hanging on the wall that has been there since before 1977. That year it fell from the wall and broke. Ardmoreite Mike Carr was running for the office of County Surveyor and took the clock to repair. He found another glass face for it at the Light Gallery and then had his “Vote for Mike Carr – Surveyor” painted on the face. Mike won that race and was County Surveyor from 1978 to 1982 when the office was abolished. His office was in the Annex Building next door to the courthouse. Mike was paid a whopping $36 a month for his services as County Surveyor during those years. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/carrclock.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/carrcard.jpg
By the way, in 1947 the Carter County Commissioners offices were located on the first floor where the County Clerks Office is today (before the Annex Building).
A Reader gave me the name of the man who pushed the hot tamales cart on Main Street in the 60s and 70s. His name was Manuel Montemayer. Maybe someone has a pic of him and his famous cart.
I got an email from Mannsville this week asking about dry ice. I remember going down to the Ice Plant next to the railroad tracks and 1st SE to pick up dry ice for Hunt’s Grocery when I was a teen back in the 60s. George Hunt sent me down there a couple of times to pick up the dry ice because he had to mail some of his delicious Hunt’s Chili to Washington state. He’d pack the chili in the dry ice to keep it fresh during shipping.
I saw on the KTEN news this week where the old Norton Bridge north of Mannsville, Oklahoma may be coming down someday soon to make way for a new bridge. This is the same bridge used in 1973 in the making of the movie Dillinger. Guess I need to get out that way and take some new pics before it is history. Here’s a side view of the old iron bridge north of Mannsville, Oklahoma over Washita River. https://oklahomahistory.net/photos2/tbridge1.jpg
And here is a closer view looking northward through the bridge. Notice the sign that reads “Weight Limit 3 Tons. https://oklahomahistory.net/photos2/tbridge2.jpg
I got out to the Airpark the other day and took a photo of the new monument in honor of those men killed in training there during WWII and the Korean Conflict. The monument looks nice, thanks to those of you who made donations to make the memorial possible. There will be a dedication later. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/abasemem3.jpg
Last week I told about the “Pages of History” CD now available. Lots of history on this CD. https://oklahomahistory.net/pagesofhistory.html
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK’S MAILBAG
“Just a quick note to ask if you ever used or had an experience with “Dry Ice”. I have used Dry Ice before but had not seen any for many years. Several days ago Jimmie and I were shopping at “WalMart” in Ardmore and they now have a freezer up front near the checkout stands that has Dry Ice in it. They sell it for $.98 per pound. This is one of the cleanest and safe ways of keeping something cold without worrying about the ice melting and water running everywhere.”
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“Butch I look forward to your newsletter each Friday night. My family grew up in the Ardmore and Arbuckle area and as a child my family and I would travel from our home in Duncan back to the area to visit family and places of my mother and fathers youth. I was wondering if anyone remembered the Bowling family who lived in the area. My grandfather John and my two uncles use to play for country dances back in the early 1900’s in the area there. My uncles names were Roy and George Bowling. Their were 6 sisters one which was my mother. One of those sisters married a Opie Bridges from the area there. He was killed when a tractor turned over on him and crushed him. My grandparents were married in Woodward in 1903. Many of my ancestors are buried in that area. My grandfather and his brother George lived and farmed in the area there. My grandfather John Bowling was involved in a gunfight I believe in 1898 with a man by the name of Shadin. Shadin shot at my grandfather while he was reaching for wagon bows from a tree in the front yard. John swung around the tree and pulled his pistol and shot back at Shadin hitting him in the head killing him. My grandfather was shot thru the lung and kidney and took a year for him to recovery. There was a trial and my grandfather was found innocent of any crime. Trial records said found innocent do to self defense. I was wondering if anyone remembers them or has any information on the family. I would love to hear from them. Keep up the good work Butch. Your newsletter is certainly looked forward to around here. Thanks” sanfordjl@aol.com
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“Hey Butch, Speaking Lukes Music store, I remember the day you and I got the call to respond to a holdup at the store, I was a young medic, those guys were beat pretty bad. Everytime I go past there I think of that day.”
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“Butch, I don’t know if I told you or not or if you read the article on the front page of the sports section of the Daily Oklahoman but on July 25th, 2002, they featured my husband, George Heller and his baseball career. He played in the late 40s and early 50s.”
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“Enjoyed the pictures of the old ball park. It was built about 1947. My dad was the electrician that put up the big lights. It took a couple of months to get the switch to turn on the lights (too soon after WWII) so daddy would go everynight and climb a couple of the poles and turn on the lights, then either stay or go back to turn them off. I’d go with him a lot of the time. I remember the manager was Dutch Prather. One of the players worked as an electrician for my dad. Thats been a long time ago.”
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“Hi Butch, I didn’t know till your last T&T that the original Cardinal Park was located on the Will Rogers School grounds. I had always heard that this location was an Airport. While talking with Bill Young, a former elementary school principal that came to Ardmore in the 50’s I learned that the Airport was on the Charles Evans School Grounds. Bill and I taught together before he retired. I came to Ardmore in 1964. Bill told me that two former AHS Coaches played with the minor league (d) of the St. Louis Cardinals at Cardinal Park. They were the late J. C. Dunn and the late Red Sollors. There many other players whom I don’t know from the area. Bill also told me that the Circus Grounds were located across the street north from the first Car Wash in the Nation built by Jack Thompson and an unidentified friend. That would be the NE corner of North Washington and Monroe. Thanks for the memories.” -Charlie Smith
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“The ballpark at the end of Washington was called Tribe Park as it was the home of the Ardmore Indians and they were a class D ball club in the Sooner League. As a kid I use to shag balls for 5 cents a piece. That was the balls that went out of play over the fence. Also when I was lucky Puny Sparger who was the play by play announcer would let me work the lights on the scoreboard. That being the balls, strikes & outs lights. I was probably 12 to 14 years old then. They were a farm team of the Cleveland Indians. I think they became the Cardinals when they moved out to the new park at the end of east main and became affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals. That is a great picture of the old ball park. Directly east across Washington street is where the had the circuses. You do a great job with T&T and we all appreciate it very much. Thanks.”
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“Boy, Butch, the photo of old Cardinal Park opened up a torrent of memories. As a kid I spent many, many happy evenings at that place, rooting on the local team and dreaming of the time when I would be a professional baseball player. Ardmore had a team in the Sooner State League in every year of its operation, 1947-57, and was one of only two cities which lasted all 11 years. The SSL was a Class D league, the lowest classification in professional baseball. The team was nicknamed the Indians thru 1952 and was then renamed to the Cardinals in 1953 when it became a farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals. The ball park was called Tribe Park until it was renamed Cardinal Park, also in 1953. It was demolished after the 1955 season to build Will Rogers Elementary, which opened in September 1956. I’m thinking most of your readers will comment on things outside the park, but I am drawn mostly to the park itself. I recognize so many features. There are the dugouts, clubhouses, press box and concession stand. In the third base grandstand about even with home plate there is a bandstand where the Community Band would give a short concert and then play the Star Spangled Banner before Monday home games. There is the single row of box seats at field level running from dugout to dugout. There is the gravel walkway between the box seats and the grandstand. I think the top row of seats were also reserved. The dimensions of the field were 312 feet down each foul line and 358 feet to straightaway center field. The center field fence was painted dark green to give the hitters a friendly background, while the rest of the outfield fence was festooned with advertisements for local businesses. The only one I remember specifically was the Grapette sign adjacent to the right field foul line. In the photo the outermost section of the right field stands, nearest the camera, is empty. The seating was segregated, and that is where the ‘colored’ customers sat. There don’t seem to be any attending the game in progress. At the moment caught by the camera, the Ardmore team is at bat. There are runners on 2nd and 3rd, and less than 2 out, because the infield is playing in to cut off the run. A right handed hitter is stepping in and there is another right handed hitter in the on-deck circle. The pitcher has not yet assumed his pitching position on the mound. There is a relief pitcher warming up in the visiting team’s bull pen. As I write this I have been giving a good deal of thought as to when this picture was taken. Games were played almost exclusively at night. Exceptions were the first games of double headers, which were scheduled to start at 5:00 or 6:00, I’m not sure. The shadows, however, seem to indicate that this game is being played earlier in the afternoon. I remember attending an afternoon exhibition game on Apr 18, 1954, when the Cardinals played the Ardmore Fliers, the local AAFB team. I had an old car buff look at the photo to see whether he could tell what year it was. He said that the car body styles and some 2-tone paint jobs indicated that the year was probably 1953 or 1954. The lack of leaves on a number of the trees tells me that it is early in the season. However, the bus parked near the visitor’s club house doesn’t look like something an Air Force team would be riding in, but rather a professional team bus. I looked at it with a magnifying glass, but I couldn’t make out any writing on the side. One more thing, though I could go on and on. At the games cigar smoke always hung heavy in the air. I have never been a smoker, but to this day when I catch an occasional whiff of cigar smoke, it gives me intense pleasure because it takes me back to those summer nights in that old ball park.” -Rob Askew
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“I received my Pages of History CD today and am enjoying viewing and reading it very much. Thanks for doing this! The photograph in the last T&T of Cardinal Park brought back a lot of memories. One outstanding memory for me was going to Cardinal Park with my older brother during the spring of 1951 and seeing an exhibition game between the St. Louis Browns and the Pittsburgh Pirates. I got to see the famous Negro League star Satchel Paige pitch a couple of innings for the Browns.” http://www.kclibrary.org/sc/bio/paige.htm
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“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the hill’s, we shall never surrender …This is the lesson never give in, never give in, never never never in nothing, great or small, large or petty.” -Winston Churchill
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“Re the Daube’s puppets: they are still on display at the museum in Ardmore.”
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1. Ward School 3rd grade class 1920 on the back side of the picture it was done by, Fonville’s Studio in Ardmore, Ok.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/3ward1920.jpg 2. Plainview School in the late or mid 50’s https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/plainview55.jpg 3. Belnap, Ill. School https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/belnapill.jpg
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“I wanted to share a story about Brown Springs. I read all about the haunted springs in your newsletter…so, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I got a couple of girlfriends lined up and we set off to debunk the myth. We arrived at the springs after dark on a cold and rainy evening. We had only one penlight among us (okay, so we didn’t plan very well) and found ourselves tromping along the muddy trail to find the cemetary. Well, it was creepy but we weren’t too freaked out. As we were leaving, we noticed something on the ground. It was a letter – which we stashed away to read in the car. Under the letter was a snake-like thing. Feeling brave, I reached down and snatched up the snake-like thing and it was a phone cord. The kind you plug into your car to re-charge your cell phone. No big deal, huh? Except that I had lost my phone cord the week before!!! Anyway, I am now using the phone cord and it works just fine…so maybe the ghosts at Brown Springs are changing their ways and being nice to people now. Ha, ha. (BTW, the letter was just a mushy old love letter someone had tossed.)”
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“Hi Butch, I received my rodeo program book cd today and am enjoying it very much. Thanks for putting it together. Here is a little more about the crushed limestone business in Murray County. When to Santa Fe Railroad was pushing its way through the Arbuckles in the late 1800s, the Carter Brothers established a quarry at the present site of Big Canyon..There was a spur track called “Carter Spur”. The purpose of this quarry was to furnish track ballast for the Santa Fe..A few years later their operation was purchased by Dolese Bros. Co. Dolese was established in Chicago by three brothers, Peter, John and Henry Dolese. They had also crushed stone in New Mexico and Iowa. Their home office remained in Chicago until the 1940’s then moved to Oklahoma City where it remains today..I am not sure of the dates involved but later there were two crushers. One at Carter Spur and also “Crusher Spur” located about 1/4 mile south. Dolese operated both crushers. We called the north plant “Little Crusher” and the south plant”Big Crusher”..There was a hill between them and over the years the entire hill was blasted down and hauled to the two crushers and the little crusher was shut down and all the stone was processed at the big plant. Most of the stone moved to market by rail in the early days but later stone began to move more and more by truck as it could be hauled directly to the jab site without having to be unloaded at the railroad spur and then hauled by truck to the jobsite. When I-35 was completed, a competitor became closer to the main market in Okc and it became necessary to establish a crusher west of Davis in order to compete due to the difference in the truck freight. The Davis plant is still operating and is one of Dolese’s largest plants. Big Canyon is closed but has left pleasant memories for myself and the many employees over the years. More at a later time…. Best regards.” -Roy Miller
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“I am attaching a few photos of Tom Cooper Farm interest. The first picture is of the Tom Cooper Dairy Farm “Feed Mill” barn. (cooperfeed.jpg) I took this 1981 photo at the same time I took the pictures that my brother Ben sent you. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cooperfeed.jpg The second picture is of the main dairy barn, circa 1981. My son, David Thomas (Tom) Cooper is in the foreground. (cooperbarn.jpg) https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cooperbarn.jpg The third picture is one of the Tom Cooper Farms quart milk bottles I have. (coopermilkbottle.jpg) https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/coopermilkbottle.jpg The fourth and fifth pictures are two views of a Cooper Farms half-gallon milk carton. (coopermilkcarton1/2.jpg). The top view shows a “2 points” tear-off coupon tab. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/coopermilkcarton1.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/coopermilkcarton2.jpg The sixth picture shows a collection of some Cooper Farm dairy farm items. (cooperfarmitems.jpg) There is a wire basket milk bottle/carton carrier, and you can just barely see the “Tom Cooper Farms” emblem embossed on the basket label. Inside the basket, there are four one-quart Tom Cooper Farms milk bottles (one a square configuration),. a pint cream bottle and a 1/2 gallon milk carton. The rusty metal bucket is actually a Tom Cooper Farms ice cream maker bucket with “TOM COOPER FARMS 10 PT” embossed on the side. The small pamphlet is a Tom Cooper Farms Recipe Book. I have been lucky in being able to collect these keepsakes over the past few years. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cooperitems.jpg I was born in Shawnee, OK and grew up in Tahlequah, OK. We visited Ardmore often in the 1940s and 1950s, and I recollect visiting uncle Tom at the Tom Cooper Dairy, and also, uncle Fleet at the Fleet Cooper Motor Company. Uncle Fleet would take us to Ardmore and OK City baseball games in his very elegant Chrysler woody convertible. After graduating from NE Oklahoma University at Tahlequah, OK, I joined the Navy and enjoyed a 25-year Navy career. I now live in El Cajon, CA, a San Diego suburb, near my children and grandchildren.” -George Thomas (Tom) Cooper gtcoop@cox.net
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“I finally found a picture of Les Segler, former Chief of Police, Ardmore, Oklahoma. I have researched your site and all it led to, to find a picture of him. I had one of his grave site at the Cole Cemetery, and saw him mentioned in several group shots, but could never tell which one he was. Well I went through some old family picture and found a great one of Les Segler. I put it in the album on webshots that contains the Cole Cemetary album in the Webshots Community.” https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/lesliesegler.jpg http://community.webshots.com/album/34971579OLVHxg
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Butch, I was passing through Ardmore this weekend and stopped off at new Fulton’s Fried Pies. Not sure if you have tried them out yet, but I was very impressed with the food there. They’re located off exit 32 on I-35 right behind Braum’s. You should give them a try if you haven’t already.” -Anthony Wilson
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“Butch- The Officer’s Club for the 395th Combat Crew Training School, Ardmore Army Air Field, occupied the second floor of the BPOE building (North Washington and West Broadway) during WWII. The club was opened in December of 1943. There was a blue identifying neon sign outside the building. The second floor was 75 x 93 feet, providing plenty of room for recreation and dancing. Hours were from noon to 12PM. Not known as to whether it was there until the war’s end or not. Maybe some of the present day “not so spry” belles of yester-year, who were guests there, can tell us more. An Army Officer’s Club was known to exist at Dornick Hills at a later date. The clubhouse was destroyed by fire in early August 1944. A civilian employee of Dornick Hills Country Club, Bobby Lively, 19, who worked and lived there, died in the fire. Cpl. Robert W. Gallup, Ardmore Army Air Field, who was staying there, received injuries in his leap to safety.” gsimmons@brightok.net
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================================================Next week we hit our 300th issue of T&T. That’s a lot of Saturdays folks. The amount of history accumulated during this time is beyond comprehension, until you try to print it out. Some of you have mentioned how you tried to print out a three month period from my Home Page, and just those three months was way over 100 pages when printed out. A few Readers have said I have caused the demise of a lot of trees. But it has been worth it. I can not thank all of you enough who helped me accumulate this volumous amount of history with your contributions.
I have placed a lot of quotes at the end of my T&Ts the past 7 years. There has been a lot of great Americans whose one-liners were recorded for history and will remain with us forever. But of all the great quotes I’ve heard and read during my life, none of them in my opinion reaches the greatness of the one said by an ordinary everyday American on September 11, 2001 onboard flight 93. As we head into a war of unknown perportions, I hope his two words will be the battle cry of today’s young men and women of the armed forces as they head to the Middle East.
“Let’s Roll” -Todd Beamer https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/toddbeamer.jpg
See eveyone next Saturday!
Butch Bridges
Lone Grove, Oklahoma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday January 4, 2003 T&T Weekly Vol 7 Issue 298
Here is a real glimpse into the past photo. It is Ardmore Ball Park (Cardinal Park) around 1950. The ballpark was located in the northwest corner of North Washington and Monroe Street. Back when this aerial photos was taken, Monroe Street was called Boundary Road. You can see the teams out on the field playing, cars parked everywhere, Leverette West’s cows and dairy barn in the pasture to the south. I can also see his 2-story house that was at 1305 North Washington in the photo. It was torn down not too many years ago. I can also see in the far upper right hand corner the present day Memorial Christian Church at 12th and “A Street NW. The church was moved from the Airpark to its presents location at 1119 “A” Street around 1952. Andy Marr lived next door at 1117 “A” Street NW when the church was relocated to “A” Street. I hope some of you can look at this photo and tell some more insight to the surroundings. I’m sure many of you played ball here!
This first pic of the Ardmore Ball Park is the smallest at 100dpi and 164k in size. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cardpark100.jpg
This photo is scanned at 200dpi and 517k and makes for a little more detail. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cardpark200.jpg
And this is the largest pic with the most detail at 300dpi and a little over 1 meg. This is a very large file and could take a few minutes to load using a slower dial-up modem. But it shows so much close up detail, its worth the wait! Remember, once you have it loaded on your screen, you can right-click on it and Save it to your hard drive. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cardpark300.jpg
A friend took me over to Ringling this past week to snap some pics of a really nice Christmas light display at the Burnett place. The display was located at the far southwest edge of Ringling just a couple of blocks south of Highway 70 on Highway 89. They graded a circle drive all the way around their house so visitors could look at the Christmas display. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling2.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling3.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling4.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling5.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling6.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling7.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling8.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling9.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling9a.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling9b.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling9c.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling9d.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ringling9e.jpg
Speaking of Christmas lights, I almost forgot to snap a pic of Central Park at Main and “E” Street with all its Christmas decorations. This pic was taken from the top step of Ardmore’s First Methodist Church. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/cpark02.jpg
I remember as a very young kid (late 1950s) my grandmother Addie Carmon, taking me to some of her Rebekah Christmas parties held in the IOOF Building across from the Hamburger Inn on North Washington. I don’t remember a whole lot of what went on those evenings I went, because I was there just having fun. I do remember going up those cast iron steps of that 1916 IOOF Building to the second floor where the meetings took place. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ioof6a.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ioof6b.jpg
For more info on the Rebekah Sisterhood, I found this link on the Net. http://www.ioof.org/IOOF/Rebekahs.html
Next door to the north of the IOOF Building is the Ellison Building. It was built in 1921. I remember Webb’s Office supply being in there for years when I was a child. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ellison21a.jpg
And on north at the corner of North Washington and West Broadway is the BPOE Building (Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks). Today a lot of people play bingo in that building. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/bpoe648a.jpg http://www.elks.org
Across the street from the IOOF Building is the Carter and Booker Block Building. I guess that’s what it was called in 1903 when it was built. Today it is mostly a mall of antique stores and apartments upstairs. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/booker03a.jpg https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/booker03b.jpg
Speaking of the Hamburger Inn. This a picture of it today. It still has 13 stools for customers. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/haminn03.jpg
I see after probably 20 years of being empty, the old Luke’s Music store on Main Street now has a tenant. Its Splatter’s Paint Ball store. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/luke03a.jpg
The last day of December is always a busy day at the courthouse. People waiting til the last minute to come in to pay property taxes. I snapped a pic of the line all the way out the door of the Carter County Treasurer’s Office that afternoon. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/treaswait.jpg
I have all 52 pages of the book ‘Pages of History’ digitized that I spoke about last weekend. Here is a Table of Contents:
Table of Contents:
Page 1 – Forward
Page 2 – Santa Fe Officials Name Ardmore. Photo of the Cyrus K. Holliday train used in historical pageants.
Page 3 – Outlaws Spell End to Roff Brothers Ranch. Photo of “700 ranch”.
Page 4 – John F. Easley, the original “rambling reporter”. Photo of Easley.
Page 5 – Fire of 1895. Ardmore’s first Fire Department established in 1895. Two Photos.
Page 6 – History of the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce. One photo.
Page 7 – Ardmore Jaycees Continue To Make History. two Photos.
Page 8 – Photos of Jim Williams, City Commissioner; Gene Paul Morrell, City Commissioner; Jim Ozment, City Commissioner; Wildon Harris, City Commissioner; Scott King, Mayor; Gerald Wilkins, City Manager; Dominic Marchesani, Chief of Police; Ed Jennings, Fire Chief; Dale Stone, President Ardmore C of C; D. Allen Wint, President Junior C of C.
Page 9 – Ardmore’s Telephone History
Page 10 – National Oil Organization Born in Ardmore. One Photo.
Page 11 – 1765 or 1965 = The Nobles CUT of the SAME CLOTH. One Photo.
Page 12 – OG&E Has Served Ardmore Since 1925. Two Photos.
Page 13 – “Sprek”, A Named Remembered. Photo of L.A Sprekelmeyer and his shop.
Page 14 – Ardmore Banking History
Page 15 – The Great Explosion of 1915. One photo.
Page 16 – The Charles B. Goddard Story. Photo of Charles Goddard.
Page 17 – How Ardmore’s Main Street Came To Be There. One Photo.
Page 18 – “Pioneering Spirt”, Max Westheimer. Photo of Max Westheimer.
Page 19 – “Help for the Living” Philosophy of Walter Neustadt. Photo of Neustadt.
Page 20 – Bettes, A Tradition in Southern Oklahoma. Three photos.
Page 21 – Harvey Funeral Home is Historical Institution of City. Two Photos.
Page 22 – W.F. Crosby family history. One Photo
Page 23 – John Joseph Stolfa, Sr., A Most Fascinating Person. One Photo.
Page 24 – Cooper Farms Dairy Herd Nationally Famous. Photo of Cooper Farms.
Page 25 – Battle of the Giants, Formation of the Arbuckle Mountains. One Photo.
Page 26 – The Joe Brown Company. Three Photos.
Page 27 – History of Longhorn Supply Company, Velma, Oklahoma.
Page 28 – The Justin Boot Story – Stubbs Army Navy Store
Page 29 – A Brief History of Love County, Oklahoma. Photo of Marietta’s Main Street in the early days.
Page 30 – Washington Ranch Home is Historic Site. Two Photos.
Page 31 – Hardy Murphy, A True Great in Ardmore History. Two Photos.
Page 32 – Riding the Chisholm Trail. A cowboy’s account of trail driving through Indian Territory in the 1870’s. One Photo.
Page 33 – Healy Bros. Today’s Pioneers in Ranching. Two photos.
Page 34 – Dr. Charles Evans, A Great Educator and Community Leader. Two photos
Page 35 – The Flag Flies Again over Fort Washita. One photo.
Page 36 – Fort Washita Site Selected by General Zachery Taylor. Two photos.
Page 37 – Jim Eskew, Jr., Carries on Tradition. Two photos.
Page 38 – Col. Jim Eskew Worked with Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. One photo.
Page 39 – The Randolphs, Nationally Great Rodeo Performers. Two photos.
Page 40 – Ardmore Gibson Discount Center History. One drawing.
Page 41 – The Chevrolet Story by Dick Norwood Chevrolet. Two photos.
Page 42 – Evergreen Feeds Keeps Abreast of Changing Times. One photo.
Page 43 – The Healdton Field Fabulous Oil Discovery. Photo of Roy M. Johnson.
Page 44 – Winrock Farms, Sulphur, Oklahoma.
Page 45 – Historic Turner Falls, Natural Beauty Spot. One photo.
Page 46 – Roy Brady, Pioneer. Photo of Roy Brady on his horse Yellow Jacket.
Page 47 – Tales of Early West Lead to “Rocking S”. Two photos.
Page 48 – Democratic Government Not New to Chickasaws. One photo.
Page 49 – Stromberg-Carlson, From Telephones to Tents. One photo.
Page 50 – Burn Victims Offered Care at Shrine Burn Hospital. One photo.
Page 51 – Tribute To Pioneers. Four photos.
Page 52 – History of “Our Town” to be Written by McGalliard. One photo.I want to thank those who really made this CD a reality: The Ardmore Shrine Club Rodeo whose “Program Books” later made the ‘Pages of History’ book possible. To Governor Bill Anoatubby of the Chickasaw Nation, without his initial encouragement I would not have took on this history CD project. The Chickasaw Historical Society of Southern Oklahoma. And finally to Jane Butler of Ringling, Oklahoma who loaned me her ‘Pages of History’ book for scanning.
I’ve setup a webpage with more info, examples, and ordering instructions.
https://oklahomahistory.net/pagesofhistory.htmlThe votes are in for the best Christmas tree display at Carter County. The sheriffs department took first place with 33% of the votes! https://oklahomahistory.net/christmastrees/sotree.jpg And the CASA office on the fourth floor came in second with 16 percent of the votes! https://oklahomahistory.net/christmastrees/casatree.jpg http://vote.sparklit.com/poll.spark?pollID=707130
I feel bad that I over looked the Christmas tree display set up by Dixie Harper on the second floor. She is the bayliff for Judge Charles Tate and I simply missed going by there with my camera. I hope Dixie will forgive me, I’ll make it up to her next Christmas.
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK’S MAILBAG
“Please don’t even think of quitting your T&T. It is the highlight of our Sat. mornings. Please tell Roy Miller I would love to hear more of his stories of Doughterty, and this area. Last winter I was at a very nice party in Palm Springs Ca. and met a nice lady from Okla. She was surprised that I knew where she was born, it happened to be Doughterty.”
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“As the old year comes to an end i can truly say that we have enjoyed reading your column, we do so look forward to each and every new one that comes out, hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year keep up the wonderful job we so look forward to reading and hang on every word.Thank you.” -Margaret Redmon
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“Please don’t ever quit my friend. I’ll soon be 82 years of age and I must tell you that your T&T and your sincere friendship has been one of the hightlights of my life. For the sake of everyone – hang in there and never, never, never give up. (Winston Churchill once said something like that).”
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“Hi Butch, I have noticed two different emails concerning Coleman Jones. I used to see him often while delivering mail here in Ardmore. He was always friendly, I remember turning my ankle on the 500 block of A or B st. S.E. and he just happened to be riding along on his bicycle and witnessed the accident. He stopped and ask if I was aright? And I told him I had sprained my ankle pretty bad. He was sympathetic and told me just to pretend I was walking on eggs the rest of the day and I probably wouldn’t re injure it. I took his advice and limped along my mail route the rest of the day. I also delivered mail to his home address at one time. I was surprised to deliver a letter from the alumni association of Dartmouth College, where he had attended college as a young man. Seemed like he was an alumnus of the class of 1922 or some time during this period. I was extremely surprised to discover this old Gent had attended an Ivy League college and at a time when America’s Poet Robert Frost, was just emerging as a Poet and giving readings at Dartmouth, and other Ivy League colleges. To say he was eccentric is probably an understatement, but he was an extremely intelligent, and interesting person to talk too. For many years I used to see him at the intersection of Commerce and Stanley street, where he would visit with the traffic guard who would be parked there in the afternoons to help school children cross the busy intersection. I have heard him referred too as “the original hippie,” but anyone who had a chance to befriend him or just exchange a few words with him, knew he had a style of his own. He is one of Ardmore’s characters I miss.” mwjones@brightok.net Mike Jones, (no relation to Coleman Jones)
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“Everyone knew Coleman Jones as a little bit different kind of man, to say the least. I knew as a friend for many years being raised next door to him. He and his mother, Cecile Whittington Carter, were my best friends. Before I started to school and it would snow, he would come get me so that I could spend the day with them. I would play with his childhood toys, and learn so much history from both of them. His step-father was Charles Carter, the first Indian Congressman. As a child, his friends were the Roosevelt children and Admiral Byrd’s children. Mrs. Carter drove an ambulance in Washington D.C. and the stories that they told of their life there were wonderful. His cousin was Cole Younger, the notorious outlaw. On special events in my life, he would bring me presents and some silly poem that he would write for the occassions. The last one that I received was a corsage that he went to Scotta’s and designed for my high school graduation. To look at him on that bike, no one would know that he graduated from Dartsmouth. He was a highly educated man. He came home from college and started working at the Whittington Hotel as the night desk clerk for his aunt, Jewel Whittington. After many years of him working there, she got mad at him and fired him. Mrs. Carter and I would go to the old A&P( in her old Chevy Coupe) and then stop and visit with Miss Jewel on Saturday mornings….. that was the highlight of my week. The memories that I have of Coleman, Mrs. Carter and Miss Jewel were very different than the memories that most people have of the bearded bike rider and his family.” -Millie Scrivner Adams
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“Butch, my father was one of the Santa Fe employees who laid the RR track and helped moved the Engine 1108 out to the Hardy Murphy Coliseum. I recently saw a photo you published that someone had submitted showing some of the workers standing in front of it after it had been placed there. My dad was not one of them. I don’t have many pictures of my dad, esp. back then, and hope that someone else might share any they have of that event by sending you a copy. My dad passed away 16 years ago this month and now, more than ever, I cherish anything I can find relating to him and his life. I guess it’s typical that we are so busy with our own lives that we don’t appreciate our ancestors, many times, until after they are gone. I just wish I’d listened more closely to the stories he told about how his family were seasonal migrant workers and of the different places they traveled to. Those memories are so vague, I can’t recall much. I do, however, distinctly remember when the 1108 was being moved to its present site. He would come home each evening and tell us all about what they had done that day. Many years later I took a picture of him and my son standing beside the engine and would give anything to have one of him with it back when it was first moved. Thanks in advance to anyone who might have anything about that event and will share it. And thanks, Butch, for all you do!”
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“I have some negatives of the 1915 explosion at East Main when the man checking the cars lit a cigarette. My father told me stories about what happened then and he was a photographer but I don’t know if he took these pictures or not, I think back then most negatives were on glass plates. These are really small negatives and I was told when I tried to get them developed that they could not do it due to the size, but I can see what they are. If you know any way to get them made into pictures and will let me know, I will be happy to share them. Dad said the track was close to the hotel on east Main and there were several people killed in there, some in a bad situation and were found like that. Let me know if I can be of service.”
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“Hello Butch, greetings from the frozen north country of upstate N.Y. To the reader that inquired about the animated puppets from the Daube’s Store, the last time that I was in Ardmore for Christmas in 2000, the puppets were on display at the museum. I don’t know if that was only on loan as a temporary exhibit or if they keep it there. If the reader goes there again if they ask one of the docents I’m sure that they would be able to provide them with information concerning the puppets.”
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“To the person who worked at Duke & Ayers and knew Bernice Veal at Reavis Drug I sure would like to hear from them. Bernice had 2 daughters that I knew when I was a girl back in the 40’s. I could not find any of them a few years ago when I was back in Ardmore. I too remember all those things.” evelynb@ktsnet.com
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“Butch, the jail trusty’s name was/is George Cooper. We became friends during his time(s) of incarceration. I helped with the old typewriter in the jail and he spent a lot of time telling his remembrance of the Trail of Tears. Wish I had a copy. He was a good man.”
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“According to “Oklahoma Place Names,” Higgins, Oklahoma, is or was in western Latimer County, six miles southeast of Hartshorne. Post office discontinued December 31, 1913.”
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“Butch, please tell Mr. Miller that there are many subscribers of your newsletter that are railfans and we would love to have more info concerning the Dougherty area especially relative to the early railroad operations. If Mr Miller has any photos of the area, I would love swap photos with him. “Big Canyon” and “The Cut” are my two favorite hiking places and I have lots of recent photos I will share. Thanks to you both.” dstevensok@juno.com
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“I still hope you will meander down Dougherty way and snap a picture of the old pickup truck by the Post office. I have been told that this ancient vehicle was converted into a school bus for Dougherty School..???? Winona Parsons is our postmaster. And a sweeter soul you’ll never meet. She can lead you to the lady who OWNS THIS OLD PICKUP……… Then, when you’re hungry, go to Davis, stop in at the Main Street Restaurant (in the old Buckhorn cafe place.) Talk with Judy, Diddle, John, or Bree Hale. ….They can tell some interesting stories about “colorful Dougherty”. ( Diddle Hale’s dad is in his late 90’s and still lives in Dougherty…) That’s also where you can view the painting of the old pickup truck/school bus(?), done by famed artist, Don Pinkston, ….and hey, the food there is home cooked style, plentiful and DELICIOUS!!!”
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================================================“Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure.” -Joseph Sugarman
See eveyone next Saturday!
Butch Bridges
Lone Grove, Oklahoma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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