PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823
Hanging in the Love County courthouse at Marietta, Oklahoma in the district attorney office is a group photo taken about 1996. This is a group photo of the DA’s who served the 20th Judicial District since Oklahoma’s DAs offices were formed in 1966. On July 11, 1967 the office of Justice of the Peace was abolished in Oklahoma and replaced by the position of Special Judge. Ardmore’s Burke Mordy ran for the new office and was elected in 1966. In the photo from left to right are: Fred Collins, James Clark, Gary Henry, Ron Worthen and Burke Mordy. A thank you goes to Cheri West Jones for taking the picture for me at Marietta. (It was hard to take a picture of the photo behind glass, you will see some glare from the flash.)
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/DA_GroupPhoto.jpg
By the way, G.W. “Puny” Sparger and Fred J. Johnson were about the last of the Justice of the Peace here in Carter county before that office was closed for good.
Speaking of the DAs office, I have been doing a little updating the webpage, adding some more info, and photos of past district attorneys. Still lack about 3 photos, but they are forthcoming.
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/districtattorney.html
The Daily Ardmoreite
May 10, 1970
Open House Week
Although your police department is open for your inspection the year around, Chief of Police D. G. Marchesani and his staff would like to issue a special invitation to visit your newly remodeled station during this Special National Police Officer Week.
Personnel Roster:
Chief of Police D. G. “Dommie” Marchesani
Assistant Chief Don F. Wallace
Detective Frank K. Lindsay
Detective Edgar “Ed” H. West
Captain Robert E. “Bob” Neasbitt
Captain Richard “Rick” Feiler
Captain Bill Culley
Lieutenant Woody P. Eden
Lieutenant Wayne Magee
Lieutenant Don Waters
Lieutenant Lem England
Sergeant John Keith
Sergeant Thomas Sophus
Sergeant Edward “Ed” Burton
Sergeant Lloyd Booth
Patrolman Charles Gilmore
Patrolman Chester Carter
Patrolman Louie Cummings
Patrolman Robert E. Musgrove
Patrolman Henry Kinard
Patrolman Joe Vance
Patrolman George Elisee
Patrolman Kenneth Aldridge
Patrolman Jackie Sweetman
Patrolman Mary L. Lorenzen
Patrolman Dale Phillips
Patrolman Everett Wood
Patrolman Robert “Bob” McQueen
Patrolman Larry Cavner
Patrolman Dean Plank
Patrolman David Willingham
Patrolman Robert “Bob” Kelty
Pound Master Ray Caldwell
Jailer Pete Fair
Jailer L. B. Rudd
Secretary Dortha Noland
Police Clerk Maxine Roberts
Police Clerk Elva Mapp
Stopped last weekend at the newly opened New Orleans Seafood Market in Lone Grove, picked up a pound of shrimp. The store is really nice and clean inside. After cleaning and deveining the shrimp we used a mix called Pour-In-Boil to make the jambalaya.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/SeafoodPour-In-Boil_1.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/SeafoodPour-In-Boil_2.jpg
Here is the delicious jambalaya simmering in the pot!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/JambalayaRoux.jpg
The New Orleans Seafood Market in Lone Grove only sells fresh products, nothing frozen. This is a flyer listing all they offer in the market.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/NewOrleansSeafoodFlyer.jpg
Oklahoma History Revisited by Larry Guthrie, Sulphur
Question: In territorial days Guthrie was a booming city. Far and away more so than OKC. What caused the change? Remember, I’m talking about territorial days, before statehood.
Answer: A group of men headed by Henry Overholser and Charles G. Jones, organized a railroad and got right-of-way from OKC to the Red River where the Frisco ended. They had the right-of-way and it was a done deal before the men of Guthrie woke up. Thus OKC became the wholesale and distributing center. Guthrie never recovered.
From This and That newsletter archives of September 5, 1998:
In 1927 there was one Ice Cream Plant here in Ardmore. It’s the old Colvert’s Dairy building at South Washington and Stanley Street. One thing interesting about this photo, is they whitewashed the small trees around the building, AND the telephone pole!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/ColvertsIceCream1927.jpg
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I had an interesting visitor from Oklahoma City this week. His name is Herman Kirkwood and a historian extraordinaire. He is a member of Okohla Association which works to save the colorful Oklahoma history of the past. He had lots of pics of grave makers of famous desperados, bandits, lawmen and U.S. Marshals. He had a couple pics that caught my attention…. one of the cemetery in Purcell, Oklahoma where two dogs and a horse buried. I never heard of that in a public cemetery. The other was a pic of a grave marker near Konawa, Oklahoma. Katherine Cross died in 1901 and inscribed on her tombstone was “She was killed by human wolves”. Werewolves?
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/KatherineCrossTombstone.jpg
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One Less Bell In the Ardmore Area. In 1984, the bell atop Olivet Mission in the Industrial Addition of Ardmore was stolen. It was a nice old bell, as bells go, that welcomed the residents of the area to services on Sunday mornings. The mission has since closed and the building has been removed. Somewhere, known only to its previous owner, the LORD, the bell may still ring but its message has changed. Maybe the sound of that bell will be a reminder to the thief that one day he will stand and receive his delayed sentence from the all-knowing owner and ultimate JUDGE.”
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Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
https://oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Check gas prices by town or zip code anywhere in U.S.
http://www.kmov.com/traffic/gas-buddy
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
“In the photo of Mrs. Arrington’s fourth grade class at Washington Grade School is our brother Thurman Thomason, third from the left on the first row. They will be celebrating their 50 graduation reunion the end of September. Congratulations!” -Joanna Thomason Smathers, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/JuanitaArringtonClass1954.jpg
“Mrs. Arrington always taught 4th grade at Washington School except her last year there when she did a split 3rd, and 4th grade. My brother was in her 3rd grade class. She went to AJHS to do 7th.”
“Butch, This may be of interest to some of the old timers that are still around regarding several folks in the 1945 ? 1947 era. While in AHS many of us kids had jobs at one of the three Lowenstein theaters in Ardmore. The Tivoli, Ritz, and Paramount. These were owned by Mr. Lowenstein, and managed by Larry Boggs, and Pat Terry. Larry was business manager, and Pat ran the operations and technical parts. Bill Moore was chief operator at the Tivoli, and his assistant chief op was Bill Griffin. Bill Moore was mentor to a bunch of high school kids working as relief operators and ticket takers. Ava Webb was the main operator at the Ritz, and a lady named Donnis Duck (which I was led to believe to be her name) was at the Paramount. Kids going to high school and working as relief operators in the afternoon, on weekdays, and generally most of the day on weekends during operating hours. Those were Bill Griffin, Charles Creecy, Bill Hignight, Billie Heron, and me, Virgil Harris. There may have been one or two others that time but have slipped my mind. Working as ticket sellers and takers were Marie Yates, a girl names Ester, Joe Daniel, ?Red? Wilson, and, and again, there may have been one or two others that I don?t recall. This can be remembered as a fun time for us at that age with the war winding down, and the prospect of getting out of school and moving on to whatever. I have no idea where most of these folks are now, or if they are still around. I know that Bill Griffin and Charlie Creecy went to the navy. I went to OU for a short period, and later took a job flying for an oil company. Bill Hignight still lives in Ardmore, and Bill Griffin lives in Mundelein, Ill. This recollection of events was prompted as I am a weekly reader of T&T, and it is always exciting to see names of folks that I knew in years past. I guess as we age, we live more in the past and I?m certain that everything wasn?t as rosy back then as we recall in our minds today. Keep the information coming as we look forward to seeing it each week.” -Virgil Harris
“Butch, this is Jackie Ricketts former Ardmore P.D. Your listing of the old motel brought back to memory the night the Chief Motel (I believe) caught fire. I happened to be working the south side, saw smoke and was able to get everyone awakened out that night. Thank God.”
“Butch, I read your blog last week on Saturday morning and when I got to the submission from Francis Dunlap I was starving. I had seen the article in last month’s AAA HOME & AWAY magazine about hamburgers in Oklahoma and had written the editor telling her about the Hamburger Inn. I received a nice email back telling me they were including Ardmore in the second installment of the story. I then received a nice email from the author, Michelle Newman, thanking me for my letter.
Francis also mentioned the Diner in Norman and I can tell you it is a classic. It’s on the north side of Main just west of Porter. Whenever I am in Oklahoma I plan a breakfast in Norman. My favorite spot is a stool right behind the cook and his helper. It is wonderful to watch them work the grill and get a steady stream of orders out.
Tricia and I recently returned from Santa Fe and I can tell you one of my favorite breakfast places there, Tecolote Cafe, is once again open. The owner died some time last year and they were closed for a while. The menu is the same. The food is the same. My other “go to” breakfast places in Santa Fe are the New York Deli on Catron just around the corner from Bert’s Burger Bowl and Tia Sophia’s on Water Street about 1 1/2 blocks west of the plaza. Green chile and eggs is hard to beat.” -Monroe Cameron
“Butch, Here are some links to historic photos taken by a good friend of mine, Roy Miller, during his career with Dolese when they still operated the “Crusher” in Big Canyon, Oklahoma (south of Davis). Roy gave me permission to post his photos and his descriptions of each to my webshots photo site.
There are two pages of photos so be sure to check them all out.
Also be sure to click on each photo to enlarge it, then click on it again for the full resolution.
Check out this photo from the album showing the Washita River at flood stage lapping at the Santa Fe main line tracks (Red Rock Sub), the Santa Fe Speeder and the ATSF gondola cars at risk from the river. This curve is the spot where we park our cars during our Big Canyon Photo Sessions. Also notice the semaphore and line shack in the background. Be sure to read Roy’s description of the events below the photo.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2536826380048365975JjIRkG
Here’s another photo of the same location but from the opposite direction (different day)
and from a Mtn. top.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2798772620048365975XOwlxv
Great photos from a by-gone era of Dolese Bros. Co & the ATSF railway
(the rail line is still there, owned and operated by BNSF, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the Heartland Flyer follows this same route daily through the Arbuckle Mts.)
Here’s the album link:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/583312001uwWpMF
and the album “description” link:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2345448180048365975qpsDaR
-C. Dwane Stevens
The Daily Ardmoreite
December 6, 1946
H. D. Epperson some time back bought 10 acres of land along U. S. highway 70 a half mile east of the city and began to improve it. He drilled a well 300 feet deep with his own Fort Worth spudder and equipped it with a pump and equipped the lot with an overhead tank of water so that water can be conveyed to every part of the 10 acres. Within the last week he completed a second well at a depth of 125 feet and it stands in water to within 18 feet of the surface.
Another feature of the acreage which will be known as Epperson’s Courts is a cafe under construction. The cafe will be equipped with freezing machinery that will take care of half enough meat to run the entire city. Stoves and tables and chairs have already been purchased for the cafe and at one time he hoped to open it for Christmas dinner but too many thing came along to hinder construction. The courts will have a grocery store and a beer tavern and a dance hall. Epperson, two years ago, placed an order for a bulldozer and has just been apprised that it is ready for shipment. With this machine he will landscape his courts. He purchased the entire nursery stock of a firm that sold in southwest Ardmore and he will do his own landscaping.
The Epperson Courts already have a garage with a drive-in large enough to accommodate the largest trucks and tractors and it is in full operation. Harold Epperson, a son of the builder, and his wife have a home there and Harold is engaged with his father in doing the construction work. The courts have about four three-room apartments that are rented and besides Mr. Epperson and his family have a home there.
Flowers are to be grown at the Epperson courts, Bell gasoline will be sold. Epperson will operate welding machinery and has welding equipment mounted on a truck to send to the country to serve others. Saddles and riding horses have been provided for riding stables. Pool tables will also be put in.
Another feature of the Epperson courts will be a barbecue pit big enough to barbecue all the beef Ardmore could use.
Cold storage equipment is being put in by Bill Lumpkin. The cold storage plant will measure 8×28 feet. The cafe will be air conditioned and it will be lighted with fluorescent lights and the building will be trimmed with neon lights. Epperson has a big dream and he is working day and night to make the dream come true.
Nov. 27, the fifth girl came to the Epperson home, the name of Judy Mae has been given to her.The WWII books are at the museum and selling like hotcakes, better get yours soon!!
Visit us online at http://www.wilsonhistoricalmuseum.org or at the museum. Wilson Historical Museum Hours: Tues., Thurs., Fri., Sat. 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
I’ll have a hamburger for which I will gladly pay you Tuesday. –Wimpy
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a minute!
http://www.CheapLongDistance.org
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ardmorecriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells: https://oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
American Flyers Memorial Fund – Administration Webpage
https://oklahomahistory.net/crash66.html
Official American Flyers Memorial Website
http://www.brightok.net/~wwwafm
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Base Website
http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons
Mirror Site of the Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
https://oklahomahistory.net/airbase/
Carter county schools, past and present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County Government Website
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
Ardmore School Criterions
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com
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