PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
Phone: 580-490-6823
I hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays and Christmas was a good one. I’m sure many of you did as I did and ate too much, and you’re planning to go on a diet January 1st. We didn’t do very much, we stayed home Christmas Day, and watched a couple of movies from Redbox. 2014 is quickly coming to a close and there is so much to be thankful for this year. If we sit down and count them, our blessings will be greater and prevail above all else. Praying 2015 will be a good year for us all. See everyone in 2015!
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
The Daily Ardmoreite
Ardmore, Oklahoma
Thursday, December 26, 1935
FLAMES SWEEP LONE GROVE BUSINESS AREA
FIRE WIPES OUT THREE BUILDINGS
General Store, Drugstore, Filling Stations and Physician’s Office Destroyed
ARDMORE FIRE FIGHTERS AID
County Commissioner Says Ardmore Firemen Saved Buildings
Fire, originating in Coffey and Richards’ store and filling station, destroyed a drug store and a doctor’s office early Tuesday at Lone Grove at a loss estimated at between $15,000 and $20,000. Work of Ardmore firemen prevented the blaze from spreading to other business houses and residences on the main street. The loss was partially covered by insurance.
The fire, discovered at 1:30am by E.A. Stringer, county commissioner who lives nearby, was well under way. Before he could reach the scene, Dr. G.W. Hathaway’s office next door was ablaze. The doctor’s office joined the Heflin & Doss drugstore and filling station, operated by Mr and Mrs O.K Darden. The Darden’s residence at the rear and a garage were destroyed. Darden also had a filling station in front of his drugstore.
Mr. and Mrs. Darden escaped barely in time. A new automobile, driven less then 100 miles was burned. E.W. Coffey and Roy Richards operated a large general store and filling station. Stringer said the blaze apparently originated near the back of the store. Stringer’s store and filling station east of the Coffey & Richards’ business were saved. Ardmore sent its chemical truck to aid in saving other buildings.
In Dr. Hathaway’s office were several hundred dollars’ worth of instruments, it was said. Telephone and light service was interrupted for a time. Both telephone and light wires spanned the burning building.
Ardmore Department Helps
“All that prevented other business houses from burning was the splendid work done by the Ardmore fire department”, Stringer said. “Lack of wind also was a factor”.
This is a footnote to the above story: Before his death, I had the honor of taking Dr. Hathaway, M.D. (1874 – 1973) to the hospital several times in the ambulance. He was in a local nursing home, and remained very alert to the end. We talked about many things. He was a good man. He and Dr. Hobson Veazey would share experiences at the clinic where I took Dr Hathaway for his checkups. Dr. Hathaway always had a story to tell Dr. Veazey how things were done way back when. I’ll never forget that old man, he lived to be 99 years old. A remarkable man and a remarkable life.
The Tech Corner
Every now and then someone will ask me what program I use to edit my photos. There must be 100s of photo editors out there, some free and some commercial (pay-for). I have tried several of the freeware photo editors, but always return to a free program I been using since July 1998. Its easy to use, and can do about anything you want to do with a photograph. I have over 1,800 photos and most of them I have modified them using Irfanview. The program does the basic options like resize, rotate, flip, crop, splice, manual or auto color enhancement and even create a wide-view panoramic photo using several individual photos. One feature I used to use about once a month was file conversion. Example: I’d have about 500 photos in a single folder and each one was about 1.2 megs. I would use the conversion feature to automatically reduce each one from 1.2 megs down to 120k. Irfanview would make the size reduction at the rate of about 1 per second. Nice. Check out Irfanview at the link below.
A couple pavers I sandblasted this week.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/VanaLeliaPaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/MickeyJohnsonPaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/HermanKirkwoodPaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/StanleyJohnsonPaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/paversandblasting.htm
On Monday December 29, 2014 there will be a retirement reception for Carter County Commissioner Dale Ott. The event will be held at the OSU conference room next door to the courthouse. Time will be from 2pm to 4pm. Hope to see some of you there!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14b/OttRetirement122914.jpg
Q. What Oklahoma town has a museum that houses one of the world’s most extensive and renowned collections of Native American and Western art and artifacts?
A. Gilcrease Museum is a museum located northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum houses the world’s largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West, as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America. The museum is named for Thomas Gilcrease, an oil man and avid art collector.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilcrease_Museum
Q. Becoming the last U.S. state to do so, what year did Oklahoma declare Christmas a legal holiday?
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of December 29, 2001:
“Hey Butch, I’ve been working in the film business in Calgary for the past few years. I graduated from Ardmore High and have a keen interest in our city’s history. They just finished a made for television film called the Johnson County War, a confrontation that took place in Wyoming and from which Buck Garrett and Tucker were participants. I’m always amazed that no matter where I am in North America it seems Ardmore is very close by in one form or another. The film should be out soon. Thanks!! oh and by the way they were on the “bad ” guys team!!”
http://wyomuseum.state.wy.us/
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A couple of you asked me the past week or so if Carter County Undersheriff Pat Battles was the same person who was elected Carter County Assessor. Yes, he is the one and same. I talked to retired Deputy Sheriff Bud Hunt this week and he told me Undersheriff Pat Battles not only picked up those three Thompson Machine Guns in Texarkana, Texas for their department back in 1960, he also picked up a “cold duck” rifle. It was a 30-30 and was purchased for one purpose, to end a hostage situation, should one arise in the county back in those days.
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Back in the early 1900s people would spread their dinner out on a table, maybe even in the front yard or on a picnic, and immediately the ants would start to invade the food. This was especially the case if the owners left the table to go swimming or to take a nap, etc., leaving the food on the table. These “pot within a pot”, clay pots were used to keep ants from climbing up the table legs and reaching the foodstuff. The owner would fill the space between the two pots with water, then place the legs of the tables down into the inside dry pot. The water between the two pots would keep the ants from crossing over to the table legs inside the dry pot. Interesting piece of history my friend ran across in Canton, Texas.
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“Butch, they sell Razzleberry Pie everyday at Marie Callender’s Restaurant in Norman, Oklahoma (now closed) just west of I-35. Good eating!”
Razzleberry is a type of pie commonly made with raspberries and blackberries.
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“Finally made it up to see the trolley system at El Reno, Oklahoma this weekend. Very nice! It starts near the old Rock Island Depot near the west side of town, works its way around town with a loop around a block on the far end then returns to the Depot. The rails go right down the middle of the cobble stone streets. Just like in the old days! It’s a must see.”
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Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/index.aspx?mss=152754
Non-ethanol gas (pure gas) stations in the Ardmore area.
https://oklahomahistory.net/puregas.html
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..Hey Butch, hope this finds you well and you are all set for Christmas there on the Red River. ? Just reading last week?s newsletter?. keep those computer vents CLEAN!!! You?ll get another 100,000 miles out of it that way. And keep up the great work, love your newsletter!
I just posted an excerpt from my collection Growing up Stories on my Mansions of the Mind blog called ?
The Sooner State. Some of your readers might enjoy it I think:
The Sooner State (from Growing Up Stories )
Quite often on the farm plowing, digging postholes or just herding cattle we?d find ammonite fossils. Our black dirt farm …
http://mansionsofthemind.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-sooner-state-from-growing-up.html
Enjoy and Happy Holidays to All!
Kenny A. Chaffin
Art: http://www.kacweb.com/pencil.html
Writing: http://www.kacweb.com/poems/index.html“Strive on with Awareness” – Siddhartha Gautama
STENCILS FOR PAVERS: Artie (Arnold & Craddock) carried a pack of carbon paper with him and every time we were in a cemetery and he would find a new pattern or design he would do a rubbing. To carve the tombstone required laying out a sheet of gummed (glue) rubber and then he would rub the letters and design on the rubber. Next he would use an exacta knife and cut out the rubber that would leave the letters or design to be carved (sandblasted). He was a very large man but he turned out some of the most delicate work. The blast room was about 8? by 8? and the blast nozzle was like a large water nozzle. It was very easy to BURN the rubber if you stayed on a spot to long. He had a portable set up to put the later dates on in the cemetery. It used a Model A motor with two of the spark plugs replace with tubes connected to an air tank. This was back in the early 50?s long before computers.” -Dan and Ruth
The Daily Ardmoreite
Sunday, December 28, 1919
Ardmore, Oklahoma
BUCK GARRETT HOST TO COUNTY SHUT-INS ON CHRISTMAS DAY
At the county jail, following his usual custom, Sheriff Buck Garrett was host to the prisoners on Christmas Day. And the sheriff lived up to his policy of not doing things by halves and put on a highly appreciated “spread”. There was turkey and cranberry sauce and pies and all the “fixings” attendant at a Christmas feast. Besides all the good things at the dinner table, the “shut-ins” received candies, fruits, nuts, tobacco, etc., all of which helped materially to lighten the burden of feeling that they were denied the freedom of the average American citizen.
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443http://www.7is7.com/otto/countdown.html?year=2015&month=6&date=30&ts=12&hrs=16&min=30&sec=0&tz=-300&lang=en&show=MWd&mode=t&cdir=down&bgcolor=%23CCFFFF&fgcolor=%23000000&title=Retirement%20Countdown
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
https://oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Bells of Oklahoma
https://oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
Carter County Courthouse Paver Project
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/pavers
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells: https://oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
Bill Hamm’s Cemetery Database
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/carter/cartercm.htm
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://cartercountyOK.us/
All previous issues of This & That can be found on my Website.
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