PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402

Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net, Phone: 580-490-6823

A piece of history was razed this week on 12th Street Northwest in Ardmore. When I went to work as a driver/attendant for Ardmore’s ambulance service full time in 1970 the building at 1204 12th NW housed the Ardmore Answering Service.

Peggy and Don Litts were the owners and inside the building were 50 individual phones on shelves all around the office walls. and later a PBX switchboard was added. The Litts were told by Southwestern Bell Telephone they could have no more individual desk phones, and had to get a PBX. One of the phones was for the ambulance service’s emergency number at that time (before 911), 223-1223. When we left the office behind the Ardmore Seventh Day Adventist Hospital on 12th NW we’d call the answering service and tell them where we were going. If the phone in our office rang, the answering service would pick up, take the call, and call the Ardmore police department to dispatch our ambulance, Carter County 18, to such and such address. Thank God Ardmore does not have that kind of iffy system today, but we worked with what we had in those days. Boy, the stories I could tell about calls-gone-wrong during my 15 years at the Ambulance Service and some involved the Ardmore Answering Service. Below is a 2016 picture of the old building.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18b/ArdmoreAnsweringService.jpg

This is a picture I snapped today, the building is down and the cleanup is almost over.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18b/ArdmoreAnsweringServiceRazed102518.jpg

1922 photo of the old Santa Fe depot at Guthrie, Oklahoma

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18b/SantaFeFreightOfficeGuthrieOK1922.jpg

This week a Reader mentioned my newsletter and proof reading it. My mind flashed back about ten years to a former Ardmore born man named Jim Hubble. Jim was living just outside Gainesville, Texas at Whitesboro, Texas. I had sent out my newsletter that evening years ago, and in a few minutes Jim had emailed me several typos and misspellings I had in the newsletter, asking not to take offense. I said no offense taken, and I appreciated his input. From that day forward until his death in December 2015 every week Jim would proof read, I’d make the corrections and re-upload it to my website.

Jim Hubble taught me a lot but I guess his hardest task was teaching me not to capitalize the word county in Carter County. Oh, and the other was Sheriff’s Office. I always typed it Sheriffs Office. That was drilled into my brain by now deceased sheriff Bill Noland. Bill didn’t like the apostrophe in sheriff. Bill said the sheriff does not own the sheriffs office. So sometimes I’d type it as Jim Hubble wanted it, and sometimes as Bill Noland wanted it spelled without the apostrophe. lol

https://www.meadorfuneralhome.com/obituaries/James-Hubbell/#!/Obituary

Q.  This hike will take you to the highest point in Oklahoma and an unforgettable experience.
A.   Its Black Mesa in the northwestern Panhandle (historically known as No Mans Land) of Oklahoma. The trail will take you 4,987 ft. above sea level and is surrounded by sweeping views of some of the most unusual topography in the state. CLICK HERE

Q.  In 1959 this Oklahoma auto bank was the largest in the nation with 6 drive threw lanes. Where was this bank located?
A.  Answer in next week’s newsletter

Here’s a piece of granite I sandblasted the other day. Turned out beautiful!

https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/BettyMauldinMarker.jpg

Below is from This and That newsletter archives of October 26, 2006

Ardmore Shrine Club Rodeo performers:

1962-Dan Blocker & Lorne Green
1963-Michael Landon & Johnny Crawford
1964-Rex Allen
1966-Rex Allen
1967-Clu Gulager (born in Holdenville, OK) & George Lindsey
1968-Rex Allen
1970-Bobby Vinton
1971-Rex Allen, Pedro Gongalez, and Jan Levy
1972-Connie Smith
1974-David Houston, Shoji Tabuchi, and Barbara Fairchild
1977-Jeannie C. Riley
1980-Charly McClain
1987-Moe Bandy, Red Steagall, and Rex Allen Jr.
1988-Red Steagall, Hank Thompson, and Keith Whitley
1989-Mason Dixon, Gene Watson, and Joe Stampley
1991-Moe Bandy, Red Steagall, and Stonehorse Band
1992-Nark Collie, Johnny Rodriquez, and David Winters Hit and Run Band
1993-Billy Joe Royal, John Conlee, and John Arnold Band
1994-Gene Watson, Tim McGraw, and Stonehorse Band
1995-Ronnie McDowell, Ricky Lynn Gregg, and Stonehorse Band
1996-Ken Mellons, Daryl Singletary, and David Winters Hit and Run Band
1999-Peggy Rains
2000-Dave Alexander
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Jim and Andy Roff established their 700 Ranch in Carter county during the early 1870s. To give you an idea how large the Roff Bros Ranch was, the City of Ardmore occupies the SW corner of the 700 Ranch property. As many of you know a replica of 700 Ranch sat for a long time next to the Hardy Murphy Coliseum. 1880 Ranch house built on the 700 Ranch, the first known man-made structure within the townsite. Built by Alva Buckingham Roff, the ranch house was located on the west fork of Anadarche Creek at what became the corner of G Street and 2nd Avenue, SE. It was a double log house, the two sections divided by the traditional “dog-trot” breezeway. The house is now located in the historical museum. The 700 Ranch was then in Pickens County, Chickasaw Indian Nation, named for Edmund Pickens, a prominent Chickasaw. The following is a full page coverage of the Roff Brothers and their famous 700 Ranch house published in the 1976 Shrine Club Rodeo Program. The original article appeared in the very first Rodeo Program published by the Shrine in 1962.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/RoffBrothersRanch.jpg
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“The Daily Ardmoreite, September 21, 1929- “Waging a campaign against underweight children, the Ardmore public schools will begin their second year of giving a mid-morning lunch of milk and graham crackers to children who are below normal in weight. Approximately 50,000 half-pints of milk were consumed last year at the four elementary schools where the mid-morning lunch was offered for the first time on a citywide scale. The practice resulted in the reduction of the average number of underweights from 22 1/2 percent in October to 9 percent in February. An improved physical condition resulting from the general nutritive program was shown in the greater resistive power developed during the year.”
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“I believe my sister, Anna Imgrund, spoke with you the other day. We are desperately trying to learn something about our grandmother’s first husband, Frank N. Preuit (sometimes spelled Preuitt). He and my grandmother lived both in Ardmore and Pauls Valley from 1907-1921 when he was murdered. He “struck it rich” in the oil fields of Healdton/Ardmore sometime between 1914-1920. I have an article from the Daily Oklahoman in 1918 giving him credit as being one of the men who “so generously donated to the Ardmore Industrial Park.” I know his oil partner was R.F. McCrory. He was also partnered with Paul Frame on some oil leases. Frank Preuit was superintendent of the Love & Thurmond Cotton Compress at some point. Was that in Ardmore? The Preuits were members of Dornick Hills Country Club. That is about all the information I have. We are desperately trying to find anyone who may know anything about him (or my grandmother Evelyn L. Preuit). Would you please ask your fellow historians and readers to lend a hand? It would be so appreciated. Once again, thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.” -“Cissy” Cecelia Chesnutt cissychesnutt@yahoo.com
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“Butch, as always—enjoyed This and That!–the poem, “Oklahoma Rain” was wonderful and those of us who grew up listening to the rain hitting the windows and roofs could not only relate but it gave us, just for a minute, a remembrance of our childhood. In moving around the world as an Air Force wife, I found that Paris, France had a daily shower (one year it rained 363 days) and it reminded me of Oklahoma and the long rains of autumn. —I remember one year, our jersey cow, was standing out under a cherry tree with the rain pouring down. I stood at the window and cried as long as it rained –worried about “Haskell”, the cow. When I was an adult, my mother mentioned that the cow was named after an old hi-school girlfriend of my dad. Haskell was a lovely blond with big brown eyes. —-Isnt memory a funny sort of thing? I loved the cow dearly and treasure the story of how she was named (by my mother) after daddy’s old girlfriend! Butch you really offer all us old okies a treasure chest of memories—thanks!” -Sammie Binkley
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Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..

“Hey butch, I have a question, when did TG&Y close the doors in Ardmore Tiffany plaza?”
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Re: P38 lands near Hennepin, Oklahoma during WW2. I remember hearing about this at the time. We lived near Graham, OK. Didn’t get to go see it, however. We weren’t very mobile at the time. I heard a minor problem was repaired and that they were able to fly it out. -Gene Brent
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Butch, the three grades of gas in 1934 were called Ethyl, Regular & White (no lead). -Dan Holder
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Butch: In last week’s column, I read you printed the whole poem Rain, Rain, Go Away, etc. etc. I live just one county west of all the bad flooding & we are even on alert here in Austin as the Colorado River goes thru down town Austin. I had been trying to remember all of the poem so you printing it was a big help to me. One of our high schools is just a block away from the walking trails that border the river. The School may close if this keeps up. My husband was born in Wilson, Ok. but has lived in Texas most of his life & he still has a lot of cousins in Oklahoma so we all enjoy your column. Keep up the good work. -Theresa Brawley
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AUTUMN’S SONG

by Joh Gainey, Sulphur, Oklahoma

Let him who will sing songs to spring;
To blossom’s varied hues;
I give my praise to golden days
Of autumn’s misty dews.

To meadows cloaked in morning mists
Of gossamer and lace;
To fruit trees’ heavy-laden boughs
That strain against the brace.

Ah, give me golden autumn nights
With moons of mellowed glow,
And faintly to the ear the call
Of geese that race the snow.

The spring is but the harbinger;
A tune of vast portent,
While autumn sings fulfillment’s song
And leaves my heart content.

See everyone next week!

Butch and Jill Bridges

“Friends Make Life Worth Living”PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443

https://oklahomahistory.net

Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
https://oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
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 Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us