PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 580-490-6823
I received lots of comments on the write-up in the last issue on the Hamburger Inn. But there is one email in particular that caught my attention, something I had forgot all about over the years. It was the little stainless steel teapot Chock Thompson kept next to the griddle. He’d pour a little over the hamburger patties, etc., as they started cooking. In the Mailbag below you will find the email George Davis sent in last week about the teapot!
I was a little confused about the exact location of Firemans Lunch in downtown Ardmore last week. After talking with several people, I found out the building is now gone, but it was located in the SE corner of South Washington and Hinkle Street. Here is a pic of the location and a map marking the spot.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/FiremansLunchLocation1.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/FiremansLunchMap.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/FiremansLunchCafe1948.jpg
T&T subscriber Gary Bennett recently emailed and brought to my attention his Stories Remembered website. Gary has some interesting articles shared by authors. In Gary’s own words: “We discovered that time has a way of messing with one?s memory. We cherish our authors memories of events in their lives and wish to present them in their own style. When we have the opportunity to participate in the telling of a story we encourage the author to share their emotions and felling. We publish these stories for your enjoyment and pleasure and also so our Authors may receive the recognition and acknowledgement they so deserve.”
It looks like our three grapevines are going to make it to maturity, at least I hope so. I took a pic this week of the only batch of grapes that looks close to ripe. There must be a ton on the 3 vines, all still green though.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/GrapesRipe062711.jpg
A couple years ago I talked about a toilet bowl cleaner called The Works, available at Walmart for $1.23 a bottle. It works great to clean a dishwasher, just put a little in the door’s soap holder, and run it through a cycle. I use it to clean our water sprinklers too. After about 2 or 3 months they become really brownish from the well water running through them. The Works cleans them like brand new (and also the hose spray nozzles). Just remember this is kinda toxic (like any toilet bowl cleaner), so be careful when using it.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/SprinklerBefore.jpg
And here is that same sprinkler after a cleaning with The Works.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/SprinklerAfter.jpg
Speaking of sprinklers, I have tried several and wasted my money on all of them but one brand. I’ve tried the ones at Walmart, even the $2 ones at General Dollar and Big Lots. They all worked fine for a month or two, then quit. The most dependable sprinkler I’ve found is the Rain Bird Impact Sprinkler brand I bought online (Ace Hardware Store) and had it delivered to D&H Hardware right here in Lone Grove. I did a quick look, and can’t find the PR-2 Impact Sprinker I bought 2 yrs ago (looks like Ace.com does not carry that model anymore). Anyway, my Rainbird sprinklers works summer after summer.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/RainBirdSprinkler061610.jpg
This brownish film that comes from our well water is safe, been tested, but it has a ‘iron’ taste, so we just use it for outside watering. We use SOWC water for inside the house. Now to figure an easy way to see how far it is to the water since its a sealed casing. Three years ago it was about 30 feet to the water, the well is 185 feet deep.
Someone asked me this week on Facebook how to get rid of spiders in their house. I suggested they try Glue Boards. Many people responded they have used the Glue Boards over the years with good results. One person even caught a small mouse in the garage on a glue board just this week. The Glue Boards are $1.97 for a package of 4 at Walmart. I like them because they are non-toxic, no poison involved.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/GlueBoards062811.jpg
Its so dry, even the buzzards are desperate for food and water. I killed a possum the other day near our chicken house, threw him in the back 40, and the next morning there were 9 buzzards feasting.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/NineBuzzards050611.jpg
Current U.S. drought map.
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
Sure a lot of snakes being seen and killed in this county. Everyone be careful.
From This and That newsletter archives of June 27, 1998:
I been thinking about getting one of those cameras that doesn’t use film…… to take pics, then use a cable to download them to the computer. I sure could use one taking these pics all over Oklahoma. Maybe someone knows where I can get one at a good price.
Just as you get off Interstate 35 at the One Mile Marker on the east side I found this vegetable stand run by Mr. Dan Kretzschmar. Dan is 68 years young and remembers a lot about Brown’s Springs. He also remembers the old toll bridge that went across the Red River into Texas. He said they closed it down when he was about 6 or 7 years old. Here’s a pic of that Toll Bridge across the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma….. just north of Gainesville, TX.
https://oklahomahistory.net/glimpsepast/redbri30.jpg
Dan didn’t have too much this time at his vegetable stand, but said he was getting tomatoes and corn in soon. He also only sells locally grown watermelons, still to early for those. He did have some beef jerky he makes… $1 for a big slice. He was going to give me another smaller piece, but couldn’t find a small piece, so he just said, “here take another large piece.” Dan was a great guy to talk to. Here’s a pic of Dan and his vegetable stand.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/dan2.jpg
and here’s a closeup of Dan
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/dan1.jpg
Note: Ernest “Dan” Kretzschmar passed away in 2005
Q. What Oklahoma town is the nation’s wheat capital ?
A. Enid, Oklahoma
Q. Vance Air Force Base is located at what Oklahoma town?
A. (answer in next week’s newsletter)
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
https://oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.htmlSome mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
“Butch, reading the Hamburger Inn stories reminded me of my Jr. High days. We would run through the Dr Pepper bottling plant to the Hamburger Inn drive-up window, where the burgers and fries were already cooked up. We would then run to Southern Vending to eat our burger and fries while playing pinball until we had to get back to class. Many a free game was left on those pinball machines because we had to get back for afternoon class.” -Greg DeBerry
“Butch, I have a bit of history that Jimmy Dale may not even be aware of. My family owned J. W. Davis Grocery on C Street N.W. There would be a lot of scrap fat as they hand cut meat and steaks of all kinds from whole fore and hind quarters of beef. It would be pitched in a cardboard box and about every other morning put into a five gallon stock pot and rendered on the stove for several hours. The liquid (tallow) would be filtered from the remains (cracklings) and put into containers and refrigerated for further use. That further use, until the Davis Grocery closed in 1961, was sold to Ernest Brown. Chock always had a stainless steel pitcher sitting on the corner of the griddle. After he threw the ball of meat on the griddle and jobbed a hand full of onions into the middle of it then flattened it with a spatula, he would saturate it with the liquid tallow (how much trans fat was that?). I believe that was what gave the early hamburgers their unique flavor. My first burger cost eighteen cents, and my Dad, Warren said his first burger was a nickel. That must have been when Earnest first started. He made a few bucks off me and I loved every penny of it, even the malts and shakes to go in a quart jar (believe it). I dearly loved that place.” -George Davis, AHS ’60
“Butch, a couple more names of former employees of Ardmore’s infamous Hamburger Inn. My maternal grandmother, Nona Ann (Armstrong) (Huffman) Pittman worked at the original burger site in the early 1950’s. She’d walk to work and back and even after being on her feet all day at work, wouldn’t slow down when she got home. She’d mow the lawn, trim hedges, weed the garden, etc (in summer), then finish with cooking a good supper and making sure everything was spotless and in the right place before sitting down to rest. A remarkable woman. Died too young at the age of 72 in 1963. Another employee was my friend, Ida Mae Wilson’s, mother, Lockie Wilson. She worked at the present location for many years. My favorite desserts they had were the vanilla custard pies and chocolate cream. YUM! If course, no one could make an onion burger better than Hamburger Inn. After I married and moved from this area, living & traveling in Texas and all the states we went thru when moving to Maryland and Virginia, no one had ever heard of an “educated” or “old fashioned” burger. I believe those terms must have originated here. Some of the younger crowd now days, those under 50, still don’t know what those terms mean because they aren’t used as much. I ordered an “old fashioned” from D&S Pit Stop in Dickson a few years back and got a blank look from the young lady who was taking my order. After telling her what it was, she said, “Oh, that makes sense!”. And from then on they knew what I wanted when I ordered it. Thanks for the memories. Take care and God bless.” -Diane
“I was also interested in seeing the piece about Fireman’s Lunch. I had forgotten that was the name, just remembered it as Jelly’s. My dad, CB Means, owned Ardmore Auto Parts there on the corner and he ate lunch at Jelly’s all the time. I often got to go with him. Mostly we had the t-bone steak. The picture is exactly as I remember. Our other downtown eatery was Courthouse Cafe. My aunt Ethel worked there. They had plate lunches, meat, potatoes, 2 vegetables, and fresh hot rolls. You could smell the rolls cooking for blocks around the place. Or you could have stew with cornbread. And of course pies. As I recall there were 2 tables, one booth and about a half dozen stools–way bigger than Fireman’s Lunch. Thanks for preserving all this history.” -Judy
The 2011 Berwyn School reunion will be held at the Senior Center in Gene Autry at 3:30 PM on Saturday July 2nd. Dinner will be at 5:30 PM. Please make your reservations now by contacting Jo Lee Dillion Foster 580-223-5238 [email protected] , Pat Conway Whitener 580-504-0444 [email protected] or Richard (Butch) Haney [email protected] .We encourage all to attend, and come and visit with your friends and classmates. -Richard (Butch) Haney
“I was 10 years old in 1956 and that is when my dad and I began eating breakfast at the Hamburger Inn together. I received a .410 shotgun from my parents for my tenth birthday that September and before the beginning of duck season, my dad taught me how to properly shoot a shotgun and I have used that skill the rest of my life. Bird hunting has remained one of the great joys of my life.
On those mornings when we went hunting, we would get up at 4:30 and head for breakfast. Because of the time, we would go to either Doc’s Pig Stand, Fireman’s Grill or the Hamburger Inn. I always felt special because I got to go to breakfast with my dad and be exposed to a group of early morning customers who were on their way to work or just getting off work somewhere. The early morning chatter was always interesting. Most of the people my dad knew in those places called him O.C. because they had trouble pronouncing Ossian Cameron.
I think I began eating lunch at the Hamburger Inn when I was in the ninth grade. We would run every day to the Hamburger Inn for lunch. Every now and then I would have enough money for a chili cheeseburger. Most often It would just be a burger and fries.
On the way back to school we would wander into Southern Vending on the corner because one of my friends was always buying records out of their bins.
The last time I was in Ardmore I took my wife, Tricia, to the Hamburger Inn and relived a little of the past. The people have changed but the food hasn’t. The counter top is the same one I first saw the first time I ate there back in 1956. It is starting to feel like a long time ago.” -Monroe Cameron
“Butch, No doubt, everyone that has read the various letters in T&T regarding the Hamburger Inn, and Mr. Brown will confirm that he was a prince of gentlemen. He was my Sunday School teacher at the First Orthodox Baptist Church in the early years. I was surprised that there was no mention of the small take out window at the front of the restaurant. I have stood there many times in cold weather on my way to AHS. There were times in the morning that the place was full of folks waiting for a seat. I can recall seeing the windows frosted up, and wishing I was inside. I don’t know if many of the folks in his SS class are still around. I know of only one, Clive Atkinson who lives in Houston. As far as I am concerned, his example for living a good clean life is only rivaled by our coach then at AHS, Mr. Paul Young. Great memories.”
“Butch ? just a note from the Greater Southwest Historical Museum in Ardmore. We have many new items in the gift shop, including Oklahoma souvenir plates and spoons, handmade children?s sunbonnets ,and different historical toys and games for the children. Also, we are always looking for volunteers to help us out during the year. Our curator always needs help with the collections, the office always needs help with the gift shop and office work and our maintenance department definitely always needs help. If any of your followers would be interested in volunteering at the museum, have them please stop by and fill out a volunteer form.
The Museum has a new temporary exhibit! Come see our Art Exhibition which includes items form GSHM?s permanent collection. Many of these works have not been on display for several years. The exhibit will be viewable until Fall. Don?t forget to keep an eye on our updated website GSHM.ORG where you can see our collections and keep up with what?s happening at the Museum.”
Barbara
Greater Southwest Historical Museum, Ardmore, Oklahoma
“Not Oklahoma but I have a friend who owns a New Mexico ranch with an interesting history. I stopped by there about ten years ago to spend the night with John and Jean and was put in the bunkroom in the barn. They actually live in a line cabin six miles from the main ranch headquarters. John told me not to pay any attention to the self-emptying mouse trap. Turns out it’s a cage about two feet long with a balance plate that swings down when a mouse walks out on it to get to the bait and back up when he gets off, trapping him in the cage. It wasn’t long before the self-emptying feature came along. It was a bull snake about four feet long that came out of a hole in the rock wall of the barn. He crawled around and looked into the cage at the trapped mouse. Then he crawled out on the balance plate and a foot or so of him inside where he caught the mouse. After he got the mouse swallowed, he backed out and went back in his hole. A funny side note to the story, when we finished dinner, I started to stack the dishes to take them to the sink. John told me, “Don’t stack the plates or I’ll have to wash both sides.” -Jim
http://www.livestockweekly.com/papers/03/08/07/whlcomancheros.asp
“Butch, Here is some more info on the well bucket. The Kaufman family story of Benjamin Franklin Kaufman inventing it but never had it patented, just like the family story. Rex Hand is his grandson and I am his nephew. A fellow by the surname of “Bartlett” was always mentioned who had it patented. All this happened in Ft Smith Arkansas circa the 1920s or maybe earlier then that. He was a plumber and had his shop at Lawton until 1940 when he moved to Lincoln AR. I’ll bet that some Lawton old-timers readers of the T&T will remember it.” -H E Huber, Plano TX
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/WellBucket061111a.jpg
“The people writing about Hamburger Inn must be a lot younger than I am. My friends and I recall hamburgers being five cents each and 6 for twenty five cents. Recently when my class met on our 65th reunion, I asked where they wanted to meet this fall. Nearly everyone said ?Hamburger Inn.? I don?t believe the place could hold all of us but we could get our hamburgers to go and find somewhere else to eat them. I was in Ardmore last Sat and wanted to get a burger there but I was not hungry at the time and by the time I left, they were closed. Maybe next time.” -Frances
Wilson Fire Dept Hamburger Cookout & Fireworks Display. Sunday, July 3 at 6:30pm at Wilson Softball Field. $5 a plate, Live Entertainment provided by Logan Russell Band, Shotgun Raffle @ 8 pm, Fireworks display @ dark, … The Wilson Volunteer Fireman will be taking donations at the gate & will be greatly appreciated. Than you for your support!
Museum Memories
For the past two years, I have been compiling information for a WWII album of Wilson’s service men and women. I’ve had the privilege of meeting and learning about many of our veterans and KIAs and am thrilled to say the project is nearing its end. The main thing I need help with, at this point, is acquiring pictures of several men, mostly KIAs. If you have a picture of any of the following men, or information you would like to contribute, please email me at [email protected] or call 668-2237. You may also drop off pictures and information at the Wilson Museum. Please leave copies only of pictures.
Also, if anyone has Wilson school annuals from 1930 – 1940 and you would be willing to loan them to me, please drop them off at the museum (with your name and address attached) and I will return as soon as possible.
Following is a list of pictures I need:
Billie Joe Dukes, son of H. H. Dukes
Clifford Otto Wood
Darell L. Stevens, son of Lee Stevens
Halley L. Bahner, son of Ralph Waldo Bahner
Harold D. Fulton, son of Bill and Susan Fulton
Hershal Gilliam, son of Hershal Gilliam
James Harris, son of Charles and Zoe Harris
Richard Harris, son of Charles and Zoe Harris
James M. Isham, son of James Isham
Jesse C. Holloway, son of Wallace Holloway
John W. Lofton, son of William Lofton
Leonard Walker, brother of Roy Walker
Luey Haines, son of Otis Haines
R. P. Holt, son of David and Barcy
Rufus G. Hale, son of William Hale
Virgil Adams, son of Elbert Cleo Adams
Woodrow Bryan Carroll, son of James and Maggie Carroll
Does the Wind Still Blow in Oklahoma by Reba McIntire, born Kiowa, Oklahoma
Does the wind still blow in Oklahoma
Out here the Hollywood stars sure shine bright
It’s such a long way from home here in California
Missin? you and that blue wide open sky
Don?t forget me in your prayers tonight…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOwHXp-Scs4&feature=related
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!
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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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