PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 580-490-6823
Last Thursday evening I had a terrible time trying to get my newsletter sent out. My email program would send out a couple hundred and then just stop, just hang there for about 10 minutes until it timed out. This went on the rest of the evening with only about 900 of my 1,600 subscribers receiving their T&T. I kept looking at the Sent Log and noticed every time it stopped, it was on a noble.org email. So I moved those email addresses to a separate Folder and all went fine. Everyone received their newsletter except those 7 people. Noble.org has probably tweaked their Mail Server a little too much, and now it thinks my newsletter is Spam. lol. Anyway, I will send those 7 out separately tonight.
Today at noon Carter county employees had their Christmas dinner at the
District 3 Barn in Lone Grove. This is the first year all the county offices were gathered together in one place, and everyone had a great time. All in attendance enjoyed the good food, and the socializing that went with it from all county departments under one roof. In past years each of the 3 barns did their own Christmas dinner on different dates during December, but this year December 15th was picked for everyone to assemble at the District 3 Barn. Needless to say there was food galore and sweets covered one table by themselves. Everyone had a good time and left with full tummies. Below is a pic I snapped of everyone stuffing to their hearts content!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/ChristmasDinner2011.jpg
I remember back in the late 1950s and early 1960s going with my grandfather, Stanley Carmon, to a popular eating place south of Thackerville near the Red River to buy a BBQ sandwich and drink. I got a Coke of course but my grandpa had a beer. There were quite a few beer joints just across the Red River on old Highway 77 (Oklahoma side). This would be between the Chickasaw Bingo place and the river. Cooke County (Gainesville, TX) was dry so a lot of Texans traveled across the river to buy beer and who knows what else. It was so long ago I can barely remember the details. I think it was a BBQ place on the east side of Highway 77 just north of the Red River. It even seems like it was a Drive In type establishment more then a “go inside” type place. We sat out in front in the old pickup and ate a BBQ sandwich and drink a sodie pop. What brought back this memory to me was an email I received this week:
“Butch, I got an email from a guy I know near Houston, who wants to know the names of all the beer joints south of Thackerville, ?across the river? from Gainesville, and their relative locations. Some burned down and/or were renamed. I think he drank his 3-2 beer along that short stretch of US77 back in his youth. Perhaps you have a reader who is old enough and still has a good enough memory to recall the names and locations of those places. I remember Johnny?s B-29 and Metzler Bros. on the east side, and the T&O on the west side, but I know there were a lot more.” -Jim in Whitesboro, Texas
Maybe there are some Readers who remember those beer joints down at the Red River and I will pass along some names to Jim. Any help is appreciated.
Here are some responses to the above through my Facebook:
Clara Glazner Matthews: “johnnys chicken in the basket”
Ken Bacon: “Butch! I was the prosecutor in Love County in the 60’s when Johnny’s B29 club and all the other “joints” were in full bloom. It was so bad we made all the joint operators on the river contribute to hiring a full time deputy just to work the river joints. I had more killings, rapes, robberies etc on “the strip” than the rest of the entire county. I will try to find a list of the joints on “the strip” that I put together when I wrote my book “The Red River Prosecutor.”. If I find it I will post it.”
Bryan Pullen: “Does anyone have a photo of Johnny’s B-29. Singer MEATLOAF used to frequent that as a teen as they would sell him beer without carding him. lol he talks about it in his Autobiography. Would love to see a photo. BTW Where exactly was Jonny’s B29 ?”
Speaking of eating establishments, the old Monte’s Diner at Lone Grove reopened last week under new management. New owners are John and Jeannie Finley and do they put out a mean burger. I stopped there just before closing time last Saturday (2pm) and picked up a couple burgers and their burger is one of the best in this county. If your in the area stop by and try a really good hamburger. They even put the lettuce UNDER the meat patty, like a burger is suppose to be made!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/LonghornDinerBurger121011.jpg
This week an email came in asking for more info on a booklet mention in a newsletter back in 2005. For the life of me I can not remember who sent in the below back in ’05:
“Butch, your T&T reminded me I was going to send you a picture that went along with Ft. Washita, so I pulled out an album and happened to see this little booklet. You’ll notice it was provided by City Drug Store, W.R. Frame, PROP. Ardmore, Ind. Ter. The booklet had 17 pages… telling of The Greatest Wonder of All… apparently the Codfish, because of the benefits of cod-liver oil, and it is now provided by Scott’s Emulsion.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/CodliverOil5a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/CodliverOil5b.jpg
I hope someone out there will remember who, or maybe even the original person who submitted the email will see this. In any case, let me know!
And another request this week for info on a building in Healdton. I am not familiar with this building but maybe someone out there is, and can fill us in on the details.
“Butch, there is a building here in Healdton I have always been curious about. located West Texas street turning south onto Wirt Camp Road, maybe 1/2 – 3/4 mile old large brick building, I heard a few stories in the past as what the building was made/used for. “ -Cheryl
Looking for a great stocking stuffer? We bought 2 One Ounce Christmas rounds (.999 silver) at Jerry’s Gun Shop on Grand Avenue here in Ardmore yesterday. We’ll be mailing them to the grandkids, Belle and Victor Noyer, in California as their Christmas presents this year. The price of silver fluctuates every day, we got ours for $40 each. I remember not too many years ago buying them for $8.50 each, then $12.50 and now… out of sight.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/ChristmasRound2011a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/ChristmasRound2011b.jpg
Here’s a pic of Jill and the grandkids back in 2007. They have really grown since then.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/JillBridgesAndVictorAndBelleNoyer.jpg
From This and That newsletter archives of December 13, 1998:
The tuckpoint company from Iowa has been working hard the past two weeks, reworking the outside of the courthouse here. They have been filling cracks with some high powered caulk that never hardens, and replacing some mortar in a lot of joints, and getting ready to chemically wash the outside surface to take away all the old mildew and algae that’s accumulated the past 25 years or so. It’s looking at lot better, but they still have a lot to do. They said they hope to be through for Christmas.
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In the Sunday, November 30, 1997 issue of the Sunday Oklahoman, there was an interesting article on building homes from dirt. This company in western Oklahoma is making the red earth bricks with a compression machine at the rate of one brick every two minutes, I think. The homes meet all standards and well insulated and cost about 1/3 as much to build. They claim the earth houses can withstand a straight 300 mile per hour wind and 8.0 on the Richter scale! Their website here in Oklahoma has some very interesting info on using western Oklahoma’s red earth to build beautiful homes. Find out more at http://www.earthblockinc.com
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I found a persimmon thicket right smack dab in the front yard of a house at West Main and K Street last week (NW corner behind McDonalds). I remember as a teen going with my grandparents on a Sunday afternoon drive to Gene Autry looking for persimmon thickets, and we nearly always found one or two.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/PersimmonThicket1997.jpg
Q. The land of Oklahoma was purchased from what country in 1803?
A: France, as part of the Louisiana Purchase
Yesterday evening I posted on my Facebook Wall the following: “What are the top 3 things people the rest of the modern day U.S. knows Oklahoma for? In the matter of a couple hours I had nearly 100 responses from people all over the U.S. and overseas. People, places and things mentioned… everything from A to Z. Keep in mind, the 3 mentioned below are from people who have never been to Oklahoma. Drum roll please:
Garth Brooks, Indian casinos, Carrie Underwood.
And how about the tallest, brightest Christmas tree in Carter County. Do you know where that is located? Here’s a pic I snapped on the way to work.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CarterCountyChristmasTree2011.jpg
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
https://oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
Train Station Watches Were Just the Beginning
If you were in the market for a watch in 1880, would you know where to get one? You would go to a store, right? Well, of course you could do that, but if you wanted one that was cheaper and a bit better than most of the store watches, you went to the train station! Sound a bit funny? Well, for about 500 towns across the northern United States, that’s where the best watches were found.
Why were the best watches found at the train station? The railroad company wasn’t selling the watches, not at all. The telegraph operator was. Most of the time the telegraph operator was located in the railroad station because the telegraph lines followed the railroad tracks from town to town. It was usually the shortest distance and the right-of-ways had already been secured for the rail line.
Most of the station agents were also skilled telegraph operators and that was the primary way that they communicated with the railroad. They would know when trains left the previous station and when they were due at their next station. And it was the telegraph operator who had the watches. As a matter of fact they sold more of them than almost all the stores combined for a period of about 9 years.
This was all arranged by “Richard,” who was a telegraph operator himself. He was on duty in the North Redwood, Minnesota train station one day when a load of watches arrived from the east. It was a huge crate of pocket watches. No one ever came to claim them.
So Richard sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked them what they wanted to do with the watches. The manufacturer didn’t want to pay the freight back, so they wired Richard to see if he could sell them. So Richard did. He sent a wire to every agent in the system asking them if they wanted a cheap, but good, pocket watch. He sold the entire case in less than two days and at a handsome profit.
That started it all. He ordered more watches from the watch company and encouraged the telegraph operators to set up a display case in the station offering high quality watches for a cheap price to all the travelers. It worked! It didn’t take long for the word to spread and, before long, people other than travelers came to the train station to buy watches.
Richard became so busy that he had to hire a professional watch maker to help him with the orders. That was Alvah. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The business took off and soon expanded to many other lines of dry goods.
Richard and Alvah left the train station and moved their company to Chicago — and it’s still there.
IT’S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT that for a while in the 1880’s, the biggest watch retailer in the country was at the train station. It all started with a telegraph operator:
Richard Sears and his partner Alvah Roebuck!
“Butch, I am not sure if you have these are not but thought I would send them to you as others may be interested as well. Hope you and yours have a fantastic holiday season and Merry Christmas.” -Mike Pennington
This is the picture of J.R. Penningtons’s home in 1908.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/PenningtonHome1908.jpg
J.R. Pennington Grocery 1908 The Pennington grocery building still stands and the name of Pennington is still seen on the side of the building
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/PenningtonGrocery1908.jpg
Pennington building today
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/PenningtonGroceryCompany.jpg
“It was an interview with my GGGrandma where she tells about Heck Thomas and the Lee boys. Indian Pioneer Papers interview #358 with Lou Brittenburg on July 21, 1937 at Davis, OK. Link I have is at findagrave.com for her memorial# 45441835……I think you will also really enjoy her tale about her first cold night after arriving in Ardmore by train from Georgia and going to live on the Roff Ranch…it’s a real vivid glimpse into our past!” -Alice L Davis
http://okgenweb.org/pioneer/ohs/brittenburg.htm
YOUR FIRST CAR. O.K. you car nuts, here is a web-site featuring the original factory brochures for nearly every American car you have ever owned or dreamed about. Pick the manufacturer, the year and the model.
Click here:
http://www.lov2xlr8.no/broch1.html
The 1939 Pontiac Deluxe Six “Ghost Car sells for over $300,000
http://hypebeast.com/2011/08/1939-pontiac-deluxe-six-ghost-car/
Looking for a stocking stuffer? How about “A Drive Around Sulphur” DVD ? The second in the series (Volume 2) of Denman DVD’s are ready. This DVD features photos of people, places, and events in Sulphur in the early 1950’s. There is even a photo of The Dixie Dog!
Volume 2 is available at the museum at 402 West Muskogee Ave in Sulphur for a $12.00 donation to the Arbuckle Historical Society Museum. The museum hours are from noon until 5 Thursday, Friday, and Saturday excluding Christmas Eve. Kay and Kathy will be there to help you in the museum gift shop. Be sure to look around for Sulphur books, coasters, pottery and other items you might be interested in.
We can also mail copies of the DVD if you are out of town. Please include your mailing address with your request for DVDs. We will ship DVDs ASAP with an envelope included for your donation addressed back to the museum. We will need an additional $3.00 to cover postage for those copies that are mailed.
Be sure to note on your check that it is a donation. You also have the option of sending a little extra to help the museum with preservation and with operating expenses.
To receive copies by mail please e-mail
[email protected]
or call George at 972 986 6516
“Thank you so much for the information. I ran the software and found 146 threats, 4 of which were Trojans! I am forever grateful for the information and have put it in my Favorites for use later! God’s speed and Merry Christmas to you and your wife!” -Carol Black in San Angelo, TX
http://www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html
“I don?t know if you?re still collecting on the subject, but I seen on your March 13, 2008 edition, that you were curious about actor Wes Studi?s birthplace of Nofire Hollow. Nofire Hollow, where Studi was born at home, is in the Rocky Mountain community, nestled between Adair and Cherokee counties, in northeast Oklahoma. It is right on the line of the two counties and easily accessed by way of Oklahoma state highway 100. I hope that this helps with any questions or research that you may have had.” -Gary Wing
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/RockyMountainOklahoma.jpg
Re-done Cooke county courthouse, Gainesville, Texas and the old theater.
http://winterfamily.smugmug.com/Other/Cooke-County-courthouse/20567989_dvSZfv#1629541256_pFhZF7J
Young Cemetery photos by Doug Williams. Located in NE Carter county
http://winterfamily.smugmug.com/Genealogy/Young-Cemetery/20510290_cSPHgq#1624345977_pSxb6Mf
“I went to Franklin Elementary School and was in a Twelve Days of Christmas play. I believe it was in ’93 (I know it was the class of 2002 in the third grade). I’ve lost my video of the play over the years, and was trying to find someone who might still have a copy. My mother helped a lot with the play and it was a really fun time. Thought you would be the way to go, and might spread the word. I’d reimburse anybody that could send me a copy.” -Jennifer
The Davis News – 100 YEARS AGO:
A 25-year-old man from Healdton picked 2,620 pounds of cotton in four days. Geo. B. Vaughan, one of the promoters of the Turner Falls Railway, put teams to work grading the roadbed. Vaughan was the contractor who made the extensive cuts and fills for the Santa Fe through the Arbuckles.
Deputy Sheriff Mook and City Marshal Parks made 11 arrests over a weekend. “They are doing their best to clean the town of poker games, bootlegging, vagrants, etc. and should have the encouragement of all good citizens,” editor Fay Crossett wrote.
J.B. Dickinson, who gave a demonstration of wireless transmission at a Progressive Club meeting, predicted that wireless telephone would be carried in automobiles, buggies and even in men’s pockets. Hydraulic engineers were expected to be employed to approve a site for a large power plant near Davis. The Davis and Turner Falls railroad was going to be an electric railroad instead of a steam road, as originally planned.
Christmas In Dixie by Alabama 1982
By now in New York City, there’s snow on the ground
And out in California, the sunshine’s falling down
And, maybe down in Memphis, Graceland’s all in lights
And in Atlanta, Georgia, there’s peace on earth tonight
Christmas in Dixie, it’s snowin’ in the pines
Merry Christmas from Dixie, to everyone tonight
It’s windy in Chicago. The kids are out of school
There’s magic in Motown. The city’s on the move
In Jackson, Mississippi, to Charlotte, Caroline
And all across the nation, it’s the peaceful Christmas time
And from Fort Payne, Alabama
God bless y’all…We love ya…Happy New Year…Good night
Merry Christmas…Merry Christmas tonight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg81vGuZx7k
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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