PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: [email protected] Phone: 580-490-6823
Last Saturday we made it over to Fort Washita east of Madill and the annual Fur Traders Rendezvous. There is a lot of history on that piece of Oklahoma ground. I know they have been holding the rendezvous for over 15 years. Most of the people are dressed like they did in the 1800s with live demonstrations of that bygone area and many campsites set up the way people camped over 100 years ago.
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The replica of the old 1847 model civil war cannon was nice to see.
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One of the best educational exhibits was the lady from Arkansas making lye soap. She had the big cast iron kettle just like my great grandmother did at 518 H NE back in the 50s and 60s, making lye soap. My great grandmother always made her soap (used red devil lye) in the late fall.
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And we couldn’t leave without buying a bottle of root beer. It’s made at Tulsa Oklahoma and aged in wood kegs. Good stuff.
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I stumbled upon another Oklahoma officer who died in the line of duty this week who is not listed on any state or national memorial. He is Healdton police officer Jim Hutchinson who died in 1930.
March 1930
The Daily Ardmoreite
Jim Hutchinson, Healdton police Officer, died from injuries suffered in a gun battle while attempting to arrest Charles Smith, wanted in a default bond. Hutchinson was shot in the left knee and died from complications. He is survived by a wife and eight children. Smith is under sentence for the death of a Healdton child.
Steve Hamm has been updating the sheriff’s website the past couple of months, so this will be another officer to add to the memorial webpage as soon as we get an exact death date and other details.
By the way, Steve Hamm and I stopped in at the new Boom-a-rang Diner in Lone Grove, Oklahoma this week. It’s just west of the now closed bowling alley.
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And here a pic I snapped of that delicious burger from Boomarang Diner in Lone Grove!
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I know many of you who have traveled between DFW and Ardmore the past 30 or so years remembers the big mansion just outside Sanger, Texas that has sat empty all those years, never completed. I remember being told it was being built by a famous football player. Anyway, here is the latest scoop on the mansion along I-35, with photos.
http://northtexasluxury.blogspot.com/2011/01/huge-unfinished-mansion-near-sanger.html?m=1
The Daily Ardmoreite
March 1965
Sure enough, the water hunters at Lone Grove didn’t need a “divining rod” to find their town water supply. A test well did the job. The drilling came to a halt when the test well almost gushed a flow of water more than enough to provide City residents with public supply. Mayor Jess Mitchell, Jr., said the well came in with a heavy flow of water after three days of drilling to a depth of 655 feet. “We could have as much as 100 gallons of water per minute flowing, and we need only 50.” The drilling of the test well was the first step in the town’s move to establish a town water supply from a $150,000 loan made available by the Farm Home Administration. The next big project to be the undertaken by the trust will be a town sewer system.
March 1954
The Daily Ardmoreite
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma will be asked to take action to compel the Oklahoma Game and Fish Commission to comply with the legislature. The suit involves the purchase of Turner Falls Park for a sum of $100,000. Davis owns the park but is unable to financially develop the park. E.W. Dahlgren, Game and Fish Director, said all he knows of the situation is that “it is one heck of a mess.”
March 1930
The Daily Ardmoreite
A permanent injunction was issued Saturday by Judge Asa Walden, against the county treasurer, Roy Ashley, from proceeding with the county tax resale. A number of businessmen testified they did not believe a resale should be held on account of economic conditions. Ashley also agreed and said past resales have been conducted at a loss to the county, partly because of further land speculation.
Q. In 1907 Oklahoma became the ??th state to enter the Union?
A. 46th – Nov 16th. On this day in 1907, Oklahoma joined the Union when President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation making it the 46th state. In 1890, the region had been divided into the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory; Congress then sought to admit them both as a single state.
Q. Below is the text of a sign on the wall of the new Boomerang Diner in Lone Grove. Let’s see how many can decipher this coded message.
HE reSt Opa Nds Penda Soc Ialho Urinh Ar mles Smir Tha ndf Unl Etf Riends Hipr Eig nb Ejusta ndk Indan Devils Peako fnone.
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of April 8, 2000:
About 20 miles north of here is Dougherty, Oklahoma located in the Arbuckle Mts. It’s a small town….. but at one time long ago, they did have a jail. Here is a pic sent to me by a reader of that little jail.
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This week I received email from a reader who asked about an infamous Ardmoreite from long ago by the name of Otto Powell. Otto Powell was famous in this county for his many runs for the office of sheriff. He never won an election, but in 1958 he only lost to Theo Cobb and Robert Pierce by 24 votes. Many citizens at that time believes he lost that election by unscrupulous tactics. On Otto Powell’s campaign posters was a photo of him plowing a field behind a horse. On the posters it read: “A country boy plowed his way to town”. Otto lived in western Carter county at Wilson. Otto could not read or write. But he could sing like a song bird. Enoch Watterson told me Otto would call collect at 3 in the morning to sing to them over the phone. His favorite song to sing was, “riding old Paul, leading old Ball.” Here’s the photo from his famous campaign posters:
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Another question passed along to me was about a man who traveled all around the county behind a team of mules. One source said this is probably Oscar Camp who was always behind a team of mules as he traveled the roads around here. Oscar Camp was seen on the roads in the 50s.
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“Butch, I asked my dad about L.D. “Dude” Rickey and the horse, Little Joe. He said Rickey was a game warden and good friend of old man Goddard. Mr Goddard gave permission for Rickey to be buried there. Dad said Little Joe was one of Mr. Goddard’s favorite horses.”
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“Butch: I have an uncle who was born in Augusta, Oklahoma. I can’t find it any where on the map. He was born in 1903. I would be so thankful to know where it is located.”
AUGUSTA, Alfalfa County, Section 5, Township 24N, Range 12W (located a mile west of Carmen, had a post office from 1895 to 1912.); Zula, Woods County, Section 11, Township 27N, Range 13E; (Zula, located 3 1/2 miles north of present day Dacoma was the first Post Office.) Alfalfa County, Section 5, Township 24N, Range 12W (established in 1894, it lasted a year and then merged with nearby Augusta.).
From The Okie Legacy Vol 10 Issue 36: AUGUSTA soon grew from a little trading post and post office into a thriving little village where nearly all branches of business were represented. The growth was steady and the town soon filled with a class of business men whose energies coupled with the conservativeness made it a trade center for miles around. Mr. Stilwell [note: President of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad, mentioned earlier in this article] was persuaded to locate their railroad line through Woods County and establish a town site within two miles of Augusta.
The same energetic group which made Augusta prosperous turned their attention to this new town, which received the name of Carmen.
The new town of Augusta opened Dec. 18, 1900 with the sale of lots on the main line of the Orient R.R. Prices of the lots ran $500 for corner business lots, next to the corner was $450, inside lots $400, etc. Residence lots ran $50 to $250 according to location. This was the first town to be located on the new Orient Railroad. The first day of the sale 125 lots were sold for the amount of $50,000. The old Orient depot is still there, with a caboose. I think they intended to create some kind of historical society/museum operation, but it didn’t get off the ground.
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“Bryan County Courthouse with Confederate soldier showing. He’s been there a long time, since the 1930s, I think. At one time had a bayonet on his gun but it got broken off. This is a last-shot-on-the-roll thing that a buddy took yesterday afternoon to see what it would look like. Building faces east so we’ll try again during morning hours one of these days. The Bryan Courthouse photo you have is fairly old, but those things don’t change. There’s now a four or five-year-old concert-in-the-park type gazebo on the lawn.”
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“This week I had a special visitor to my office. Mr. Alfred Miller came by, he is the driving force behind keeping the tower clock in the dome of the Washita county Courthouse at Cordell, Oklahoma working everyday. Alfred is a retired county commissioner from Washita county after serving the people there over 30 years. All three courthouses in Oklahoma that have tower clocks in them are now working. Ours here in Ardmore, the one at Cordell and the one in the dome of the Marietta, Oklahoma courthouse in Love county.” -Butch
04/10/14 NOTE: The Love county courthouse dome clock is no longer working.
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Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/index.aspx?mss=152754
Check gas prices by town or zip code anywhere in U.S.
http://www.kmov.com/traffic/gas-buddy
Non-ethanol gas (pure gas) stations in the Ardmore area.
https://oklahomahistory.net/puregas.html
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
“Butch, My Granddad used to work for Fraser?s as a meat cutter. One time when I was about nine or ten, he took me into the store and they gave me a little sample packet of cigarettes. I don?t think they had any notion that I would see it for anything but the shiny, colorful packaging. They certainly didn?t think I would be smoking them and I didn?t have any interest in that. The memory of this started me thinking that in older days, the concept of a toy was just about any found thing that could be toyed with or fashioned into something of interest. So the question is: what did people have for toys in days gone by?” -Phyllis
“It took me back a long time, your article about Stanley street, mostly reading of Lela Stanley and her private school on Stanley. At the time, (about 1935) there was no public pre-school or kindergarten, and I attended “Miss Stanley’s” kindergarten, along with others later to attend Franklin school. I don’t remember there being other grades, though I remember very little, only the house which I believe is still there.If anyone else remembers that I would love hearing from them. Also, I wonder what eventually became or will become of the Franklin school building – Sally Gray was formerly my contact in Ardmore. I would also like to know if St. Agnes Academy went through high school or just through Junior High.” -Fredrica (Horn) Van Sant) [email protected]
“Butch, I found this clipping (about 1980) from an old Ardmoreite that I had in a folder written by the Reporter, Mac McGalliard. The photo was taken back in 1936 it says and he had asked a couple of questions of readers. Do you know if there was ever a follow up to give the answers to his questions. I found it pretty interesting and it’s got me wanting to know the answers also.”
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“Wasn’t the first Oklahoma state flag a star with the number 46 in it, because Oklahoma was the 46th state?” -Wes
A: Yes. 1911-1925. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Oklahoma
Sulphur, Oklahoma: “The Chickasaws are planning a huge “South by Southwest” Art Festival for Indian Artists over Memorial Day Weekend. They will have Muskogee street closed down and are expecting several thousand visitors.”
You’re The Reason God Made Oklahoma, David Frizzell & Shelly West 1981
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
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
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/
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