PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 580-490-6823
A Reader gave me this mystery photo of a police department group photo, probably taken in the 1940s. The photo belonged to her mother. She thought it may have been taken at Duncan or Chickasha, Oklahoma. Maybe someone will recognize where this photo was taken or any of the OHP or PD officers in the photo. If so, let me know.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/MysteryPhoto1940s.jpg
Below is a link to Antelope Springs at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area (old Platt National Park). It documents how the park came back to life after several years of drought. The two springs mentioned in the video are at the east end of the Park, far end of Perimeter Road. It’s a 1/2 mile walk from the road to the springs, but I can hardly wait to make it back to Sulphur and see the fresh water springs!
http://kfor.com/2015/05/13/great-state-after-more-that-a-year-the-springs-return-to-life-in-sulphur/
The days are running down. As of today only 9 workdays left before I join the ranks of the unemployed. I’m looking forward to retirement days. The only bad part is I won’t get my first retirement checks until the middle of August. I guess I’ll be eating a lot of Ramen Noodles during those weeks until my checks are deposited.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/ButchBridgesParty2015.jpg
The Daily Ardmoreite May 1931
The opinion that future weather prophets may be able to forecast droughts and wet spells as much as 25 years in advance was expressed before the American Geophysical Union. Upward and downward trends in rainfall might be detected that number of years in advance by closer study of sunspots and the output of heat from the surface of the oceans.
The Daily Ardmoreite June 1931
It is reported the Texas Rangers might be used if necessary to prevent the opening of the Red River Bridge between Texas and Oklahoma before July 1. It is said the Texas commission will not inspect the bridge until that date. Oklahoma rushed work on the structure to embarrass the state of Texas, and worked day and night to get the bridge open before July 1, says Texas authorities.
The Daily Ardmoreite June 1964
Upwards of 5,000 people are expected June 20 in Sulphur for the groundbreaking ceremonies at the Lake of the Arbuckles. Residents of Sulphur, Davis, and Wynnewood, who with the federal government, are paying for the multi-million lake, will sponsor festivities in conjunction with the ceremony.
The Daily Ardmoreite June 1987
Carter County Commissioners agreed to solicit bids to build the long awaited county jail. Bid opening is set for June 30.
Someone mentioned to me about a delicious hamburger being served up at Buddy’s located at North Washington and 12th (NE corner of that intersection). I stopped by this week and let me tell you, it could be one of the best burgers I have ever eaten in a long time. If you are in the area, drop by. Just remember they open at 11am and stay open until they run out of food.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/UncleBuddyBurger060915.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/UncleBuddys060915.jpg
A flagstone from Home Grown Stone I sandblasted last week that really turned out nice.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/AudreyRainerPaver.jpg
After nearly a month of not losing any weight with TruVision I decided 2 weeks ago to stop taking it. During the two weeks I gained back a couple pounds reaching 180 lbs. When I started back I lost 2 lbs. in a 24 hour period. Plus I could tell my energy level was down too. Now to see if I can break below that 177 pound plateau I had reached over a month ago. If anyone wants to try it, give me a holler. “I’ll meet you at the Walmart mailbox!” Join us and check it all out at the link below.
https://oklahomahistory.net/truvision.html
http://butch.truvisionhealth.com/
So you have a swimming pool in the backyard? My OKie Power Saver is helping keep my electric bill as low as possible when I crank up the air conditioning on these hot summer days. The A/C is probably the most energy hungry appliance for the homeowner. But if you have a swimming pool that has a pump running 24/7 during the summer months, that too can run up an electric bill. It could save on your electric bill to install an OKie Power Saver at the pool pump, especially if that pump motor is more than 30 feet away from the main electric service panel. I guarantee my OKie power saver to save you money or you get a complete refund. Want to know more, send me an email or give me a call.
Q. How many American Indian tribes are headquartered within the state of Oklahoma?
A. 38 Federally recognized tribes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federally_recognized_tribes_by_state#Oklahoma
Q. Where is the world’s largest concrete totem pole located?
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of June 9, 2001:
My cousin Laura Cole in Ft Worth is always going to garage sales looking for a piece of history at a bargain. This week she went to one garage sale and found 2 autographed 1985 prints by the artist Huey Theus. She bought both prints for 25 cents. I looked on the Net and found them selling for $45 each at several places! Laura gave me the print titled “School Days” (in the original narrative cover).
http://www.collectible-treasures.com/catalog/items/item224.htm
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Twenty-two of us made it through the Brown Springs tour (south of Thackerville) last Saturday alive. It was terribly hot and muggy, but everyone had a lot of fun and some good experiences. Jayson Pruitt had his digital camera with him, and took lots of photos. He’s put them on webshots.com for viewing. Now don’t go looking for dark spirits in those photos. I have already seen some in a couple, so who knows what’s hiding in those photos.
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In September of this year (2009) Walmart is scheduled to open the biggest store its ever built at Gainesville, Texas (population 15,000). Ground preparation has begun just north and east from the present Walmart on the north side of Highway 82. I wonder why Walmart would build it’s biggest store ever in little Gainesville, Texas just five miles from the Oklahoma border? Hello?
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“Butch, I can hardly wait from one volume of “This and That” to the next. This is the most versatile and interesting newsletter I have read. I grew up in Oklahoma near Comanche, but the newsletter dealing mainly with the Ardmore area brings back so many wonderful memories of home. I have spent some time in the Ardmore and Healdton areas; I used to go to Falls Creek Baptist Camp every summer. You are bringing back happy memories for me of my youth in Oklahoma. The ONLY thing I do not miss about Oklahoma, now that I live in Arizona, are the violent thunderstorms and the tornadoes! Thanks for the newsletter. You are doing a terrific job with it!” -AZ
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“Mr. Richie taught me in Tishomingo in the 7, 8th and 9th grade. He was our history teacher, and he was, in my opinion, the most wonderful teacher that ever taught. His wife taught typing and shorthand, and she was my instructor in the 10th and 11th grade. She instilled the two skills that help me perform my jobs for 25 years. One question? Did Mr. Richie tell your class the story of how he smuggled a child home from Europe? The story is fascinating.
“Here is the group graduation picture. Mr. Richie is the man with the tie. I am on the end next to the girl standing. I have on a light colored dress and dark shoes. The girl to my right is the lady that became Mrs. Ward and taught school in Ardmore for many years.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/MrRichieTishomingo1951.jpg
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“My wife’s grandfather (IRA WOODS) is the one that (blew ARDMORE UP) from a train explosion of 1915. Her grandmother and great grandmother homesteaded there in Ardmore. thank you for your site, I know I will enjoy the newsletter.”
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“Butch, The Oil Patch Genealogy Society of Healdton, Ok. has published another Cemetery book. It contains the Graham, Milo, Pooleville, Ratliff City, and Oil Springs cemeteries. The Pooleville cemetery holds about 46 or so Confederate Soldiers. Others have some very unusual Head Stones. This book is $20. It can be found in Healdton, Fox, Graham, & Ratliff City. Or can be ordered by contacting, Hazel Reeves, HC 63, Box 8400, Healdton, Ok. 73438, Ph. 580 229 2447 Or Charlene Wilson, Ph. 580 229 0688. I enjoy your T&T.”
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“Here is the history of Washita Farm in Johnston county, the school, the lake and Dension Dam. I have a seven page letter for documentation of the story if you need it. The letter was written by a lady that was in the first graduating class from Washita farm in 1930, later she became a teacher and taught me at Nida in the 6th grade.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/WashitaFarm1930.jpg
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I was watching the nightly news a couple of days ago, it showed McVeigh’s father taking down the American flag in front of his house. Well, I have a brand new flag, and I’m going to raise it in front of my house Monday morning before 7am Central time. I’ll let her fly there all day Monday. Oklahomans have waited a long time.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/WeWillRemember1995.jpg
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
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Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
Hillside Bluegrass Festival in Cochran, Georgia September 16 – 20, 2015.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/BlueGrassGA2015.jpg
Springer Public School ? Springer, Oklahoma
Saturday ? June 13, 2015 ? 4:00 PM – Registration for any and all Springer School Alumni.
Program to start approximately 6:00 PM.
Bring a covered food dish and enjoy the fellowship of high school memories.
Mr. Bridges:
I would like to take this time and congratulate you on your upcoming retirement. It is well deserved. Over the years, you have enriched so many lives around the world, even sitting there in Lone Grove or on the North East side of Ardmore. I personally would like to thank you for the dedication you have to keeping the local history alive for more generations to enjoy. Your hard work, coordinating, researching, typing, etc., has not gone un-noticed by this retired Naval officer.
I too, in about 5 more years will reach the 66 year mark to draw Social Security. I have been contributing to Social Security since I was 12 years old working at the Sonic Drive-In on Grand Avenue there in Ardmore. Even though I will have a couple of pensions and Social Security, I am still scared to take that next leap in life. I have travelled the world from the Arctic Circle down to the South Pole, from the East Coast of Africa to the East Coast of the United States. What I would love to do is come back to Ardmore, Oklahoma to live out the rest of my life. My parents and relatives (Gaines & Dobbs) are buried there in the Lone Grove cemetery up north of town.
Once again, I admire what you have done over the many years in making the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world a little brighter and feel closer to home. Thank you. I wish you God?s speed and fair winds, my friend.
Very respectfully,Thomas P. Gaines
Associate Governmental Program Analyst
Wasco State Prison – Reception Center
California
Chief Warrant Officer, W-2
U.S. Navy (Retired)
Last week you talked about some of the little country schools in Carter County. I attended Prairie Valley for 3 years in “it’s last days” before it was closed. It was a big brick building with 4 classrooms, a big auditorium and 2 office rooms. The “times had changed” by the time I arrived and there were only two teachers. Originally the school went to 9 and 10th grade, but now those kids attended Plain View for high school and we only had 1-8 elementary grades. I think it closed two years after I graduated from 8th grade in 1941. That was during WW2 and country people were moving to town to support the war effort and make better money too, so very few kids to keep Prairie Valley open.
If you have a picture of that brick building, I would very much like to have a copy for my book of memories.
As I understand it, the original building was frame. When the gas company wanted to run a big natural gas pipeline across the grounds, they paid the district enough to build the brick building. I talked to a lady who’s father was on the school board at that time and that is what she told me. The building had water piped into the building but toilets were still 4 holers “out back.” We used natural gas for heating with a big clay back heater in each room. Our corner class room had blackboards covering two sides with windows on the other two sides. (My book about Mary and Charley Rudd has more details.)
Our 25 -30 students enjoyed plays and programs and community/church activities in the auditorium. Mr Rudy Folsom was the principal/upper grade teacher and lived in a small teacherage on the N/E corner of the lot. He was the best teacher I ever had. During this time, he completed the requirements to get his Master Degree from OU. When Prairie Valley closed, he went to Greenville School on Highway 77 south of Ardmore and I visited him many times when I came back on vacation after marrying and moving to California. His son, Tandy Folsom, was a doctor in Dallas. I did not know his other children.
Prairie Valley was a great school for a small cadre of depression kids who worked hard and had lots of fun.
Sincerely, Marie Wren
1923 photo of Prairie Valley School
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/PrairieValleySchool1923.jpg
“Butch, do you or anyone know who would have a photo of Lonnie Rooney’s championship trophy when the trophy was on display at the Gene Autry Museum? As best remembered it was a wooden base about a foot long, about 6 inches wide and had a bronze horse, cowboy (?) on the top. Any help is appreciated in finding a picture of the trophy.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/LonnieRooneyHorse.jpg
Retirement: It’s nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese. -Gene Perret
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=06&date=25&ts=12&hrs=16&min=30&sec=0&lang=en&show=dhm&mode=t&cdir=down&bgcolor=%23CCFFFF&fgcolor=%23000000&title=Retirement%20Day%21
Follow me on the TruVision lose weight program
https://oklahomahistory.net/truvision.html
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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