“Once Upon A Time”

Ardmore, Carter County, Oklahoma

1980s

In the 1980s while Betty Carroll was employed by American National Bank in Ardmore she was called on to narrate local history.  During her time there she was asked to do some 1 minute radio spots for advertising purposes, with local history as the theme.  Some of the information Betty uses comes from the book ‘Reporter’s Notebook’ published in 1973 by Mac McGalliard.

Betty Sue Carroll (1927-2020) is buried at the Crinerville Cemetery SW of Ardmore.

The recordings below should stream automatically to your computer if you have Windows Media Player or some similar program.  A “Thank You” goes to Betty Carroll who has graciously made the recordings available here online.


Volume 1   – keywords:

Spot No. 1 – Charles Criner, John Criner, Alva Roff, Criner Hills, Crinerville

Spot No. 2 – Ranch House in SE Ardmore, Alva Roff, Roff Addition,  Roff, Oklahoma

Spot No. 3 – Cornish Orphan Home 1905, Moses Harris, Peak Victory, Wirt Franklin

Spot No. 4 – Blue River, Austin Hughes, Mattie Hughes, Vanoy Hughes, Hughes Crossing

Spot No. 5 – Ft. Washita, Robert E. Lee, Zackery Taylor, Pawnee Trail

Spot No. 6 – 14 flags over Oklahoma

Spot No. 7 – L.D. Rickey, game ranger, Goddard Ranch

Spot No. 8 – Hale Dunn, Ardmore police chief for 16 years. Holmes Akers first sheriff.

Spot No. 9 – Turner Falls cave, Honey Creek canyon

Spot No. 10 – Lorena Park, Mattie Cravitt, Walter Hardy, Hill Sanitarium, Rose Crory Hospital


Volume 2   – keywords:

Spot No. 1 – Cotton trail from Ardmore to Duncan

Spot No. 2 – Felix and Callie Boyd King dairy farm on 3rd NE, Boyd and Love Oil Springs Health Resort

Spot No. 3 – Cave SW of Turner Falls, Ethel Hindman, Wild Woman Cave

Spot No. 4 – Dr. F. S. Douglas’ letter to Dr Lyman Veasey, Dutch George on Caddo

Spot No. 5 – Dutch George con’t. Mike Gorman Undertaking

Spot No. 6 – Jake Hamon in NYC, Waldorf Hotel, John Ringling, oil discovered at Healdton

Spot No. 7 – Ringling Railroad, Charles Wilson, oil boom years

Spot No. 8 – Gene Autry, OK., C.C. Henderson, Lou, OK., Dresden, OK., Berwyn, OK.

Spot No. 9 – A 1893 review of the needs of Ardmore including a fire department

Spot No. 10 – Dr. John J. Chapman, Poolville, OK., Elk, OK., First registered woman pharmacist after Oklahoma becomes a state in 1907 is Mrs. Chapman

Spot No. 11 – Train robbery near Greenville, OK., $50,000 in gold taken, Lake Murray cave

Spot No. 12 – Abb Jolly describes early day schools in Ardmore, Woods Ford, Woodford, Otterville, OK


Volume 3  – keywords:

Spot No. 1 – Geologist Albert Giles finds 3,000 yr old skeleton by Hickory Creek near Crinerville

Spot No. 2 – US Deputy James Robert “Bob” Hutchins, police chief, Billy Washington, Hanging Judge Parker, John Ringling, 1915 explosion, Jake Hamon bodyguard

Spot No. 3 – Ashley Douglas, Stephen Douglas, life at Overbrook, McAlester Church, Bomar Millinery store,
Devil’s Kitchen, Lake Murray

Spot No. 4 – Spanish Fort at Red River, Wichita Indians, Marvin Tong, Devil’s Canyon in SW Oklahoma

Spot No. 5 – Marie King Garland, Initial Point, Indian Meridian

Spot No. 6 – Robert H. Love, Thomas C.S. Love, Governor Cyrus Harris

Spot No. 7 – Love family of Love county, Thomas Love, Burneyville cemetery, Mahota Love

Spot No. 8 – Sulphur Springs, Medicine Springs Hotel, Robert Love Thomas Love, Robert Wilson health hotel

Spot No. 9 – Fort Arbuckle, Katy Grant Allen, Tom Grant

Spot No. 10 – Fort Arbuckle, Munford Johnson, Neil Johnson, Pearl ????, George Shirk, Billy Myers

Spot No. 11 – William Louis Brooks invents gas stove, Wilson Newman Sheetmetal

Spot No. 12 – Ralph Schuerhoff, Berwyn

Spot No. 13 – Cowboy Hall of Fame, Jim Eskew, trick roper

Spot No. 14 – Buck and Dutchie Estes

Spot No. 15 – Bud Ballew, John T. Spears, Buck Garrett


Volume 4  – keywords:

Spot No. 1 – Bud Ballew killed in Wichita, TX, Otis Morris

Spot No. 2 – Elmer Leroy Baker, Gunman’s Territory, E.W. McIntosh, Overbrook, Black Kettle, Bill Turtle

Spot No. 3 – Sam Blackburn, The Wicked Flea column, Lillie Doyle

Spot No. 4 – Sandford Harville, Rosa Smith, train accident

Spot No. 5 – Salvation Army est. 1917 in Ardmore, Maggie Knotts, Minnie Wood

Spot No. 6 – Dinosaur gizzard stones found near Wilson, OK by James Steele

Spot No. 7 – Fred Beaver, artist, Acey Blue Eagle, Jerome Tiger

Spot No. 8 – Cold Storage Plant, E.C. Heath, Arthur James, Dry Cold Ammonia Plant

Spot No. 9 – John O’Mealy, Santa Fe station opens for passengers 1887, Zack Addington, Mamie Gibson

Spot No. 10 – Effie Ryburn, Wheeler Oil Field 1905

Spot No. 11 – Dr. Hugh H. Monroe, Pickens County Medical association

Spot No. 12 – Lazy S. Ranch, Robert Scivally

Spot No. 13 – Robert “Bob” Scivally, Blue River, Springer, County commissioners

Spot No. 14 – Early day towns, Chagris, Monk Tipps

Spot No. 15 – “A New Year”

Spot No. 16 – Wild Woman Cave, Ethel Hindman


Volume 5  – keywords:

Spot No. 1 – Wagon hounds, whiskey vests, bootleggers, Bob Hutchins

Spot No. 2 – Paint buckets used for whiskey, whiskey smuggling

Spot No. 3 – Bob Hutchins, Republican Ardmore chief of Police, Little Dixie

Spot No. 4 – Bob Hutchins, 2 anonymous policemen, H.G. Stone Cabinet Maker

Spot No. 5 – Bob Hutchins, Bloody Caddo, Maggie Hobbs, Salvation Army

Spot No. 6 – Bob Hutchins, 1915 Tank Car Explosion, Bloody Caddo

Spot No. 7 – Simpson Building, Ardmore Hotel

Spot No. 8 – Oil made Ardmore, Walter H. Gant, Healdton Field

Spot No. 9 – Bill Skelley, Walter Gant, Frank Phillips

Spot No. 10 – Healdton, Palmer, Roy Johnson, Healdton Discovery Well

Spot No. 11 – Healdton Field, Wirt Franklin, 1914 Ardmore Independent Oil Field Producers Association, Max Westheimer, Ed Galt, Fred Tucker, Sam Daube, Frank and Ward Merrick, Will Smith, Walter Neustadt.

Spot No. 12 – Buck Garrett and Bud Ballew friendship

Spot No. 13 – Bud Ballew, Wirt, Ragtown, Pete Bynum shooting

Spot No. 14 – Lawless towns of Wirt and Ragtown, Bud Ballew


Volume 6  – keywords:

Spot No. 1 – Buck Garrett, Bud Ballew, Jim Taliaferro, Lone Grove

Spot No. 2 – Territorial days, firearms, and lawlessness

Spot No. 3 – Buck Garrett’s dedication to enforcing the law

Spot No. 4 – John Taylor, Dr. Dow Taylor, John Preston Taylor, Carter County Free Fair, Woodford, Ft Arbuckle, Ada, Ft Supply

Spot No. 5 – Altrusa Club 26th anniversary , Mrs. John Simpler, Mrs. Florence Jones, Mrs. John Simpler, Jr., Mrs. John Hargrave, Mrs Frank Young, Mrs Jack Stubblefield, Leta Champion, Betty Dacron, Nola Jackson

Spot No. 6 – Chagris, Oklahoma NW of Healdton, Herb Welch, Alpers, Oklahoma, Dr. H.W. Alpers, Nell Ida, Nelda Tindale, Frank Tindale, E.B. Luke

Spot No. 7 – Roy M. Johnson, Dr. Walter Hardy’s airplane, Walter Kincheloe, Rock Crossing

Spot No. 8 – Ardmore Hotel, Judge Ralph Campbell, street cars, Joe Robinson

Spot No. 9 – Arthur Oakley, Eddie Stinson, airplanes, flying stuntmen

Spot No. 10 – Arthur Oakley, Forcy Eskew, airport near Broadlawn Shopping Center, Dr. Walter Hardy, 1st ambulance service in the world, Tom Parks, Wiley Post, Ben Scott

Spot No. 11 – Redman’s dance hall, City Drug, Possum hunting, hay rides, Doc Fielder

Spot No. 12 – Oklahoma Veterans Home, Confederate Home, Luddie Hailey Wilcott, Daughters of the Confederacy

Spot No. 13 – Lee Cruce, Charles N. Haskell, Muskogee


Volume 7  – keywords:

Spot No. 1 – Ethel May Hindman, Springer, Oklahoma

Spot No. 2 – Ethel Hindman, high diving in water, Ardmore polo team

Spot No. 3 – Ethel Hindman, sky diving, Byers, Oklahoma

Spot No. 4 – Ethel Hindman, dare devil, Hindman’s family

Spot No. 5 – Bob Hutchins, Tom Coggins, Heck Thomas,  1st train to Ardmore

Spot No. 6 – Bob Hutchins, Heck Thomas, John Hall, June 28, 1887 1st train into Ardmore

Spot No. 7 – Bob Hutchins, Bill Washington, 700 ranch, healing mavericks

Spot No. 8 – Bob Hutchins, Bill Washington, Drysden, Henry House Creek, Honey Creek, Ethel Turner

Spot No. 9 – Bob Hutchins, Jackie Akers, Belle Starr, Heck Thomas

Spot No. 10 – Gunman’s Territory, Belle Starr, Bob Hutchins, Heck Thomas, Sam Starr

Spot No. 11 – Belle Starr dead, Jim Starr, Pearl Starr

Spot No. 12 – Bob Hutchins, Louisa Ethel Price, Lone Grove

Spot No. 13 – Bob Hutchins, Ethel Price, wedding, Lone Grove, Sweet Price


Volume 8  – keywords:

Spot No. 1 – Bob Hutchins, Jack Sprat, bootlegging, Judge Parker

Spot No. 2 – Al Jennings, County Attorney, Theodore Roosevelt

Spot No. 3 – Bob Hutchins, outlaw Lou Bowers, Bert Casey

Spot No. 4 – Lou Bowers, T.E. Carson

Spot No. 5 – Judge Parker, 89 men hanged

Spot No. 6 – Bob Hutchins, Judge Parker

Spot No. 7 – Chicken peddlers, illegal whiskey

Spot No. 8 – McNary, Peterman Crossing

Spot No. 9 – Clara Smith, Jake Hamon

Spot No. 10 – Lillie Langtree, Bob Hutchins

Spot No. 11 – U.S. Inspectors from Washington DC, Ocean Rider, Pink Collins

Spot No. 12 – Bob Hutchins, Inspector Ocean Rider, Judge Parker, Jim Sadler

Spot No. 13 – Ben Colbert, US Marshal, Rough Riders



Webpage created June 15, 2009