PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected], Phone: 580-490-6823
A Glimpse Into The Past
Togo’s bath house located on A Street Northwest directly north of the old First National Bank was a popular gathering place for local men. He trained aspiring boxers all of whom remember him with great fondness and respect Alfred McKerson, Billy Hensley, Fred Hudson and Harry Dodd to name a few. He encourage youngsters in bodybuilding and exercise and was revered by his boxers for his high moral standards. A kind, patient man, he loved children, he spent many hours teaching them the art of origami, Japanese paper folding. For the most part Togo spent his life alone, unmarried, living in a space behind his bath house and eating his meals at the nearby Hamburger Inn.
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 Togo found that overnight his status had changed from friendly foreigner to enemy alien. It was a matter of complete bewilderment to him when his bank account was frozen and he was threatened with internment. Only through the intervention of a group of influential Ardmore businessmen he was spared imprisonment but as a precaution he never strayed far from his bath house during that war time.
Togo’s lived until August 7, 1964 when he succumbed to heart complications and atherosclerosis. Bettes Funeral Home sent the family car to the Ford Hotel and picked up Dixie Goss, who paid the funeral expenses. Her husband Bud Goss, had already made arrangements for Togo’s funeral before his own death two years earlier.
The list of officiants at the service again evokes a mental image of Ardmore’s early day stew ingredients. Pallbearers include a rum runner, a bootlegger and a former boxing pupils of the deceased, while a Baptist minister, the Reverend Karl Moore, said the last words over the old Japanese national.
In Keller Cemetery a simple headstone with a Christian cross identifies the grave’s occupant as Young Togo December 16, 1886 August 7, 1964. Beside him identical stones mark the graves of his friends Bud Goss and Dixie L Goss.
-Sally Gray, Territory Town, The Ardmore Story published 2006
May 1962
Harold Rudd, 37 year old former deputy sheriff, amassed 6,307 votes to upset Sheriff Gerald Theo Cobb’s bid for a third term in yesterday’s primary election. Rudd said, as far as he knows, he is the first deputy to ever be elected county sheriff.
May 1962
Dorris Ballew, formerly of this area, died May 2 in Mississippi of a heart attack. Born at Lone Grove, February 6, 1904 Ballew was chairman of the board of directors of Laughlin Bros. Drilling Company. He also had his own drilling company in Natchez, Mississippi. His parents and a brother are buried at Lone Grove.
Dorris was a son of the infamous deputy sheriff Bud Ballew.
Find-A-Grave
A couple of pavers I sandblasted the other day.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/PennyLanePaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/LazarusPaver.jpg
You can find current gas prices for a particular Oklahoma town by entering the name or zip code in the GasBuddy search box.
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/
Q. Where in Oklahoma is the “twin house” located?
A. Boy/girl twins seem to be related to an Oklahoma City residence. One home in Oklahoma City is referred to as the “The Twin House.” Chelsea Smith and her husband Brady are the current owners. In 2011, a woman told the pair to make sure their birth control was adequate because the last two couples that lived in the home had boy/girl twins.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx5toj_the-twin-house-in-oklahoma_travel
Q. What town in Oklahoma has the worlds oldest rattlesnake hunt held each year since 1939?
A. Answer in next week’s newsletter
Below is from This and That newsletter archives of May 17, 2005
Last week we talked about the old cast iron gates at the entrance of Rosehill Cemetery in Ardmore, and when the fence and gate might have been put up. I snapped some pics this last weekend and as you can tell the pillars were made from the Autumn Rose granite from the quarry north of Ravia. The gate entrance to Mt Zion Cemetery across the street is made from this same granite, and that gate says 1920 on it. It sure might be 1920 when the fence was built. You can tell the pillars right at the front next to the office is a lot more recent brick work.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/RosehillGate5a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/MtZionGate.jpg
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My uncle, Donald Bridges, lives in La Palma, California and just recently installed a fish pond in his yard. If he lived in Ardmore he could go into business setting up those beautiful fish ponds. Of course I think his wife is the true artist behind the work.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/BridgesDonaldFishPond5a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/BridgesDonaldFishPond5b.jpg
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I saw parked at Broadway Tow on South Commerce this week a 1962 or 1963 Beardmore London taxi cab. The driver sits on the right side as is done in jolly old England, and the fares charged passengers is still on the inside door, those suicide doors. The asking price is about $4,000 and if you’re interested, contact the Wilson Tag Agent at 580-668-3376.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/Beardmore1962a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/Beardmore1962b.jpg
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In July 1998 Ann Randolph gave me a photo of the old Red River Toll Bridge she had in her collection of old photos. By looking at the car below the bridge, the pic was taken in the 1930s.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/RedRiverToll30.jpg
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“Here’s a tidbit that you probably already know but I see a lot of genealogy questions in T&T. One of the copies of the Dawes census cards and enrollment jackets for the Five Tribes of Oklahoma is in Ft. Worth at the National Archives. People need to really be prepared when they research that information. We get a lot of questions off our website and many of them are about our Indian ancestry. They need to understand that the family member had to register to be listed and they better know the tribe. I know my grandfather (and many of his siblings) did not register. In those cases you have to trace that information from another family member. Here’s the link to the Ft. Worth location.”
https://www.archives.gov/locations#genealogy
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“Butch the construction at central park is new modern bathrooms. Also have you seen the new playground.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/CentralParkConstruction5a.jpg
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“But it is also believed Cimarron County to be the only county in the US without a stop light. In that part of the world when there is not much to do you read up on local history.”
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“The so called “blob top” soda bottles described by Steven in your column are actually soda bottles with the Hutchinson stopper which was invented in 1872 and continued in use well into the early 1900s. The more modern type of soda bottle we all remember which used the metal cap was invented in 1892 and it quickly replaced the Hutchinson stopper by 1910. The two bottles illustrated represent the 1890’s period after Ardmore was first established in the Indian Territory and shortly after the 1907 period when Oklahoma became a state.
The Hutchinson stopper actually sealed by pulling up on the wire loop which extended from within the bottle and closing from the inside. When it was opened by hitting the wire loop in a downward motion with the flat of the hand on the lip, it would pop as the seal opened. This was the origin for the terms “pop bottle” and “soda pop”. The wire loop sometimes fell to the bottom of the bottle and other times it could be resealed by pulling up on the wire loop. These bottles were normally stored right side up although prolonged storage could cause the rubber ring around the edge of the metal seal to dry out and permit the fluid to evaporate. I have a number of these from various Indian and Oklahoma Territory towns.” -Towana Spivey
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“This is Bill Hall from Oklahoma City. I have attached several photos of a bell I found while visiting a Scout camp located in Caddo county 8 miles west of Apache, OK. It is Camp George Thomas. The bell is a large one and is used to call visitors in for announcements. The bell has several markings on it. One side has “C. S. Bell & Co. Hillsboro O. on it. The other side reads “Steel Alloy Alarm Bell” and the number 536. I’ll send more photos as I find new bells.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/bellphotos/ApacheBell5c.jpg
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Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
Q. You mentioned in the past about an antivirus scanner program that can be copied to a CD and it would load itself to the computer when put in and booted up from the CD?
A. Comodo Rescue Disk
https://www.comodo.com/business-security/network-protection/rescue-disk.php
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In the comments about Catch ’em Alive Jack Abernathy, I assume the word “wolves” refers to coyotes.
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Dear Butch—
You were awfully kind to include Dick Lindsley’s plug for my book, Red River Bridge War: A Texas-Oklahoma Border Battle, in your newsletter #1057. You might also be interested to know that the Oklahoma Historical Society named Red River Bridge War the year’s “Best Book on Oklahoma History” at its recent conference.
I’m certainly no stranger to Ardmore. One of my earlier books, My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans, tells of the Confederate Soldiers’ Home movement. Though much of the book is about the organization and operation of the Kentucky Confederate Home—Kentucky’s was typical of the sixteen lasting homes built from 1884 to 1829—I certainly write about the Confederate Home in Ardmore; it’s one of the few Confederate home buildings still standing.
Thanks again for the interest in my books, Butch. My weekly issue of the This and That Newsletter is a welcome (and always interesting) addition to my week.
Rusty Williams
10455 N. Central #109-224
Dallas TX 75231
214-545-7040
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Hi Butch, Here is a book by Glenn Shirley on The Fighting Marlows. It is a good read. I bought it years ago. It is available at Barnes & Noble in paperback for $17.95. -Cecil
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Butch, I enjoyed the video about the Ringling Brothers Circus. John Ringling North used to have a connection to Ardmore because he owned or still owns The Bookseller on Main Street. The store is managed by Lois Proctor, a fellow 1965 AHS graduate who I have known in 1963. Over the years I have ordered many books from Lois and stop in whenever I am in town. Every time I stop in, I leave with at least one book.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that there is also a Ringling, Montana. Apparently back in the 1920’s when John Ringling was interested in railroads, he bought about 2,000 acres and built a short line railroad up here. The town is gone but you can still see where the road bed was for the railroad. As far as I know, there are only two towns with the Ringling name. -Monroe Cameron
England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy red cheeks of the little children
Now, if you huff and puff and you fina’lly save enough
Money up to take your family on a trip across the sea
Take a tip before you take your trip; let me tell you where to go
Go to England, Oh
Mama’s old pajamas and your papa’s mustache
Falling out the window sill, frolic in the grass
Tryin’ to mock the way they talk fun but all in vain
Gaping at the dapper men with derby hats and canes.
-Roger Miller 1964
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
“Friends Make Life Worth Living”
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443https://oklahomahistory.net
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
https://oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
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 Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us