PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Last Saturday Jill and I took our new Dodge Ram 1500 pickup on its first really long trip since we got it in April. One reason for the long wait was Carter County Dodge in Ardmore promised us 4 things when we bought the truck: spray-in bed…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Had my first taste of a chopped BBQ beef sandwich from Ardmore’s new Smokin Joe’s Rib Ranch at A Street and 2nd NE. The BBQ place is located in the old 1933 Ella Hunter building. Ella Hunter was an early day businesswoman of Ardmore, Oklahoma.…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Usually I start off my newsletter with some piece of history from the past.  But this week I’m doing something different, starting with something within the last 90 days. I never cease to be amazed at the new technology coming down the pike over the…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 We stopped in at the Wilson Historical museum last Saturday.  I don’t think we had been there since it opened in 2005, and it is better than ever.  So neat and clean, with so much of Wilson, Oklahoma history packed into a small place.  It…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Last week we mentioned an Ardmoreite from 100 years ago, a Charles Sykes.  Bill Goldsworthy in New Zealand is doing research on Mr. Sykes and is seeking any info or kinfolks. A couple of you wrote in, but still nothing definite, or found kinfolk of…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 I received a request all the way from New Zealand this week seeking any info or kinfolk of a Charles Sykes who lived in Ardmore 100 years ago. “I am researching New Zealand hunters who went overseas during the period 1910-1920 on big game hunting…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 The past few weeks in southern Oklahoma we’ve had some good off and on rains, the farm ponds around Ardmore are full. But sometimes mother nature lets loose, and that is exactly what she did early last Sunday morning in the Arbuckle Mountains. Garth Hoard…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 If you missed the 30 minute documentary The United State of Oklahoma on TV last night, you missed a great presentation what the future might hold for Oklahoma’s water. The documentary is sponsored by the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations of Oklahoma. This should be a must watch…

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 There will be a another great history rendezvous in April.  This time its being held at Muskogee, Oklahoma. I sure hope we can make it that Saturday, there will be a lot of Oklahoma history shared, and the meeting is free to all! “Butch, Please…

Ardmore, Oklahoma Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823 Oklahoma Masonic Indian Degree TeamAround the year of 1948 there was a group of Oklahoma Indians that got together to put on some Masonic Degree work. It was very well received by those who witnessed the effort. In 1950 , part of the 1948 group decided to form the…