The past week or so the Ardmore area, like many other areas in the region, have received rain event after rain event. As I drive down county roads I see all the farm ponds full and almost over flowing. One of my neighbors to the west bulldozed a new pond in the Fall of 2008, and because of our drought, there was nothing but a small muddy spot at the bottom of his pond for the first few years. I snapped the photo below in March 2012 and you can see after 3 years it still lacks a long way being full.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/NewFarmPond032512.jpg
But I snapped this photo today and you can see it is full and about to run over.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16a/NewportFarmPond060216.jpg
Over the years several Readers have talked about the Squeeze Inn cafe on East Main by Daube's Department store. I did a little looking and found out about when the Squeeze Inn started business. But first let's go back to 1932 when the Yellow Jacket Cafe was behind the old Tivoli Theater at #13 B NW and owned by a Mr. B. Childers. By 1935 Emmitt Goode was the owner of the Yellow Jacket Cafe where even my grandfather Ira Esso Bridges, Sr. was a cook for a short period of time.
In the early 1930s at 119 E Main there was the Wade Mapp Restaurant which would later, around 1935, become the Squeeze Inn Cafe and its new owner would be Julius Brown.
In 1932 Emmitt Goode already owned the Green Lantern Sandwich Shop at 219 West Main. Emmitt Goode would not become the owner of the Squeeze Inn cafe until around 1938 or 1939 when he left the Yellow Jacket Cafe to become the new owner of the Squeeze Inn. The Squeeze Inn was located between the present day Stagg Bar on the east and the then Greenberg's Jewelry on the west (these were all east of Daubes). I remember going into Max Greenberg's Jewelry many times as a kid with my grandfather Stanley Carmon. We'd go watch the train come in around 4pm, then walk down to Greenberg's for a social visit. Mrs. Greenberg was the most beautiful lady and always elegantly dressed, I'll never forget her. The Greenbergs were wonderful people. Emmitt Goode continued to run the Squeeze Inn cafe until about 1961 when he turned it over to Tressie StClair. She ran it until about 1971 when Jake Goode became the operator of the Squeeze Inn. Jake operated it until about 1985 when it was closed for good.
May 1932
A truck belonging to Harrington Circus was carrying two elephants. The large
truck developed car trouble and it was necessary to unload the elephants.
Another truck full of school children passed by and the children started
screaming when they saw the elephants. The elephants took off and severely
damaged the farm of J.B. Schofield before they were stopped.
May 1932
Featuring a novel way to raise funds, Lone Grove Baptist Church will conduct a
farm produce auction said Rev. R.C. Baker, pastor. Articles which will be sold
include corn, wheat, oats, chickens, eggs, butter, cakes and other farm and home
commodities. Those in charge of the auction are O.W. Taliferro, C.T. Cannon,
W.W. Hammer, and J.M. Lewis.
May 1956
The body of 44 years old Bus Briscoe was found yesterday afternoon near Graham,
by two of his neighbors who were asked to join a search party when Briscoe
failed to return from hunting. They said they found him lying on his back where
he apparently had fallen after his .22 caliber rifle had accidentally discharged
while he was reloading. The bullet struck Brisco in the head. It was believed he
had been dead for several hours. When he was found, his dog was standing beside
him and would not leave until the body was removed.
May 1963
Marlow High School cafeteria worker was hospitalized with spinal meningitis over
the weekend, and fear was created that she may have exposed about 500 students
to the disease. Dr. F.R. Hassler, director of communicable disease control for
the State Health Department said this type of meningitis is caused by
short-lived bacteria, and is normally spread through coughing or sneezing.
Special units of the Highway Patrol rushed new supplies of sulfa compounds to
Marlow, and a pharmacist said over 700 persons had taken the precautionary
dosage.
A few pavers I sandblasted the past few days.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/WillardFancesPaver.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/KappyGirlPaver.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/RobertStarrPaver.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/
Temps sure have cooled the past few days, but you know the hot summer temps will be back. And you know what that means, A/C running and higher electric bills. 60% or more of your electric bill can be attributed to the air conditioner running day and night to keep your house cool. The Okie Power Saver is a great way to reduce that electric bill and save money year round. Plus it's a full house surge protector and with Spring storms here, it's important to do every thing you can to protect your electrical equipment.
Q. Where in Oklahoma is the
oldest documented school house from Oklahoma Territory days located?
A.
Edmond, Oklahoma 1889
https://www.edmondhistory.org/1889-territorial-schoolhouse/
Q. Where in Oklahoma is an
astrobleme 8 miles wide?
A. (answer in next week's T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of June 1, 2002:
DANIEL'S BARBEQUE AND MEALS"In 1899 William Allen Daniel came from Colbert Bend, Indian Territory, to Ardmore, then in Pickens County, to serve as Federal Court Juror for eight weeks. While here, he bought a grocery store. The address was given on an old sales slip was Ardmore, Indian Territory, West Main Street, near Court House.
At the close of the court tern, Will moved his family to Ardmore and began operating the grocery store. But not knowing anything about the grocery business, Will soon lost his shirt. He then opened a barbeque stand across the street.
This was a three-room building made of old planks. Behind the front eating area, there was another room where, as was the custom of the times, the blacks ate. The Indians always ate with the whites. A sign on the front of the building said, MEALS 15 cents.
Not only barbeque but complete meals were served in this rudely constructed shack. Breakfast was started at 4:30am. Daughter Belle made the biscuits. Two other daughters, Mollie and Lula, with Will's wife, Lucy, worked long hours, cooked and served the customers. Lula made the pies. Lucy wore the "cash box" on her belt. Will did his own butchering and cooked a half beef at a time. Water was carried across the back yard from their residence, the old Joe F. Robinson homeplace, located behind the Opera House on "C" Street SW., where they also kept roomers.
Unpaved Main Street was lined "bumper to bumper" with wagons loaded with bales of cotton as the farmers lined up to sell their new bales to cotton buyers fro all over the world. Not only farmers and cotton buyers ate with the Daniels, but many townspeople as well; Roy Johnson, who became one of Ardmore's leading oil men; Mr. Cruce, a brother of the second Governor of Oklahoma, said he ate there because of the good biscuits.
Will Daniel continued in the restaurant and rooming house building for 15 years, until age 70. In September, 1915, at the time of the Great Explosion, the Daniel family was running the old Bruce Hotel on E Street S.E. as a rooming house." -INDIAN TERRITORY AND CARTER COUNTY PIONEERS BOOK
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This is a photo of a group of country singers from the Marietta and Ardmore area. The name of their group was the Line Riders. Maybe someone out there will remember this singing group? http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos/lineride.jpg
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"Hi Butch, I remember a couple of things about Fred Beaver. He had a lovely tenor voice, and the first time I saw him, he sang "Somebody Bigger than You or I" at a YWCA get together of some kind. Also, the last time I was in the Smithsonian in Wash. D. C., they had one of his paintings, with a notation that one of his strong points was the total correctness of the Indian dress of the people in it. If some of you remember he used to come to the birthday parties for Ardmore in Whittington Park; I was home for one about l959 or '60 with my children. My 3 or 4-yr old son was standing facing me, and I greeted Mr. Beaver to say how great he looked in full Indian regalia. I told my son to turn around and say hello to Mr. Fred Beaver; and when he saw a very tall, especially to him, Indian, he almost backed right through me!! He and I both had a good laugh out of the look on my son's face. He will be 46 in August, so that was a long time ago!! Thanks again for your Newsletter." -Berlin, Maryland
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Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
"There is a very complete notebook in the Oklahoma Historical Museum Library about the building of Roosevelt Bridge. It is under the name of Harold Jenkins Collection. He was an engineer on the Denison Dam and the bridge during their construction. He and his family lived in Durant during this time and his daughter, Janice, was a close friend of mine. After Harold's death, his children, Jan Jenkins Baker, Michael Jenkins, and Susan Jenkins agreed to contribute his papers and pictures about the building of these structures to the museum in Oklahoma City." -Rella Merrill Helms"Last week edition had two items that brought me back...About 20 or so years before your experience at the dentist visit at The Ardmoreite building in about 1940 or so, I too went to a dentist in the same building but it was the Gilbert building back in those days...on the mention of Cason street...the first home I was able to purchase on a GI loan was a little brick house there...lived there for a couple of years before going back to school at OU in 1955." -Jack Moorhead
"Here's another Big Canyon Drone video taken in the Arbuckle Mountains. (Big Canyon, Oklahoma). As mentioned before, my son did all the flying and video. I just sat back and watched and edited it later. If the video is shaky or hangs up you might want to down load it then play it back. That's what I have to do since it's a large file and my desktop is too slow. If you download to a smart phone or tablet Flickr automatically resizes it for those devices. By the way BDS is my son's initials not mine. He gets all the credit." -Dwane Stevens
Link: https://flic.kr/p/HrWQv2
Here are 3 more scans of old postcards from Ardmore, Oklahoma. -Robert Hensley
This one is before statehood of Main Street Ardmore looking west.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16a/ArdmoreStreetScenePostcard2.jpg
This postcard is the Gilbert Building, now the Ardmoreite Building
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16a/GilbertBuildingPostcard.jpg
And this last postcard is the Carter County Courthouse circa 1910. You can see part of the old jail on the right side of the postcard. The jail was halfway below ground. It was torn down in 1949.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16a/CarterCountyCourthousePostcard.jpg
"You have been to Busy Bee in Hugo, Oklahoma and several other places all over the state. I would like for you to stop in Antlers, Oklahoma the next time you are in the area and have a delicious, mouth watering burger at Burger Barn. I'm sure you will enjoy it very much. Our people's favorites are the Big Buck Burger, which is 2 hamburger patties, with Swiss and American cheese, bacon, jalapenos, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion with whatever condiment you'd like on it. Then we have the Buck Burger, which is the same except one less patty. Third favorite is the Bronco Burger which is one hamburger patty with American cheese, bacon, jalapenos, 2 onion rings and BBQ sauce. We are just a little bit off the Indian Nation Turnpike, at the last toll booth before you get to Hugo. We hope to see you soon." -Debra Coleman
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16a/BurgerBarnAntlersOK.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16a/BigBuckBurgerAntlersOK.jpg
FISH FRY Y'ALL!
Join the Gene Autry Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday, June 4 at 4:00 PM for an evening of family, fun and delicious fried fish! All proceeds will go toward the fire department maintenance on equipment and gear!
Everywhere I go, all the places that I've been,
Every smile is a new horizon on a land I've never seen,
There are people around the world - different faces different names,
But there's one true emotion that reminds me we're the same.
Let's talk about love, Let's talk about us, Let's talk about life,
Let's talk about trust, Let's talk about love. -Celine Dion
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Bells of Oklahoma
http://www.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:
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
Bill Hamm's Cemetery Database
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/carter/cartercm.htm
American Flyers Memorial
Fund - Administration Webpage
http://www.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
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter County
Government Website
http://cartercountyOK.us/
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