It's hard to believe a year ago last week I retired from the Carter County Commissioners office in Ardmore. I had a great 17 years there and worked with some great co-workers and employers. I as I look back I guess one of my proudest accomplishments was in 2009 when the sheriffs office bought security cameras to be installed in the courthouse. The initial money came from a $30,000 state grant the sheriffs office applied for and received. Today there are 22 cameras recording 24/7 with some of the highest quality Hi-Def cameras available with several of them being the newest technology called "360 degree fisheye" cameras by Vivotek Systems. Some days I still miss going to work there and seeing everyone. I still drop by from time to time to help John Ryan when a camera has a hiccup or the recording system does something crazy and needs a little fine tuning or John gets a new camera in and I help him with the installation.
I remember in 2009 when I turned on the first set of IP cameras, some didn't like it too much, made them feel like "big brother" was watching. That's the human in us, wanting privacy, but in the times we live in today, cameras are a must-have for security reasons. After a few months no one even paid any attention to the cameras, and were thankful they were recording when something happened in the building. I'm glad to have been a part of the camera installations.
May 1932
Depression has hit even the political campaigns. There will be no free barbecue
at the opening attraction in Carter County politics. Instead of free food
supplied by the candidates, there will be a basket dinner, with everyone
bringing their own basket. 35 candidates, who are planning to speak at the
political campaign kickoff in Newport, voted against the barbecue furnished by
the candidates, and for the basket dinner.
May 1956
Houston Cox has dropped out of the race for Carter County Sheriff. Cox lost in a
Primary runoff two years ago to Enoch Watterson. Cox's withdrawal only leaves
seven candidates for Waterson's job, Otto Powell, Charles H. Beane, Glen Wood,
Smokey Forest Davis, Walter Day, Elmer Wintin, and Carol Brooks.
May 1988
The concrete floor has been poured and concrete block walls have been completed
to joist-level on the new $350,000 9th grade wing of the Lone Grove High School
campus. The building is expected to be ready in time for the fall semester.
May 1988
Eric Abonadi has been appointed to the United States Military Academy at West
Point. Abonadi is a 1988 graduate of Lone Grove High School. His mother is
Cheryl Newman Marris, Ardmore, and father is K.I. Abonadi of Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia.
Even though I quit about 10 or 11 in the morning because of the heat, I have at least got a new wood floor in my utility trailer.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/UtilityTrailerPartialFloor062916.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/UtilityTrailer070116.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/UtilityTrailerBolts.jpg
I had to cut a 10 inch wide section of steel out of the backend so I could slide new boards in, then used two stainless steel bolts to secure the cut out section back down. I used a 4.5 inch aluminum oxide cutting wheel with the blade about as thick as a dime. Worked extremely well.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/TrailerSectionOut.jpg
This is a picture of the cut-out section after finishing it up.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/UtilityTrailerCutOutFinished070116.jpg
Here is what the trailer looked like after removing the rotten boards but before painting the metal with Rust Reformer to protect the metal from rust.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/UtilityTrailerRework062116a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/UtilityTrailerPainted062716.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/TrailerWireHeatShrink.jpg
I used Boiled Linseed Oil to put a coat of protection on the treated boards. I also had just plain old linseed oil but opted for the boiled since it is thin as water and dries very fast. I might have took several days for the "not boiled" linseed oil to dry.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/LinseedOil070216.jpg
The only thing left to do now is install some 2x12x10 ft sideboards.
A large flagstone I sandblasted the past past week. This is about as large as I can go and still get it in my sandblast unit.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/SampsonPaver.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. The movie Twister was filmed
in what Oklahoma town?
A. Wakita, located in Grant County in north central Oklahoma, nearly
the entire town was
transformed into a movie set for the film about a tornado.
Q. What Carter County town was
named as a tribute to the manager of the Ringling Brothers Circus?
A. (answer in next week's T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of June 6, 2002:
Another piece of local history was torn
down last week. It was the Airlines Cafe at the Ardmore Airpark NE of Ardmore.
It has had several names, and I think Airlines Cafe was one of them. Surely
someone out there can tell us! The Cafe was located on the right just past the
Main Gate as you go into the airpark.
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Last weekend I was out NE of Ardmore near
the Airpark. I travelled to the east end of Buck Hale Road and just before its
ends, was this huge field of, what I believe to be, Indian Blanket flowers.
It covered nearly all the 40 acres on the Surber place. What made this so
unusual is no where between Ardmore and the Airpark (18 miles) did I see
anything of this magnitude of flowers. As I stood by the fence and looked north,
Indian Paint Brushes as far as I could see, quite a beautiful sight!
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos/ipaint2.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/ipaint3.jpg
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"Butch, someone mentioned the Couch
grocery store....it began in Healdton back in the 30's...with Horace and Ina
Pearl Couch. They had an open-air market on the NW corner of 4th and Main in
Healdton. As I remember, it was a wonderful place with a cornucopia of fresh
produce!! They later moved to Ardmore... and that is the store and Couch family
that your correspondent mentioned. Enjoy your column very much!"
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"Hi Butch, I have so many things I want to
write to you about. Every time I read your T&T memories come flying back. I was
raised at 814 A N.E. until I was 13 and then moved to the far N.W. part of town.
The name of the little store on 9th and A street was "Pruitt's Grocery and
Service Station" It was directly across the street from the "First Church Of
God". I knew the Pruitts real well, Juddy and I use to help pump gas during
World War II and after. That's when you had to have ration stamps for a lot of
things especially gas!! When I say "Pump" gas that's just what it was. After the
customer told you how much gas he wanted, you pumped gas (max. of 5 gal.) with a
long lever up to the glass cylinder on top of the pump. The glass cylinder had a
measuring rod in it so you could measure the amount of gas. Once you had the
right amount of gas in the cylinder you put the nozzle in the filler neck of the
cars tank pulled the trigger and let gravity drain the gas into the tank."
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"Hi Butch, am enjoying reading the T&T
newsletter every week. You might want to add Keith's Grocery, a small rock
building on 12th N.W. near Harris Street. I still remember Mr. and Mrs. Keith
and bought many loaves of bread or a bottle of milk there back in the forties. I
think the building is still there." -Bob Taylor
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"I knew the story about the little corner
grocery stores would get a lot of reader response. Some of my kin was in that
business. My Uncle Jimmy Lewis had a small store in the unit block of South
Commerce. Back in those days the meat department was different. They kept the
chickens in a large tub. He told me the story about the lady coming in late on a
Saturday evening and asking for a fryer to fix for Sunday lunch. He knew that he
only one left so he reached down in that tub of ice water and took the only one
he had out and held it up for the lady to see. She said Jimmy I'd like one a
little larger, back in the tub that chicken went. After feeling around in the
ice for a second or two out comes the same chicken, he holds it up and says, ah
yes how about this one. She looked at it for a little bit and then she said,
Jimmy I believe I'll just take both of those. Just a few blocks South was My
Uncle Earl and Aunt Thenia Jones store And yes I ate at Honest John Hubble's
place a lot of times. Butch, do you remember what the building was on the corner
of C street S.E. and Myall. Someone once told me it was the poor farm? Thought
maybe you might know."
Answer: Yes C street and Myall was
where the county's "poor farm" was located.
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"Hi Butch, I lived by Harrisons Grocery
Store when I was in first thru seventh grade, but before they built it, Hart's
Grocery was across the street from it. My best memory of it was that they raised
parakeets and as a little girl I loved going over to see them. Randall Harrison
used to have a snow cone stand in front of their grocery store. Boy, were they
good. Also we had a charge account with them and I was home alone alot while Mom
and Daddy worked so I would enjoy going and charging a lot. That was before
charge cards when a mans word was good. Also, Pratt's Grocery on Caddo had a
gentleman that worked there named Jack Cross. I had to be home for a month in
bed when I was in third grade. Daddy would go by Pratt's Grocery and Mr. Cross
would let Daddy bring home funny books for me to read and then bring them back
to the store to sell. That was also the year we got our first TV....1958. It was
mainly for me because I was so confined. My husband worked for Mr. Moore of
Moore's Grocery by Franklin when he was a teenager. Not only did Curtis deliver
groceries but many of his customers left the door open and he would go in and
put the groceries up. There were several Moores working there but none related
to Dorn. Lucille Moore, Aaron Moore, Curtis Moore, Robert Moore and another one
in the meat section. After we married Dorn offered to sell 1/2 interest in his
store to us. I think because he had no children he probably felt that would keep
the Moore name there. Dorn made the best chili in town from that little store."
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"Butch I grew up in Gene Autry in the 50's
& 60's and most people don't know it but we had 3 grocery stores, 2 cafe's and 2
beer joints. Up by the Airpark was Smiths Grocery owned by Robert and Gussie
Smith. They sliced up some of the best bologna you could eat and Gussie always
had a punch board. Remember those where you paid money for each hole you punched
and you either was told better luck or you won a prize. The beer joints/cafes
were Bosco's (Last chance) where you could not ever get a better hamburger (65
cents) anywhere and down the road about a mile was the Pink Elephant Club. Both
sold illegal whisky. What a nasty bunch we were Ha Ha. Then in Gene Autry we had
two stores Haney's Grocery and Market and across the street we had Sampley's
Grocery and next door to that was Wisenhunts cafe. It was a real hopping place
where you could go to any store and the pops were in water with a big block of
ice to keep them cold and I could drink those ice cold Grapette pops all day."
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"Here is a photo my Daddy's grocery store,
Lewis Grocery on West Broadway. It taken about 1945-47 time frame. My Daddy is
in the photo. He started in the grocery business with A&P, then opened a store
with my uncle (Earl Jones Grocery) and then opened his own store about 1945."
-Judy Montgomery
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos/lewisgro3.jpg
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"Raymond's Bar-B-Q (623 "I" St. NE) was
the best barbeque that I've ever eaten. Daddy would send my brother and me down
there to buy a huge thing of brisket and with it you could get coleslaw, baked
beans and a tub of the most mouth-watering, deliciously sinful sauce to dip your
brisket in. Oh, my goodness. It would be worth a trip back to Ardmore just to
have some of that right now. Gosh, I'd all but forgotten about that. Thanks to
the person who e-mailed that to you."
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Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
Butch, Thought you might like this beautiful video of the many
places on earth. -Steve in Australia
Magnificent Earth
http://www.andiesisle.com/magnificent.html
"Butch, This is better photo of the joey (that is what you call a baby kangaroo) here in Australia." -Steve
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/KangarooJoey.jpg
"Hi Butch, Wanted to thank you for your link of PrivaZer you posted on your newsletter a while back. It is an awesome cleanup too, even more efficient than CC Cleaner, which is neat too. I got the donors version of the software which is even more efficient than the first download." -Ken Patrick
https://privazer.com/
"Mattie Berryhill, Bob Cook, and I also worked at the new swimming pool in the summer of 1955. The OU swimmer Herb mentioned was Lyn Meyering. He would practice his backstroke after the pool closed and we all enjoyed watching him, especially the girls! He later went to Med School at OU and was a well known surgeon in Oklahoma City." -Rella Merrill Helms
Wow! My message earlier had lots errors. Fat fingers on a tiny keyboard. Here is the link to the Old Time Radio site that I mentioned. There are lots of old shows here and you can access them for free. If you like the old radio shows this is a fun site to visit. Enjoy. http://www.otr.net/
Here are 3 more scans of old postcards. -Robert Hensley
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/UnionDepotArdmoreIT.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/ACCruceResidenceArdmoreIT.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/MainStreetLookingWestArdmoreOK.jpg
"I have been unable to find any information on the Central School in Woodford. I know the the location of the school and recently drove by what is left of the building. Can you provide information on when the school was built and what students attended? Thank you." -Sue
Lake Murray State Park is the first and largest state park in Oklahoma.
Butch, take another look at the early Healdton street scene in this week's This & That and tell me how on earth the people got in and out of those cars as close together as they are parked?
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos16b/HealdtonStreetscene.jpg
"I have been unable to find any information on the Central School near Woodford, Oklahoma. I know the the location of the school and recently drove by what is left of the building. Can anyone provide information on when the school was built and what students attended, etc? Thank you." -Sue Griffin [email protected]
Butch, Here's something that goes back many years. Anyone else besides me remember seeing this aired "real time" back in the day? and do you remember what it was for?
On the OKC TV stations we watched late night back in the '50s, when we lived north of Ratliff City on Wild Horse Creek, they had a recording of a guy reading the poem "High Flight" by John Magee with video of a jet plane flying through the clouds. Afterwards they would transmit the test pattern for a few minutes with no audio and finally they shut down the transmitter completely for the night and the screen went blank. Next morning before programming began they fired up the transmitter and broadcast the test pattern again while making final adjustments. You were supposed to adjust the vertical and horizontal sync on your TV set to make the pattern look symmetrical if need be. Of course no one ever did this though. I remember waiting anxiously on Saturday mornings for the test pattern to disappear and the cartoons to start. It was called the "Indian-head test pattern."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The Indian-head test pattern is a black and white television test pattern which
was introduced in 1939 by RCA of Harrison, New Jersey as a part of the RCA TK-1
monoscope. Its name comes from the original art of a Native American featured on
the card. It was widely used by television stations worldwide during the black
and white TV broadcasting era before 1970."
"By the early fifties every TV station in America used a version of the same basic test chart until twenty-four hour broadcasting made it obsolete in the seventies. But one question remains unanswered. What about the most ubiquitous of all the pattern designs ? the one with the picture of the Indian? Where did it originate? Everyone recalls it, yet no one knows why the Indian was used." -C. Dwane Stevens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqnUiEVgmAg
"High Flight", by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds
of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
The famous aviation poem written in 1941 by 19-year-old Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr, three months before he was killed in a mid-air collision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuIic17ijP8
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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