This and That Newsletter
www.OklahomaHistory.net
Vol 22 Issue 1,108 Circulation 5,000 April 19, 2018
Ardmore, Oklahoma
My permanent email address: [email protected]
580-490-6823
This week's newsletter will be a little shorter than usual. I've had so many projects going on, I been busier than a cranberry merchant at Christmas time. In the Archives Section below there is mention of the Lone Grove's Poker Rock I talked about on my Facebook page. I was surprised no one, or hardly no one, knew about Poker Rock.
Below is a link to a webpage I created in January 2011 showing the locations of the post offices in Carter County.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/PostOffices.html
February 1934
The first concrete was poured at Lake Murray dam on February 22, 1934. Carpenters built forms yesterday. Sand and rock to be used in the concrete have accumulated in vast piles at the top of the center embankment.Q. Where in Oklahoma can people take a train ride pulled by a 1930s era steam locomotive?
A. Oklahoma Railway Museum, 3400 NE Grand Blvd, Oklahoma City.
https://www.oklahomarailwaymuseum.org/gramling-steam-locomotive/Q. Where is the oldest amusement park in Oklahoma located?
A. Answer in next week's newsletter
Below is from This and That newsletter archives of April 27, 2006
I was up at Davis, Oklahoma last Friday night eating at Coree's Dougherty Diner. The diner is named after Tammie and Jack Edward's daughter and actually started at Dougherty, Oklahoma in 1989. The Edward's moved it to Davis in 1995 and its been going strong ever since. For those of you not familiar with Dougherty, its about 12 miles SE of Davis in the Arbuckle Mountains. When Tammie and Jack moved to Davis to open the diner, they kept the name Dougherty since everyone was familiar with it. Of course I had to try one of their hamburger and it was delicious.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/DoughertyDinerHamburger.jpgAs you can see from this picture I took, it was standing room only inside the diner around 6pm Friday. People were waiting in line to a table for this great place to eat.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/DoughertyDinerInside.jpgWhile eating at the Dougherty Diner in Davis, one thing really caught my attention. This young man name Jerrett was the busboy, and he was lightning fast in getting those tables cleaned and ready for the next customer. A friend timed Jerrett and he would have a table cleaned and ready in 1 minute and 10 seconds! His arms moved so fast with that wash cloth, all you could see was a blur. lol. If there is a national competition event for busboys, Oklahoma should enter Jerrett because I dont think anyone can beat him! When I took a pic of the inside of the Dougherty Diner, I just happened to catch Jerrett in the camera shot.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/DoughertyDinerBusBoy.jpg
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Has anyone heard of an Ardmore family who sang gospel music called The Dickensons? I ran across a pic of an album they recorded back 20 or 30 years ago titled 'In the Light of the Savior'. I did a search of Bill Hamm's 66,492 cemetery records and found no record of any Dickenson buried in Carter county. Since Dickenson is kind of an unusual spelling, you'd think I would have found something. If anyone has any info on this family, let me know.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/DickensonFamilyRecord.jpg
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The Daily Ardmoreite March 4, 1914
"Post Office Now at Wilson"
New Wilson is the name of the post office located 20 miles west of Ardmore on the Ringling-Hamon Road. Lawrence Dunlap, brother to Errett Dunlap of this city was named as the first postmaster of the new town some weeks ago. Heretofore the post office has been at Hewitt, located a mile away, and the citizens of Wilson have had to hire someone to carry the mail to them. The name of New Wilson does not attract like the plain old name Wilson. Twenty years from now New Wilson will not sound good, but for some reason the post office department at Washington put the prefix to the name, and Charley Wilson who is now in Sarasota, Florida, and for whom the town was named, ought to get the name changed back to just plain old Wilson. Contributor's note - The name, New Wilson was used because there was already a town by the name of Wilson, OK. The original Hewitt post office was in the J. B. Chance grocery store and Mrs. Chance was the post mistress. The building was moved from Hewitt in 1914. In 1916 the Post office was located where "The Store" is now. in 1917 The Mobley building, now "The Store" was built where the Post Office was located and the post office moved to the bottom floor of the Mobley building. By May 1917 a new post office was built. This is now the Donut Shop. By 1921 the post office was moved to the Dr. Darling building, now two doors N of the Wilson Historical Museum where the fire station is located. About 1946 the post office was moved to the Ballew Drug store building, now owned by Jim and Sam Odell. In 1961 a new post office was built on its present day site at 1224 U. S. Hwy 70a, Wilson's main street. -Contributed by Melinda Taylor
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"Dear Mr. Bridges, In late August or September, 2005, I was looking for information on the Benbow-Horton Hardware Company, in Lawton, OK, from the early 1900s. I own the original old National cash register from the store. (And she's a beauty!) You were kind enough to include my inquiry in your newsletter. Because of that, a Horton grandson found me a few weeks ago. The cash register is going back home to Lawton--almost 100 years later--with a Horton. I have learned that the Benbow-Horton Building was torn down around 1990. If anyone has pictures of the building or knows anything about the hardware company or owners, I'd like to find them to send back to OK with the register. Thanks for your help." -Betty Rhoads [email protected]A year or so ago a Reader told me about a rock SW of Lone Grove called Poker Rock. This is one piece of Carter county history I had never heard of until 2 years ago. The story goes that back before Oklahoma was a state this rock was used by groups of men to congregate around and play poker, and drink moonshine. I'm sure there was lots of illegal activities going on around this rock, since it was way out in the boonies, a long way from law enforcement officials. Last week we were traveling west on Timber Road (2 miles south of Lone Grove and Highway 70) and there right in front of me was this huge rock on the south side of Timber Road. What a unusual piece of history, just sitting there in the yard. That hole in the side sure looks spooky, not telling what is down in that hole. lol
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/PokerRock7a.jpghttp://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/PokerRock7b.jpg
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------------------------------------------------------------------------Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
Butch, in reference to where the Hinkleys lived, it was on Davis street as the person wrote. My family lived at 907 and the Hinkleys lived straight across in what must have been either 906 or 908. Scott Hinkley was my age and we were great friends. I remember him as being a really nice kid. I was really upset when they suddenly moved. -sj
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Butch, Growing up, my brother, sisters and I spent most of every summer with my grandparents at their place east of Amber, up by Chickasha. It was a time I will never forget.Almost every Saturday, Grandad would take me in to Amber to the local watering hole, which was a service station operated by...you guessed it -- Otis Ivey. He and my grandfather were great friends and one of the few close friends Grandad had. I remember that old station was always cool in the dark corners, even during the heat of the summer. Grandad was really dark from being in the sunshine all the time farming with his horse-drawn implements, and when I was about two, he would take me with him and I would sleep in his lap while he plowed, disked, harrowed, planted, mowed and raked hay and wheat, etc. behind a team of horses. In 1953, when he got his first tractor, a Ford 8N, I rode on that with him, too.
Anyway, every time someone came into the service station that Grandad did not know, he sorta sank back into the shadows, squatted there and said nothing. When the strangers were gone, he engaged in conversation again. And Otis always seemed to run interference for Grandad if necessary. Grandad was one of seven children in his family and his mother felt she could not raise them all, so Grandad was sent to Sacred Heart Orphan's Home till he graduated. It was a different world back then. Otis seemed to be the only white man Grandad trusted, besides my Dad, and I always found that odd till I got old enough to understand how things were. I remember Otis would always shake my hand and give me a piece of hard candy when we got there. He also treated me like I was a grown man, not a snot-nosed kid.
I know this could not have been the same man I met in 1950 or so in Amber, Oklahoma, but it is odd to see two men with the same name like this instance. I guess it is a small world after all. -Bruce Bennett
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We had a foot of snow yesterday. This photo is looking out the front window where the photo earlier this week was taken. You can see fox tracks in the snow where she walked to the side porch. It was an epic storm for this late in the season. We've had 25 inches in the past week. The forecast calls for 4-6 inches more by Monday.What makes it funny is the fact that by the time we see the last snow this spring, stores in Bozeman will be bombing out their spring plantings. Swim suits have been in the stores for the past two months.
Yesterday was a day to put on some music and watch the snow fall. That was fine until Tricia went to the next door neighbor's to let their dogs out and she stuck the truck in their driveway. They have a weird driveway because it is uphill and has an "S" shape. Even the owner has had trouble with the drive. I went over, helped Tricia with the dogs and we got the hell out of there. -Monroe
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18a/SnowBigSkyMT041218.jpg
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The Scott family were the first Carter County Agricultural Agent and Nurseryman, the first to 'irrigate' here and were instrumental in organizing the first Carter Co. Free Fair. My mom's (Shirley A. Scott/Flowers) birth certificate has her listed as being born on Scott Irrigation Farms (1937), which was right behind where Hardy Murphy Coliseum now sits. The house she was born in was built in 1918 by Robert Louis Scott (my gg grandfather). The newspaper clipping below is about my grandfather who asphyxiated in 1937 at Yarnaby, OPklahoma while sleeping in a work tent with others who left the smudge pot burning that night.-Allen Flowers
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18a/RobertScottDeath1937.jpgBelow is just like the smudge pots used by the City of Ardmore street department back in the 1960s.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18a/SmudgePot.jpg
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-----------------------------------------------Make hay while the sun shines.
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
"Friends Make Life Worth Living"
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
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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