This and That Newsletter
www.OklahomaHistory.net
Vol 23 Issue 1,158 Circulation 5,000 April 4, 2019
Ardmore, Oklahoma
My permanent email address: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
580-490-6823
Ardmore Milling Company - Comet Feed Mill
In 1898 two men, Thomas and Plummer, operated a small flour mill in Ardmore. It was located at 1st Southeast and Mill streets. That year they sold the mill to J.C. Whaley and Associates from Gainesville, and the Ardmore Milling Company was born. Mr. Whaley built a new meal of 200 barrel capacity, and erected a storage elevator of 50,000 bushel capacity. The business was operated by W.M. Gwyn, H.L. Griffin, and J.M. Floyd, all moving to Ardmore from Gainesville. In 1920 the capacity was increased to 300 barrels.
In 1922, a new manager from Gainesville arrived, T.J. Underwood. A fire destroyed the old elevator in 1926, and a new concrete one was erected of 135,000 bushel capacity. It was 150 ft tall. The mill manufactured flour, corn meal, bran, shorts, and numerous animal feeds. Mr. Underwood operated the mill for many years, until he was 81 years old. Mr. John Pearson, who owns the Murphy Milling Company located at the site of the old cotton meal at Lake Murray Drive overpass, was in the process of purchasing Ardmore Milling Company when he died. His son-in-law, B.J. Baker, took over the operations in 1955.
In 1964 Mr. Baker consolidated the two mills and formed the Comet Feed Mill. The company was sold in the past few years to Mr. Bill Hogan, who is the present owner and operator. Mr. Red Jones, one of the longtime employees of the company, can recall many of the early day events. This mill has served the vital need through the years, and was recent modernization, will serve Ardmore and Southern Oklahoma for many years to come.
-Indian Territory and Carter County Pioneers book 1982http://oklahomahistory.net/BirdsEyeView/FeedMill5b.jpg
Some history on Reed Pharmacy, Ardmore, Oklahoma.
Reed Family Pharmacy celebrated our 29 years in business this week. Some of you may know some of our history of the business but I thought I would give you a small taste of what Paul and I started so many years ago. In 1989 we were talking to a pharmacist couple who were friends of ours in Denison Texas. They co-owned a Medicine Shoppe Franchise pharmacy together and worked well as a husband and wife duo. The four of us briefly talked of opening another Medicine Shoppe franchise together until someone asked us why we didn't go out on our own? Paul and I had already tried our hand at pharmacy ownership once before that hadn't worked out but we were ready now to do this. After meeting with Medicine Shoppe corporate folks our desire was to be within 2 hours drive to my parents in Durant. We traveled around the Tyler, Texas area and around Ardmore and decided Ardmore should be the faster growing location due to being 90 miles either to Dallas or Oklahoma City. We moved here knowing absolutely no one in Ardmore except my old boyfriend's grandparents had lived here and his dad had an empty building in need of a tenant in Ardmore. Our building had been a Sandy's hamburger spot when originally built then a Hardees restaurant back in the 70s and had been empty for a while before we chose to make it our home. In January of 1990 we moved in a rental house with 2 very young children to Ardmore. We had our grand opening celebration of Medicine Shoppe in March of 1990. The first four years in business Paul ran the pharmacy with him and one or two employees. I was running the Wal-Mart pharmacy in Madill as pharmacy manager so our children would be picked up by one of our pharmacy staff from daycare or preschool and stay till dad got off work. We would make dinner at home, eat, get kids to bed and many nights Paul would go back to the store and work till 2 AM paying bills and to get ready for the next day. In 1994 I was released from Wal-Mart as manager and joined him in working our store together. I took over the bookkeeping and more management duties as we made the adjustment of being co-workers as well as being married. We decided many years ago we needed some time alone so we drove in separate vehicles daily. Besides I would pick up kids from school every day and take them home instead of being bored and made to do chores there. In 2003 Paul became a fulltime pastor and we moved our family to Ringling while I became sole manager, bookkeeper, pharmacist of our pharmacy for 5 years. At the end of his time at Ringling he decided he wanted to come back to the pharmacy and we moved back to Ardmore. We were finishing up our 20 year franchise agreement and knew we wanted to stay here. We were able to purchase our building and do the remodel while working daily during the work. Never closed a day even when we moved the meds from one corner of the building to the other when it was done. Fast forward now starting our 29th year we look forward to what is in the future. We have loved meeting many people over the years and now take care of some of our original patients grandchildren now. Thank you for your support of us in the community. It wasn't easy to come in cold from out of town but we felt welcome very soon. -Paul and Rebecca Reed
If you haven't visited the website of Robin Cole-Jett (redriverhistorian.com) I would encourage anyone interested in area history to do so. Robin has put together some awesome history on southern Oklahoma and north Texas along with some great photos. This week she posted on her Facebook a couple of pictures they took of a buried Red River reference markers found along the Red River. Interesting, I had never seen one.
March 30, 2019
"We found one of the reference monuments for the boundary between Oklahoma and Texas as set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Oklahoma v. Texas, 260 606 (1923). This court case determined that the boundary of Oklahoma was (pretty much) the southern shore of the Red River.Yes, dear sticklers, I know that the court decision is much more detailed, but the "southern shore of the Red River" suffices for quick explanation.
My son David is in college to become a land surveyor and used his training to discover one of the reference monuments for the boundary along the Red River about 10 inches deep.
Buried treasure, at least for history nerds like all of us!" -Robin Cole-Jett
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos19a/RedRiverReferenceMarker1.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos19a/RedRiverReferenceMarker2.jpg
http://www.redriverhistorian.com/
Oklahoma - February 1935
With clubs as their weapons, four large armies, totaling perhaps 50,000 persons, will march against the wheat belt's perennial enemy, the jack rabbit. Sponsors of the drive expect 200,000 and 350,000 animals are marked for destruction. Hunters will include men, women, and children, farmers and city folks. To minimize the chances of accidents, dogs and guns will not be allowed.Q. Where is the fried onion burger capital of the world?
A. El Reno, Oklahoma. The event takes place the 1st Saturday in May (May 4, 2019).
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/oklahoma/fried-onion-burger-capital-ok/Q. What city in Oklahoma has the most sunshine per year?
A. Answer in next week's newsletterI don't think I've mentioned this in my newsletter, but African Shea Butter is some awesome stuff. If you have any kind of skin problem I recommend you checking it out. I've been using it for a couple of months and amazed at the results. For 20 years I had one mold on my wrist, had it checked by a skin surgeon about 5 years ago, he said it was just a plain old mold, and don't worry about it, unless something changes with it. I applied African Shea Butter on it, twice a day, the past month or so. Not too much of a change, then about a week or so ago, I put it on more heavily, and today I can barely see the mold. I am amazed how the all natural ingredient cleared up 99% of the mold. That's just one example of the good results I have had with African Shea Butter from Ghana. And the stuff is dirt cheap. Check it out, you can even find it at Walmart.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos19a/AfricanSheaButter.jpg
Here it is on Amazon CLICK HERE
Below is a couple markers I made this week.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/MollyDogGranite.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/CannonBanksPaver.jpg
Below is from This and That newsletter archives of April 5, 2007
Here's a couple pictures I took of the new Gleason Memorial Library on Main Street. We didnt get to go inside since the library was closed on Saturday.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/GleasonMemorialLibrary7a.jpghttp://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/GleasonMemorialLibrary7b.jpg
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Comanche is located 6 miles south of Duncan at the crossroads of State Highways 81 and Highway 53. Being a town of only 1,500 souls there is not a lot of places to choose from to eat, but we did find one excellent eatery on the north edge of town called the Comanche Restaurant. Their old fashion burger at $3.09 is right up there among the top when it comes to burgers made the right way.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/ComancheRestaurantOutside.jpghttp://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/ComancheRestaurantBurger.jpg
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Just before leaving Duncan near the east end of Main Street is a business called Gilley's Blacksmith and Welding shop. Outside in front of this business was a large bell. Its a nice looking bell, but the sad part is its got a crack in it.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/DuncanBellGilleys.jpghttp://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/DuncanBell7a.jpg
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
Never heard of the "knob and tube electric wiring" mentioned in last week's newsletter. After seeing the pictures on the below Wiki site, I remember seeing that at times “somewhere”. -Jim
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring#/media/File:KnobAndTubeWiring.png
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Butch, Thanks for info on the harddisksearch program but I think this free software is also very good. Everything. It is free and searches all disks, not just by folder. Enjoying every issue. Thanks for the hard work to produce this. -Emil
https://www.voidtools.com/
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-----------------------------------------------“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
-John Quincy AdamsSee 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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