This and That Newsletter
www.OklahomaHistory.net
Vol 26 Issue 1,308 Circulation 5,000 February 17, 2022
Ardmore, Oklahoma
My email address: [email protected]
580-490-6823"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us,
What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."
A Glimpse Into The Past
Back in 2010 I received an email asking if I had any info on Vanoy Green and his Green Music Corporation that used to be located at 23 "F" Street NE here in Ardmore back in the 50s and 60s. I remember Mr. Green very well back in those days as he would come to my grandparents lumber yard to buy paint, lumber, etc. When I had a motorcycle as a teen I'd ride by his home on F Street NE many times coming or going to town and see Mr. Green sitting out front. But I did not know his connection to music. I looked in my Indian Territory and Carter County Pioneers book and found the following article:
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/VanoyAndBerniceGreen.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/VanoyAndBerniceGreenCont.jpg
Vanoy K. Green obit
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/VanoyGreenObit.jpg
"How Will I Know" - words and music by Professor Vanoy K. Green
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/VanoyGreen3.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/VanoyGreen4.jpg
From the July 10, 2002 T&T: "I'm sending you a picture of Kent's Drive-In that was on Commerce St. in 1950. I thought some of your readers would remember it. It was sitting where you went in to the drive-In Theater (77 North Theater). In 1949 and 1950 it was a very important place for the young folks to hang out." -Dorotha Phillips
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos4a/KentsDriveIn1950.jpg
The pages of the Ardmore phone book scanned
http://oklahomahistory.net/ArdmorePhoneBook1944/
Jim's Skelly Oil Service Station (James A. Tucker) 136 D NW - 1951
Ardmore restaurants and cafes in 1949
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos22a/ArdmoreRestaurants1949.jpg
Q. I stumbled on the Oklahoma History website and thought I would ask a question. Do you happen to know the location of a place called Clear Creek in Indian territory in the late 1890s, possibly close to the Texas Border. I once found a gossip piece about my ancestor in an old newspaper online that said his daughter went to visit him at Clear Creek. I believe it was an IT paper. Due to a computer crash I lost the article and now can't find the newspaper article among the LOC newspapers either. I also was never able to find the location of a place called Clear Creek. Thanks -Cindy
A. I find mention of a Clear Creek school in the April 12, 1917 issue of The Marlow Review. Marlow (Stephens county) Oklahoma.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos22a/MarlowNewspaper1917.jpg
Q. So was Mr. Pizza on the north side of Monroe (Monroe and North Washington), where the circus use to set up each year? Across the street north of that old car wash?
A. Alan Robinson said: yes. I worked for the car wash guy too on weekends waxing and washing his caddy.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos22a/MrPizzaArdmoreOK.jpg
Since I announced my GoFundMe account four weeks and thanks to some great friends we have more then doubled my goal to over $2,500 which includes a deduction of $78 in GoFundMe service fees. I paid in advance for 10 years for not only my new Godaddy, Inc., webhosting but also 10 years advance payment for my oklahomahistory.net domain ($1,140.33). We're good for the next 10 years.
Yesterday I hired a company to convert all 1,300 newsletters (with photos) from their present, outdated HTML format to the modern Wordpress format on the new Godaddy website. I'm excited to get my new website online and working and available for viewing for the next 10 years.
I want to thank the 56 people below who helped make my GoFundME campaign a success!
Larry Gandy, Laura Atchley, Bevin Parker-Evans, Edmond Pope, Jennifer Harvey, Emil H Levine, Cheri Clark, Roger Hughes, Pete Ihde, Shirley Barrick, L Vada Aitken, Anonymous, Carrol Evans, William Ford, Eva Taylor, Jerry Summy, Anonymous, Debra Griffin, David Willingham, Charles Walker, Monroe Cameron, Matthew Hoage, Anonymous, Edwina Wooten, Linda Lathum, Lydia Dulaney, Anonymous, Carol Hunter, Anonymous, David Bridges, Anonymous, Lee A Bullard, Robin Gray, Kristi Johnson Wedge, Ann Whitchurch, Stephanie Jordan, Elizabeth Aldridge, Marthanna Donald, Darla Herndon, Carole Geurin, Candace Gregory, Robin Ezell, Brandy Black, Patricia Downing, Bob Hargis, Amanda Lawson, Sarah Stephenson, Christopher Cox, Lenora Cunningtubby, Les Gilliam, Beth Tucker, Earlene Chandler, Richard Cravens, Max Brown, Bob Gates and the McAlister Cemetery Association.
The link below will give an accounting of the money received and spent so far. Just scroll to the bottom of the webpage.
http://oklahomahistory.net/gofundme
Still finding people in Oklahoma with unclaimed money. We're now over the $1,834,000 dollars. Sometimes progress is slow locating people or their kin with unclaimed insurance money at the State Treasurers office in OKC but we keep trying.
How long has it been since you checked your name or a family member's name? Its easy to do a search at the Oklahoma State Treasurer link below. I think every state in the union has a unclaimed property website through the respective state treasures website.
https://apps.ok.gov/unclaimed/If you have Facebook, I created a new Page called Southern Oklahoma Unclaimed Insurance Money. The only Post that will go on that page are names and towns of people we are looking for with unclaimed money;
https://www.facebook.com/South-Central-Oklahoma-Unclaimed-Insurance-Money-114246471027358
Q. What famous west bound trail went through Oklahoma?
A. Santa Fe TrailQ. What turnpike between OKC and Tulsa was named for what governor?
A. Answer in next week's newsletterSome mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
I remember Mr. Henry Berry at the courthouse from when I was a wee lad. I loved to go into the courthouse and buy a pack of gum from him, and was always amazed how he could so well handle such a job without any eyesight! He was always so nice to me and would have something nice to say. -Skip
Henry Berry 1910 - 1993
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/HenryBerry.jpg
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Certainly enjoyed the Whizzer Bike article from the Feb. 4, 2010 Archives.
My older sister bought me one of these back in 1959 from Giles Bike Shop in Holdenville, OK. He had two, she bought the cheaper one, but it did not run very well or fast. So she returned the bike and purchased the faster one. It was built on a Heavy Duty 26 inch Schwinn bike.
Boy would it run. I'm sure it was a kit installed on the bike in the bike shop.I was about 14-15 yrs old at the time and it didn't matter to me, because it would really run. I lived in the country and had plenty of dirt roads to ride on and sometimes on Hwy 75 & 270 @ Horntown, OK.
My friend had a real nice Cushman Eagle, two speed. He could beat me in a short race from stand still, but if we rolled off on the highway no way could he stay up with me.
I was clocked by another friend right at 60 MPH on the highway. But the guy who wrote the article was right it was very hard on the Bendix brakes. It would just shear everything off.
I sure wish I had it back to see if I could restore it, some sure look nice, One sold on Mecum for $9,000.00 but it was perfect.
Probably good that I don't have one at 77 years of age, may not reach 78.
Thanks for the articles that stir up some great memories.
-Jerry Summy
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Hello my name is Betty Davis and I have a question. Has anyone ever come across any information about a family whose last name was Leonard who owned a grocery store in Ardmore? It would have been in the early 1900's at least. They are my husbands family on his maternal grandma's side of the family. Thanks for any info you can share with me.
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Hello Butch from western Carter County. B L Owens also had a furniture store in Healdton as did H L Morris. Collier Brothers had a furniture store on Main Street Healdton and also had the funeral home and ambulance service. -Vince Freeman
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----------------------------------------------------------Below is from This and That newsletter archives of February 4, 2010
I was wondering if you could tell me about a grave that can be found in the woods just off the dirt road that travels between the Norton Bridge just outside of Mannsville, to the outskirts of Russet, almost to Ravia. There is one solitary headstone and it reads "John Brown, Born Aug. 8, 1850 Died Aug. 8, 1903". My mother showed me this a few years back, and I've always been curious about who he was." -Caitlin Higginbotham
Here is a map showing the location, pretty close, that's located just off a dirt road.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JohnBrownMap.jpg
Below are a couple pictures sent in by Caitlin of the grave marker, one a close up.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JohnBrownGrave3.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JohnBrownGrave4.jpg
If anyone knows more about this isolated grave NE of Mannsville, please let us know.
By the way, this Norton Bridge is the same bridge that's been closed since May 2008 when a heavy piece of equipment tried to cross it, almost crashing through to the Washita River below.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/NortonBridge050208.jpg
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I just found out this week that our good friend in Sulphur, Bill Uhles, passed away last December. Many knew him as Seaweed. Bill has made many contributions to the T&T over the years, including the caves in the Arbuckle Mountains. Jill and I stopped by his home in Sulphur on several occasions and he gave us seeds to plant and other plants. In fact just last Fall he mailed us several packets of seeds he'd bought on Ebay and we were saving them for Spring planting. Sometimes I don't realize just how many friends we have out there through my weekly ezine, until someone passes away, and they are no longer be here to share the history they know.
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2/04/2010 The past few weeks I have really been humbled by the over 850 friends that's been added to our Facebook site. We appreciate every one of you. (Today over 6,000 on my Facebook).
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"I vaguely remember a couple of fellows who played for the Ardmore Indians in the old Sooner State League along about 1950 or so. One was J. C. Dunn and the other was an Indian named Overton James. Overton and I both played for the Durant GIs during the 1954 season. We nicknamed him "Ugh." Along in the late 40's I lived in Grandfield and pretty well kept up with the standings in the Sooner State League. Since they were in my part of the state, I was a lot more familiar with the Lawton and Duncan teams than any of the others. I also attended many of Wichita Falls, Texas games during that time. Wichita Falls was in the Big State League which was Class B. The Sooner State League was Class D." -Royse Samples, Cache, Oklahoma
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July 28, 1887. The first train (Santa Fe Railroad) arrives in Ardmore. The town consists of a few tents, but the train brings lumber and other building supplies. Among the tents were two containing stores. One run by Sam Zuckerman and another by Frank & Bob Frensley. Not a single tree exists within the townsite west of the railroad tracks. Caddo Street becomes the first named street in town. So named because it was originally an old wagon road from the 700 Ranch house north to Caddo Creek.The Frensley brothers used the lumber and building supplies off the first train to construct a frame building for their store. Facing south on Main Street, it was the first structure on Main and was 80 feet wide and 100 feet long. The first clerk in the store was Robert Scivally, and the first customer was Mrs. W. J. Jennings, who bought a bolt of calico cloth and some groceries.
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"Butch, I was out taking photos of the snow on Feb 11, 2010. It was getting dark and I decided to head home when I passed the Black Gold Casino and Travel Center on Hwy 70 at Wilson. Turned around and went back to attempt a night exposure of the colorful neon lights in the snow. Looks like they do a good business, snow or no snow." -Dwane Stevens
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/BlackGoldCasino021110.jpg
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"Butch, I noticed a C. P. Hall furniture store picture on your website from the 1920's or there about. I think this C.P. Hall was my grandfathers brother. C. P. is short for Cyrus Perry. My grandfather was George Nute Hall. Their father was named Perry Hall and is buried in Carroll County, Tennessee. Two of my grandfathers brothers left Carroll County, Tennessee for Oklahoma by way of Russellville, Ark. around the turn of the century from what I can gather. I'm just wondering if I might have any relatives still left in Ardmore."Thanks,
David Hall [email protected]
Jackson, Tennessee
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/CPHallBook1983a.jpghttp://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/CPHallBook1983b.jpg
Additional note: Bill and Dolly Hall Pound of Ardmore
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"Hi Butch, I spent my teen years near Enid and Dover - at that time (1960's - 70's) you could still see part of the wrecked locomotive sticking out of the quicksand during drought times. It?s on the south end of the RR bridge over the Cimarron River, adjacent to Highway 81, both following the route of the Chisholm Trail. I don't know if the engine is still visible today. In the 1960's the Cummins Construction Co. of Enid wanted to raise the old loco but permission was denied as the boiler rests against part of the bridge and stabilizes it. The sad truth seems to be that greed caused the accident ? the original bridge was built as a temporary bridge but the funds to upgrade it were diverted to buying up smaller railroads to increase the size and power of the railroad?s monopoly ? hence the temporary bridge became permanent ? until it collapsed in 1906." -Don Loving
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/dover.html
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Q. Do you know where the Bud Ballew old home place is in Lone Grove?A. Its just a couple doors west of the Lone Grove Liquor Store on the north side of the highway 70
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/BallewHomePlace.jpg
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-----------------------------------------------------I'll Never Find Another You by The Seekers 1968
There's a new world somewhere
They call The Promised Land
And I'll be there some day
If you will hold my hand
I still need you there beside me
No matter what I do
For I know I'll never find another youThere is always someone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ga9Bs4fzSY
For each of us they say
And you'll be my someone
For ever and a day
I could search the whole world over
Until my life is through
But I know I'll never find another youSee everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
"Friends Make Life Worth Living"
Ardmore, Oklahoma
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net
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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
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter County Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us
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