Back in the 1950s my grandfather
Stanley Carmon owned a 1958 Ford
station wagon something like the one in this picture as best I remember.
1958
Ford Country Sedan station wagon (except ours was yellow)
Below is a scan of the Oklahoma car Title to the station wagon.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/1958StationWagonTitle.jpg
We made several trips to Dallas (actually Mesquite, TX) to pick
up paint and wallpaper at the Dal-Worth Paint Mfg Company to sell in his
lumber
company on 3rd NE. I remember one school day morning hiding under a tarp
on the floor behind the drivers seat and I didn't move until we got way south of
Ardmore. When your hiding a minute seems like 30, so I thought we were further
down Highway 77 (no I-35) then we really were. When I did move and
say something, my grandfather was pretty mad, but he let me continue on to
Dallas with him.
I did a search on the net and found the following advertisement
lighter by Dal-Worth Paints.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/DalWorthLighter7a.jpg
I sure enjoyed riding in that station wagon, and the one thing I
remember is it had an Overdrive. Not many vehicles back then had that feature.
It was a real gas saver on the open highway. And then on a steep uphill, you
didn't have much power. But the station wagon back in my teenage years was a
completely different station wagon from the modern day back 100 to 200 years
ago. The station wagon was just that, a wagon used to transport people from the
hotel to the train station and back.
Chuck Stallcup has been receiving some great responses
from many of you offering to help build the overlay for
Google Earth with
locations of old schools in Carter county. Chuck now has a good start on the
project thanks to many of you. Below is some schools he still needs help
in identifying exactly where they were located in the county:
CARTER COUNTY SCHOOLS GOOGLE
EARTH PLACEMARKS
2/10/2007 By Chuck Stallcup
The ones listed as ACCURATE
are at least within a few hundred yards, so let's leave them alone, for now.
Most of the information in italics is from old issues of T&T, and much
of that from the Kate Galt Zaneis book of 1923.
These are the ones I have
worked on, so far:
Barrett School.
northwest of Berwyn and northeast of Springer
Baum
School. ACCURATE
Berwyn
School. Need
exact street location
Black
Jack School. NO INFO
Blue Ribbon School.
a few miles northwest of Lone Grove. (On Prairie Valley Road?)
Board Tree School.
Township 6 south & Township 5 south - range 2 west - Range 1 west. (I'm
guessing that puts it in the Lake Murray
area?.)
Brock School.
ACCURATE
Bryant School. southwest
of Wilson
Buckhorn School.
ACCURATE
Bunker Hill
School. a few miles south of Lone Grove
Cannon School (aka, Russell
School). ACCURATE
Carter-Humble
School. near Dillard
Cheek School.
Not sure exactly where in the Cheek area it was
Cisco
School. ACCURATE
Clinton
School. Out on the Tishomingo road 6 miles east of
Ardmore
Crinerville
School. ACCURATE
Enterprise School.
Township 4 south, range 1 west, 1 East
Harmon
School. in the Tatums school
district
Lone Grove
School. ACCURATE
Mary Niblack School.
ACCURATE
Mount Washington School
1923. ACCURATE
Mulkey School.
east part of Carter county
Nellda School.
CLOSE. on Nellda Road SE of Dickson?
Norris Chapel School
ACCURATE
Plainview School.
ACCURATE
Pleasant Hill School.
about five miles southwest of Ardmore on the Stapleton
Highway. About 3 miles south of Plainview.
Prairie Valley School.
ACCURATE
Pruitt School.
ACCURATE (need photo)
Rose Chapel School.
CLOSE, I think. "southwest of Springer" "On the east side of the school
ground is Henry House Creek" For it to be any south of Springer, it would
have to be near the confluence of Henry House and Caddo Creeks.
Wheeler School.
ACCURATE
So, if you can help Chuck pin point these old
schools, send him an email to oldccschools@satx.rr.com
In a couple of 1971 photos in the Mailbag below (sent in by
John Gow) I see pigeons resting on top of the Freight Depot. Used to be pigeons
all over downtown Ardmore back in those years. Dont see any today. Makes a
person wonder.
KillDisk - a powerful and free DOS software that allows you to destroy
all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of
deleted files and folders. It's a hard drive and partition eraser.
http://www.killdisk.com/
MAILBAG
"Hi Butch, Re: the new Catholic Church in
Marietta, the general contractor is our own Bill Fields of Craftco Builders
here in Ardmore. You might know his father-in-law, former county treasurer
Mike McComber."
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/MariettaMission7a.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/MariettaMission7b.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/MariettaMissionBell.jpg
"Butch, here is a picture of the river bridge
on the east side of the Airpark by Annie Conway's place after it had burned,
circa 1950. The man in the cowboy hat is I believe my grandfather Frank
Rountree, they were standing on a walking trail made to get across the
river. If you zoom in there is an old Ford pickup on the hill. The bridge
was converted to a Bailey bridge later by the Air Force." -Doug Williams
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/AirparkBridge7a.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/AirparkBridge7b.jpg
"Butch: Your site is excellent! I operate a site that could
be a helpful resource for users of your site:
www.storyofmyhome.com. I'm
interested in keeping history alive: every time somebody moves out of a home,
they take their knowledge of that home's history with them. I want to
capture that history and preserve it for others to use. Come take a look at
the site. If you agree with the mission, I'd love to link with your site so
that we can give both our user's greater options for their research needs.
Thanks!" -Bill Jackson
www.storyofmyhome.com
"I live on the property where the Pruitt school house was
located. It is about 2 miles East of Ardmore on Gene Autry road, one half
mile North of hi-way 199. The corner of Gene Autry and Quail roads. It is
on the South side of the Pruitt cemetery. I believe cemeteries and school
houses were located next to each other back in the old days. All that's
left are two brick columns by the road, a big cellar, and the foundation of
the outhouse. I've had most of the other foundations removed. I've been
looking for a photo of it for years. Can anyone help? My parents lived here
for almost 40 years before I moved here in 2000. My understanding is it
burned down around 1929 and was never rebuilt. Apparently it was a brick
building and when it burned all the brick were spread out and covered with
dirt because any where you dig there are brick. And there are seven acres of
it. My friends have had a field day with metal detectors out here. I have a
1903 penny that looks new. Probably some child dropped it while playing.
That had to be lots of money back then. Also found some
Oklahoma "mills"
(1/10 or 1/2 pennys)." -Larry Caillr@aol.com
"Dear Butch and Jill Bridges: My name is Jerome Benson 78 years
old, Chula Vista, CA. Your Oklahoma History awoke me from what I thought was a
touch of Alzheimer's. Suddenly I can recall almost before I was born. I was
raised a mile north of Ravia on a small dried up farm on a dirt road. When I
was not yet in my teens, the Kuykendall family lived just north of us before
moving to downtown Ravia. The Clark Capertons lived a 1/4 mile south. Nina
Ruth Kuykendall, and her brother a couple of years older than I, were walking
down the dirt road and a snake bit her. They both screamed that she had just
got snake bit. Dad, Homer Benson, jumped into his wagon and team which was
already hooked up and raced to them as fast as the team could run. He ran them
all the way to Ravia for treatment and saved her life. As for me, as a teenager
there, I was ranked as a topnotch cotton picker at a penny per pound, black eyed
pea picker on the thirds, dishwasher at Park's restaurant in Tishomingo for $5
per week and all the gizzards I could eat. What deals. Clark Caperton was a good
family friend. We kids called him Mr. Yeah Yeah because as he listened to
someone he would say yeah yeah. I remember he was a compliment to Ravia as few
others were during those wild years. My Benson grandfolks were old timers there
even before the turn of the century. My mom's mother was full blood Chickasaw
from Pontotoc. Gene Autry went to school there from the first year to the tenth
grade. His dad was in prison for cattle rustling when his mother died of
malnutrition. Gene was singing on the radio at the time and called Earnest (Red)
Field's son to please get his (Gene's) two sisters something to wear to the
funeral. Red's son J. E. paid $16 for the clothes. Previously to that when Gene
was going to school, Red bought Gene a second hand guitar for a dollar. That
was the beginning of Gene's success story. My daughter is a doctor of Public
Relations. She recently returned from London where she taught at a branch of
Oxford University. While there, she went to a Protestant and Catholic meeting
in Belfast, Ireland. The Irish as usual almost got into a fight while arguing.
On the outside in the hall was a chalk board. On the way out my daughter wrote,
"I am Chickasaw Indian from Oklahoma. Instead of arguing and fighting, we
Chickasaws sit on a big flat rock with a peace pipe and blow smoke to the four
winds and leave as the best of friends. Thanks Butch and Jill for reviving my
young years." ejb@nethere.com
Find Open Source alternatives to commercial software.
http://www.osalt.com/
Q. "Rural Schools. I would like to have a map of the rural
schools of Grady County."A. Below are maps showing the
rural schools of Garvin County and Stephens County, Oklahoma in about 1925.
-Patricia Adkins-Rochette,
prochette@Juno.com
www.bourlandcivilwar.com
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/OKGarvinCoSchoolsmapFeb082007.pdf
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/OKStephenCoSchoolsFeb072007.pdf
"My name is John Gow.
jag25_136@hotmail.com I lived in Ardmore and went to junior high and high school
there in the late 60s and early 70s, though I haven't lived in Ardmore for many
years. I learned of your publication from a man in Australia, Ron McFarlane,
while talking with him about railroads in Ardmore in the 1960s. He is a big fan
of the Santa Fe Railroad through the Pauls Valley and Ardmore area and has been
creating a model railroad in its image. In high school I was likewise a big fan
of the railroads in Ardmore (or anywhere, for that matter) and had taken a lot
of photos of trains in the area at that time. I told him as much as I could
remember of what the railroad operations were like at the time, and also sent
him some of my photos. He told me of your publication and said you might be
interested in seeing the photos as well, so here are a few. If you're interested
I have more. Some info on the photos:
1) This is Santa Fe's southbound Texas Chief, arriving at the Ardmore station in
1971. The Texas Chief was a passenger train that ran daily between Chicago and
Houston. It had a baggage car, chair cars, sleeping cars, a full lounge car
(what the Santa Fe called a "Big Dome Lounge", as it had a glass bubble top and
you sat up inside the dome, almost like you were sitting on top of the train),
and a full-service dining car serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The
southbound train was scheduled to arrive in Ardmore about 11:30am. This station
still stands of course, and now serves Amtrak's Heartland Flyer. To the left of
the train in the parking lot you can see the beginning of a grass median. This
was actually a rose garden, maintained for many years by the Ardmore Garden
Club, as an
enhancement for travelers arriving and departing Ardmore.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ATSF15Ardmore1971_1.jpg
2) Here is another view of the southbound Texas Chief coming into
Ardmore in 1971. This photo was taken looking north from the MLK Viaduct, though
at that time it was called the 5th Street Viaduct. There is a northbound freight
train on the right waiting for the passenger train to pass before it moves out
onto the mainline to continue to Oklahoma City and beyond.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/SantaFeTrain1971_2.jpg
3) Here is the northbound Texas Chief in the Ardmore station, stopping on its
way to Oklahoma City, Wichita, Kansas City, and Chicago. The passenger cars are
Santa Fe's "Hi-Level Chair Cars", a 2 story type of car with an upstairs and a
downstairs. Amazingly these durable, comfortable cars are still in use on
Amtraks' Heartland Flyer which continues to serve Ardmore today. The northbound
train was scheduled to arrive in Ardmore about 3:15pm.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ATSF16Ardmore_3.jpg
4) This is Santa Fe's branchline freight train that ran from Ardmore to Healdton
and Ringling. The train is shown leaving Ardmore in March 1971 westbound to
Healdton and has just crossed Sunset road on the southwest side of Ardmore. At
this time the little train ran 2 times a week, on Tuesday and Saturday. The new
Uniroyal Tire Plant (at this time it was brand new) is about a mile and a half
ahead and is still served by this rail line, though the line beyond the tire
plant to Healdton and Ringling was abandoned long ago.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/ATSFHealdtonMarch1971_4.jpg
5) This is a photo of a Frisco Railroad freight train, a rare sight in Ardmore.
The Frisco had a branch line that ran to Ardmore from Durant and Madill. It had
passenger service until 1953, with a small passenger train running daily between
Ardmore and Hugo, Oklahoma. That was a distant memory however, even at the time
of this photo, 1971, when the line saw little use. This train is facing south
and is shown in south Ardmore. The Blue Bonnet Grain elevators are about a mile
behind, and the train has just crossed Washington Ave, just south of where
Washington intersects with Stanley.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/SLSFFreightArdmore1971_5.jpg
6) This is the Frisco Railroads' Freight Depot, shown in 1988 when I was in
Ardmore for a visit several years after the Frisco abandoned its line to
Ardmore. I believe the building was used by a plumbing company for awhile, but
it has since been torn down. It's too bad, as it had a classic late 19th century
railroad architecture style. In the extreme right side of the photo you can see
the red roof of the main Ardmore depot, which serves Amtraks' Heartland Flyer.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/FriscoFreightDepotArdmore1988_6.jpg
7) The Frisco depot was on the first street that runs parallel to
the railroad tracks one block west of the existing Ardmore depot. It's been
awhile so I'm struggling a little with the street name. I think it is Caddo
Street, and the freight depot was on the east side of the street, just south of
where it intersects with Broadway. It was torn down some time in the early 90s.
I've included another pic of it from a different angle, taken at the same time
as the other in 1988.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/FriscoFreightDepotArdmore1988_7.jpg
Google's hidden features.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=675528&seqNum=15&rl=1
Since I missed putting the links to the pics in last week's
T&T, here this one is again:"Butch, Thanks to you and Larry Wilcox for information about
the Russett website. My great grandparents lived in Ravia where my
ggfather, Dr T.A. Caperton was a dentist. Dr. Caperton's daughter,
my maternal grandmother (Fleeta Caperton), was first a student and then a
teacher at Russett, IT. Fleeta's brother, Joe, also taught school
in Oklahoma and also in California. In 1912, Fleeta
married Clem Kuykendall, who was a section line foreman for the Frisco
Railroad. They continued to live in Ravia for many years and raised a
family of seven children. Several of the Caperton descendants still live in
Ravia area.
I have attached two photos:
1. Ravia - Frisco Railroad Section Line Crew dated 1912.
From left to right: Bob Cleghorn, Clem Kuykendall, Bill Mansker, Newton
Stanley and Bill Duvall.
2. Fleeta Caperton Kuykendall's class at Russett, IT dated
April 3, 1911. Some of children listed in the photo are: Frankie Dewbree,
John O'connor, Rollen Cumbry, Bud Wagoner, Pate, Huges, Jimmie Glass, Reggie
Hughes, Maudie Jones, Jewell Morgan, Dona Glass, Clare Moore, Oran Dewbree,
Elsie Hughes, Ola Montgomery, Dice Whitefield, Mattie Jones, Lilly Morgan,
Claud Huges, Dewey Montgomery, Blanche Allen, Clyde Allen, Emma Hughes, Emma
Morgan, Talitha Allen, Arvel Quick, Stanley Moore, Emma Jones, Cordie
Allen, Clieve Allen, Hayes O'connor, Tompie Wagoner and Eugene Hughes.
I have a third photo dated February 1902 of my grandmother,
Fleeta Caperton, when she was a student at Russett, but it is terribly
damaged and did not scan clearly. The photographer was listed as Schlueter
Studio, Mansville, Indian Territory. The names of 40 children are listed on
the back including Fleeta's siblings." -Clark and Ruth Caperton.
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/Caperton1911a.jpg
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos7a/FriscoSectionCrew1927a.jpg
Might pass this link along to the Caperton clan. We might
have some common ancestors. Antonia Kuyrkendall-Hoard (pg 538) is my ggm. More
by searching (google or otherwise) on this phrase:
"History of the Kuykendall Family by G. B. Kuykendall"
Thanks. -Garth Hoard
http://www.kjvuser.com/kuykendallzip.htm
"Thanks for the pictures
from Lake Murray...reliving my youth thru them! Do you remember (or was it
still there when you were growing up) between the beach and the marina (which
wasn't there in the 50s) on a hill was where we all went to eat when we spent
the day at the lake.....They had the best hamburgers in the world...... Don't get
'em like that anymore........You and Jill keep making these day trips....... fun
to look at the pictures!!!" -danna
Reachelle Marie Smith missing from Minot, North Dakotahttp://www.snopes.com/inboxer/missing/reachelle.asp
"Butch, I?ve never looked at your site before today. My great-grandmother Stella
Alkire passed away this past weekend. I grew up with her on Prairie Valley Road
until I left for college in 1990. I am a graduate of Plainview High School. I?m
not sure why I?m telling you this other than I just wanted to let you know about
an important piece of Ardmore history. Stella ?Mamaw? Alkire was born in
Overbrook, Indian Territory on November 27th, 1904. She lived at Rt3 Box12
Prairie Valley Road from July 1946 until last weekend. She was an amazing woman
and will be sorely missed. Part of her
story is chronicled in a Carter County history book that was published several
years ago. Thanks." -Mike Bosley
http://ardmoreite.com/stories/020507/obits_39834.shtml
Question: "Butch, Any details of the Rail Road that went thru
Tishomingo and on east to somewhere, the old right of ways shows up from highway
split to Madill and hiway east to Tish., I dont find it listed shown on maps
I have, The right of way shows in north part of Tish....another right of way
vanishing is the old line to Ringling , and the line from Chickasha to Pauls
Valley...during 20-30's'' it was the "broomcorn special" with a Doodlebug
gas passenger motorcar........... old RW 's areas are nostalgic items for me
with the cuts, relic telegraph poles (thats left) and sometimes a relic
trestle.....good painting subjects."
Answer: "The line that went through Tishomingo was
the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific (aka "Rock Island"), and was built off
their mainline that ran from Memphis through Oklahoma City to New Mexico. The
line you're asking about left that mainline at Wilburton and went SW through
Tish, Russett, and Mannsville to Ardmore. The plan at the time was to continue
on west to Waurika to connect with another Rock Island line, but that company
never built farther west than Ardmore. A different railroad built the line to
Healdton and Ringling. The Rock Island line never did well and was mostly
abandoned in about 1940. The last few miles into Ardmore were sold to the Saint
Louis and San Francisco Railroad (aka "Frisco") which also had a line running
into Ardmore from the east, from Durant and Madill. The two railroads up to that
time had shared the track for those last few miles into Ardmore, and the Frisco
acquired complete ownership of it. That line lasted until I think 1976. That old
right of way shows up in the terrain in some places too. If you know where the
railroad depot in Ardmore is, there's a little bit of history there that few
people know about. On the opposite side of the depot from where the current
train tracks are is another door into the stations' old waiting room. Over that
door is the corporate herald of the Rock Island Railroad cast in concrete, a
railroad that has been gone since before WWII, so long most people in Ardmore
have no memory of it.
There are a couple of great Oklahoma railroad maps from the early 20th century
at this website:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgenweb/okprojects/xref/rr-maplinks.html
-John Gow
With all the snow in the country this week (thankfully none here
in Ardmore) I thought back to one of my favorite singers and the first song she
produced that put her on the road to stardom.
Anne Murray came out with
Snowbird in 1970 and I remember her being the guest entertainer at the Ardmore
Shrine Club Rodeo a couple years later. Does any one else remember her singing
at the
Hardy Murphy Coliseum or did I dream it (or wished it) lol ???
Snow Bird by Anne Murray 1970
Beneath this snowy mantle cold and clean
The unborn grass lies waiting
for its coat to turn to green
The snowbird sings a song he always sings
And speaks to me of flowers
that will bloom again in spring
When I was young my heart was young then too
Anything that it would tell me,
that's the thing that I would do
But now I feel such emptiness within
For the thing that I want most in life
Is the thing I can't win
Spread your tiny wings and fly away
And take the snow back with you
Where it came from on that day
The one I love forever is untrue
And if I could you know
that I would fly away with you
The breeze along the river seems to say
That he'll only break my heart again
should I decide to stay
So little snowbird take me with you when you go
To that land of gentle breezes
where the peaceful waters flow
Spread your tiny wings and fly away
And take the snow back with you
Where it came from on that day
The one I love forever is untrue
And if I could you know
that I would fly away with you
yah if I could, you know that I would fly away with you
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net
