This and That
Newsletter
A Weekly Publication
Vol 15 Issue 741 Circulation 5,000 April 7, 2011
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
email address: [email protected]
580-657-8616
Long time Ardmoreite Bob Kerr stopped by this week. I never know what neat piece of Oklahoma history Bob is going to bring, but it always proves to be interesting. This week he had a photo of a LaSalle automobile belonging to Joe Mullen. Its parked in front of the Mullen service station at D Street SW and 1st (NE corner). In the background you can see part of the old Hotel Ardmore on Main Street (now the Lincoln Center). The building is still there, but its now an attorney's office. Thanks Bob for sharing this piece of history.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/MullenLaSalle.jpg
Tonya Rangel came by this week with a clipping from The Daily Ardmoreite with her dad, Charles Shockley, picking up donated items for a big garage sale to help raise money for the Higher Education Center, and match the $400,000 goal in matching funds for the new building. Donating the items is C. W. Compton. Maybe some of you remember Mr. Compton, I remember the face, but can't place him. Thanks Tonya for the memory.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CharlesShockley1979.jpg
I found the info below interesting in that it states it 'shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour" to drive from Ardmore to Davis. This was in 1927 with no Interstate and old jalopy cars. Sounds like we haven't made much progress as far travel and time frame goes through the Arbuckle mountains. But they did call it the Roaring 20s.
The new mountain highway to Davis via Turner Falls was opened to the public on Friday March 25, 1927. All of the road, with the exception of a short detour near the prison camp, is graveled and is in excellent condition. The trip to Davis, now, shouldn't take more than a half hour. -The Daily Ardmoreite, March 1927
Joe Hock sent in an interesting website this week. It list the top 50 genealogy websites, a great place for those researching their family tree. Some of them want money but most are free access!
http://www.progenealogists.com/top50genealogy2008.htm
I'm on a new kick this year. Several times a week I bake 4 chocolate chip cookies, and with a glass of milk, delicious. Jill won't eat any with me, said to much sugar and fat, so I have to eat all of them by myself. :-)
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/cookies040611.jpg
Doug and Sheryl Williams was at a garage sale this week and found an old table to buy.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/GoteboOKtable1939a.jpg
Last week we talked about Gotebo, Oklahoma and underneath this old table was a piece of paper with the following: "Made by Paul McCann for mother Dec 24, 1939 Gotebo, Okla."
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/GoteboOKtable1939b.jpg
For several years I been using a program called Billeo to help me keep track of the dozens of passwords I have at work. It has worked ok, but you have to install their program on your computer. Several weeks ago I found another program, really a website, that works even better. Its called LastPass and since its web based, it works from any computer I happen to be setting!
From This and That newsletter archives April 4, 1998:
On November 19, 1930 Garvin County,
Oklahoma sheriff W. A. Rose and his deputy, W. A. Loveless, were transporting a
Pauls Valley man, Bert King, to jail in Pauls Valley. King had been charged with
attempting to kill a deputy Sheriff in Garvin county. King was found a year 1/2
later in Texas. Returning from Texas, the three stopped in Lone Grove, Oklahoma
to repair a flat tire. Being lunch time, it was decided to eat. Bert King asked
to have his handcuffs removed so he could eat easier. But instead of eating,
King bolted and ran. Garvin county sheriff Rose shot King in the hip as he fled.
Bert King was not thought to be seriously wounded, and was transported to the
Garvin county jail by the Harvey Bros ambulance.
Q. Where is the lowest
point in Oklahoma?
A. The
Little River in
far SE Oklahoma at 289 feet.
Q. Where is the
highest point in Oklahoma?
A. (answer in next week's newsletter)
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG....."Butch, I need to go a step further than the Norton bridge even though I thought it was interesting to read about. Perhaps someone can tell me how it got it's name of Pennington Creek? I have heard a couple versions and actually went to Tishomingo and asked several people and still not sure how or where the name came about? Anyone out there can help I would appreciate it and yes I have obvious reasons for asking the question? My name is Mike Pennington and I had ancestors live in that area. My ggrandfather Alonzo Charles Pennington born 1854 in Mississippi was a Baptist Minister through out Johnston, Jefferson and Carter Counties? One such story was that there was an Edward Alonzo Pennington captured on the creek in 1846 who was taken back to Kentucky and hung for murder. Have heard others. HELP? Again Butch, thanks for your efforts on keeping us in touch." -Mike Pennington [email protected]
"The person asking about the hat from Healdton with the IOOF and the connected chain is from the ODD Fellows Lodge the words F H C, I believe stands for Friendship, Hope, and Courage---or Caring. I believe I'm close on the 3 letters, the rest I'm sure is the ODD Fellows Lodge. Keep up the good work
Enjoy every issue." -Bob Cole in Bend, OR.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/HealdtonNo7.jpg
"Butch, the Woodland School is 10 miles west of Davis, Oklahoma on Highway 7. Years ago the school was a little farther west and was called Goose Neck, I'm pretty certain that’s right."
"The Woodland School (10 miles west of Davis, OK on Hwy 7) reunion will be the Saturday after Easter Sunday. Anyone that went there is encouraged to attend." -James Singleterry
"Here's a little more on the last of the torpedomen that I sent you a couple of weeks ago. His name was Russell Sullivan, and he had been shooting wells with nitro since 1931. It happened on October 15, 1955. In addition to the one survivor I mentioned earlier, five more people were hurt but all of them survived. Later, one of them filed suit against Sullivan's estate and others involved with the well, alleging that there had been problems getting the "shells," each of which carried 20 quarts of nitro, to go down the well, and Sullivan and his assistants were puncturing the shells with a pointed instrument of some sort to let the explosive leak out and lubricate its descent. The suit went on to claim that this was the cause of the explosion. I found this in The Oklahoman's digital archives online, but did not find any resolution to the lawsuit or additional details. -Jim Kyle [email protected]
"Hello Butch: Hope you and Jill are doing well. I was just catching up on reading the last few issues of This and That. The story of the oil well that blew up south of Wilson brought back an old memory. I thought I wrote about it in my book The Red River Prosecutor, but do not remember for certain, as I am at the lake and do not have a copy of the book with me. Anyway, I was a teenage boy roughnecking on the oil rig next to the rig that blew up. It seems like it was about 1956 or so. I was working morning tower, which was from 11pm to 7am. I was eating dinner in the late afternoon in Ardmore getting ready to go to work that evening on the rig. We could hear the boom and shake from the blast at the rig all the way to Ardmore. In a few minutes, my driller called and told me to get ready to go to work early because the rig to the south of us had exploded. We were tied onto the same natural gas line that the well that exploded was tied to. When we got to the well sight, there was still fire burning. The rig and substructure, that the rig sat on, was even blown to bits. There was a large crater where the rig sat and a lot of carnage, as you might imagine. My memory tells me there were more than three men killed. Rusty Sullivan was the shooter and a hundred quarts of nitro went off in their faces. They surmised that the Off/On switch, that set the charges off, had been left in the On position at the last job they had done. When Rusty attempted to wire the charge on the rig floor, it exploded. I remember there was a house on a hill east of the rig and across the road that had all of its windows blown out. It was a horrible thing to happen to some good men. As a side note, some of the old nitro shooters would dip their fingers in the liquid nitro and flick it against a hard surface like a big rock or something, causing a series of real loud firecracker explosions all at once. They thought that was pretty funny and it was, if they didn't catch you by surprise or sleeping. I remember some of the old timers talking about some of the nitro shooters who would drink the nitro to get drunk or high. We had a different breed in the oil patch in those days and I really liked every single one that I worked with. Keep up the good work Butch. We all really enjoy your
This and That." -Ken Bacon
"I noticed on your This and That Newsletter that you did a nice write up on the new book, "Oklahoma Courthouse Legends". I wanted to let you know that the Goddard Center has invited both Kent Frates and David Fitzgerald to the Goddard Center for a special presentation on their book. The presentation will be Friday, April 8th at 6:30pm. There will be a reception and book signing following the presentation. This event is FREE and open to the public."
Leila Lenore
Executive Director
The Goddard Center
Ardmore, Oklahoma
"Butch, the nurse with the missing last name in the photo is Virginia ( White ) Camp and is one of my former students at Will Rogers Elementary School. Peggy Parker, one of the nurses, is my sister." -Edgar Wallace
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/MemorialHospSurgeryStaff1981a.jpg
Filmed only four days before the Great California Earthquake of April 18th 1906 and shipped by train to NY for processing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k
This active earthquake map refreshes itself every few minutes. Fascinating!! Details are on the right side of the page.
http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
Live cam of Bald Eagle and her eaglets in Iowa.
http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/index.html
"I also remember in the early 40's, as a toddler, being outside my home on R St. in Ardmore, and hearing a loud droan, and I would look up and see a formation of very large planes going over south to north. The sound was unlike any other at that time, when you heard many planes going overhead to their targets or new locations. This was the B36 from Conair in Fort Worth where they were manufactured. This is the company which became General Dynamics then McDonald Douglas (please forgive my history errors). This was the most beautiful aircraft I had or have ever seen. It had a deep swept wing with six engines facing backward and on the tip of each wing a double jet booster needed to get it off the ground with a full load of armament. This was toward the end of WW2 and the B36 became known as the Peacekeeper into the cold war. It was the only aircraft capable of carrying the current atomic bomb. It was the flagship of the newly created Strategic Air Command which was the title of a movie staring Jimmy Stewart. I'm not sure why my infatuation with this aircraft except for my love of aviation (I never learned to fly). The plane in the photo was the last one made in the Fort Worth plant, named "The City of Fort Worth", and it is now on display at the Davis-Monithan air museum in Tucson, Arizona." -George Davis
"I am LOOKING for any video of the '48 Hours at Atoka' event, back in 74 or 75. I will PAY ANY fair amount for it. I am friends with David Allan Coe, and he has spoken about it many times, but I have NOT seen it. PLEASE help in ANY way you can. I WANT to see that video ! ! Thanks !!" -Bill Fidler. [email protected]
"Hi Butch, I see you got a couple of answers on the store at C st & 2nd Ave SE. I guess I'm telling my age, too, cause the people that ran it when I lived there were the Collins family. I know Mrs. Testerman lived on 2nd SE, when I did, but she must have taken it over after I left there in 1953! Thanks to both of those people for their reply! I remember when Ruth and Artie Riners ran the Overbrook Post Office. Their daughter Louise married my cousin, Garmon Holt." -Rose
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. -Jimmy Johnson
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Nashobish Ikana
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a
minute!
http://www.CheapLongDistance.org
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ardmorecriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells:
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
American Flyers Memorial Fund - Administration Webpage
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/crash66.html
Official AmSerican 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 schools, past and present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County Government Website
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
Ardmore School Criterions
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com
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