This and That
Newsletter
A Weekly Publication
Vol 16 Issue 817 Circulation 5,000 September 20, 2012
PO Box 2
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
email address: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
580-657-8616
The first Superintendent of Carter county schools was Mary Niblack. There was a Mary Niblack school SE of Ardmore. This is the school's cornerstone. The old school bell from the school now resides in the belfry of the Mary Niblack Baptist Church SE of Ardmore. There is still a Mary Niblack Road named after her east of town. This week on Facebook I posted her photo and the question was asked, where is she buried? After searching our local records, it was determined she was not buried in Carter county. So several of my Facebook "super sleuths" started looking for her. She was found buried in Tyler, Texas. Her husband died in Ardmore and is buried in Tyler, Texas too.
V.A. (Doll)
Niblack died April 2, 1915, at Ardmore, Oklahoma, following a long illness. He
was previously a resident of Tyler. Mr. Niblack was survived by his widow, the
former Mrs. Mary Winn, and two sisters of Mineola, Texas. Burial was in Liberty
Hill Cemetery, Tyler. (Tyler Daily Courier Times, April 2nd and 5th, 1915; Tyler
Weekly Courier Times, April 9, 1915)
Virgil Adolphus Niblack
Death: Apr. 2, 1915
Inscription:
age 59 yrs
Burial: Liberty Hill Cemetery
Tyler, Smith County, Texas
Plot: Section B
Mary V. Niblack
Born Mar. 10, 1856
Death: Jun. 21, 1938
Burial: Liberty Hill Cemetery
Tyler, Smith County, Texas
Plot: Section B
This is a 1907 photo of Mary Niblack from the Ardmore criterion of that year
when she was a teacher at Ardmore where she taught history and Latin.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/MaryNiblack1907.jpg
Oklahoma History Revisited by Larry Guthrie, Sulphur
Question: How long did it take to slaughter 50 million buffalo?
Answer: Sometime after the Civil War ended (1865) the buffalo began to be killed by railroad hunters and by 1878 the buffalo herds were gone, there were now a scattered few. The white man now only slaughtering for the hides and the bones left to bleach. Later even these were gathered and shipped. The once vast source of food, clothing and shelter for the Indians had disappeared.
Gary Simmons through his research found several servicemen who were stationed at the Ardmore Airbase after the WWII memorial at the airpark was dedicated back in 2003. They died in air crashes in other parts of the country, but were stationed out of the Ardmore Airbase back in those days. As a memorial to those men who died, we ordered 2 black granite plaques from Etch Plus in Arkansas with the names of those servicemen inscribed on them. I received the plaques in the mail this week, the plaques are beautiful. In a few days we will attach these two plaques to the front of the WWII memorial already in place at the airpark.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/WWIIplaques.jpg
Gunny Sack: A bag or sack made of gunny. Also called regionally crocus
sack, croker sack, tow bag, tow sack.
Regional Note: A large sack made from loosely woven, coarse material goes by a
variety of names in regional American English. The most general term is burlap
bag, known everywhere but used especially in the Northeast. In the Midwest and
West the usual term is gunnysack, which ultimately comes from the Sanskrit word
gon, meaning "jute or hemp fiber." In the Upper South such a sack is called a
tow sack, and in Eastern North Carolina, a tow bag. (The word tow is another
synonym for fabric made from jute or hemp and probably derives from an Old
English word for "spinning.") In South Carolina and adjacent parts of Georgia,
it is called a crocus sack, and in the Gulf states, a croker sack, both terms
deriving from the word crocus. According to Craig M. Carver, who draws on the
research of Walter S. Avis, "Crocus is a coarse, loosely woven material once
worn by slaves and laborers and common in colonial New England. It probably took
its name from the sacks in which crocus or saffron was shipped." Though the term
crocus sack virtually disappeared from New England by the end of the 19th
century, it survives in the South.
Last Saturday Jill and I went to the Chickasaw Cultural Center at Sulphur to eat lunch. When I saw the Indian Territory hamburger on their menu, I knew what I wanted. It was a great burger, and they give you all trimmings on the side so you can fix it the way you want it. And you do get potato chips with the meal. I didn't take a pic of their sweet potato fries, but they were delicious. Here's that burger... just look at it and see if your mouth don't water!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/ChickasawCulturalCenterBurger.jpg
This is a pic I snapped inside of the cafe and dining area is located. The atmosphere is so calming and pleasant.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/ChickasawCulturalCafeInside.jpg
After eating that great hamburger, we bought tickets to see the movie Turquoise Rose. This is a pic of the entrance to the theater and that 2,700 square foot screen.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/ChickasawTheaterEastEntrance.jpg
After leaving Sulphur we had to stop at the Fried Pie place SW of Davis at Exit 51 and I-35. We bought two Apricot fired pies, oh man, fried to perfection, perfect!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/DavisFriedPies091512.jpg
The Cotton Patch Cafe opened in Ardmore this week. Its located just east of Lowes in the Ardmore Commons mall.
http://www.cottonpatch.com/main/index.htm
For about a week now I been trying out a new program that stop companies on the internet from tracking you with their cookies. Abine is doing a great job from website to website at blocking this intrusion of privacy by companies and advertising campaigns on so many webpages. I had a little trouble getting the Abine icon to stay on the Tool Bar, but outside of that it works great.
http://www.abine.com/dntdetail.php
From This and That newsletter archives of September 19, 1998:
On Tuesday night December 21,
1915, Ardmore City Commissioners voted to allow H.E. Foster of the Ardmore Ice,
Light and Power Company to install electric street lights along the south side
of Main Street between Washington and Mill Street. Mr Foster agreed to install
the street lights as an experiment to see if Main Street needed such lighting.
Mr. Foster said he would pay for the lights and electricity for 60 days. Mayor
Mullen had been proposing changing to electric lights for some time.
----------------------------------------------------
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Check gas prices by town or zip code anywhere in U.S.
http://www.kmov.com/traffic/gas-buddy
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
"Butch, I found a picture of my third grade class at Jefferson School. Mrs. Mae Ross was our teacher that year. It was probably 1946. Lots of the class are still here in the Ardmore Area as Business men and women of Ardmore. See whom all will recoginize themselves or their family member in the group. Thought you might want to add it to your This and That column some time." -Betty (Ford) Dightonhttp://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/JeffersonSchool3Grade1946.jpg
"Butch, I hope these photos is in a form (Adobe Reader PDF format) you can use. I was fascinated at Virgil Harris' story on the Lowenstein Theatres. My dad (Warren Davis) was an operator at the Palace and Princess in the 1920's working for the Lowensteins and he was good friends with Larry Boggs and Pat Terry. The Lowensteins either sold or turned operation of the theatres to Griffith Amusements later to become Video Independent Theatres, I will guess in the 30's or 40's (a guess). Pat Terry quit and sold insurance. Larry Boggs became the master mind behind development of Vumore CATV which was a subsidiary of the Video Theatres. The chain operated 164 theatres in 50 towns in Okla. and Texas. Ava Webb, Ritz operator, became the head concession operator at the Tivoli (center of photo) and was there when I left the company in 1966. I don't know when Ted Jackson (head operator) and Ruth Alexander (head cashier) came on board but they appear to be the elders of the group. I am third from right top row and was a manager trainee at this time. I went to Hugo to manage the theaters later in 1963. All of the young ladies were relief cashiers or concession attendants. The young guys were ticket takers and relief operators. Bill Love was the Manager and his wife was part time secretary. The chief operator at the Park (Ritz) was Les Thomas (not in photo). He later was manager of the Tivoli in to the 70'. I barely remember the Paramount. I think it was across the street from the Ritz. I agree Virgil, the times working at the theatres for all us kids was fun." -George Davis AHS class 1960
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/TivoliEmployees022263.pdf
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/TivoliTheater022263a.pdf
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/TivoliTheater022263b.pdf
Fiesta Ardmore pictures Saturday held on Sept 15, 2012. -Doug Williams
http://winterfamily.smugmug.com/Other/Fiesta-Ok-Ardmore-Oklahoma/25383641_mx9P3J#!i=2088432633
"My brother worked at the little store at the intersection where you turn to go to lake Murray Lodge. The refrigeration had failed so the manager gave my Bro a case of the can biscuits to take home, we had only an Ice Box (1952-53). When they started to explode in the Ice Box my dad said get those things out of here. Someone fed them to an old stray dog and her Puppy's. The biscuits started to rise once introduced to the warm stomach's of the pups and they swelled up to the point where they couldn't even scratch and could only grunt. Although it had to be a rough time for the K-9's we have laughed about that ordeal for many years. All but one of the four pups survived and it was many years before my dad would allow canned biscuits to be served at our home. His comment was, "I told you they were not fit to eat.". -Donald Greenaway
Grow your groceries. SproutRobot tells you when to plant.
http://sproutrobot.com/
"I have found some of your articles useful in my genealogy research. My husbands great grandfather was Marion Thomas Pierce of Ardmore, Okla. You have mentioned him a few times in connection to Cannon School, Fox, Okla. We don't know much about him. His son Lonnie died July 1916 shortly after his son Willie Paul Pierce was born. Then Willie Paul was killed in WW II in Belgium. We would be grateful if anyone knows any info about the family. Thanks again."
Sharon and Willie Pierce
Breckenridge, Texas
sbean49er@aol.com
Olympics over and you've got spare time? Political conventions left you wanting more? Need something to fill the void between football on the weekends? Can't afford on-line streaming services like Netflix? No fear, there are plenty of *free* things to look at and download on the web.
Hulu
http://www.hulu.com/
http://www.crackle.com/ both allow you to watch movies and old TV shows on your computer or web-enabled TV.
The Internet Archive http://archive.org/ has free downloadable movies. They host "Top 40 best free legal movies you can download right now"
http://blog.archive.org/2010/08/12/top-40-best-free-legal-movies-you-can-download-right-now/
along with "Little Known Classics You NEED To Watch!"
http://blog.archive.org/2010/09/21/little-known-classics-you-need-to-watch/
Want more? They just added and archive of 350,000 (and growing!) TV News broadcasts
http://archive.org/details/tv
www.Archive.org also has free downloads of audio and ebooks/text.
If you like free ebooks/text to download, also check out Project Gutenburg
http://www.gutenberg.org/
They are currently hosting over 40,000 free books.
-Dan Major
Norman, Okla.
The Crystal Pyramid of Bermuda. Perhaps larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Go to Google Earth with these coordinates and zoom in as it is of a pyramid shape. 32?23'13.72"N 72?37'47.96"W
http://www.pakalertpress.com/2012/06/25/giant-crystal-pyramid-discovered-in-bermuda-triangle/
The Daily Ardmoreite
January 31, 1921
BUILDING BOOM HITS HEALDTON
It is not a building boom that is coming upon the town but just the natural growth expected in a town which bids fair to become permanent and always a live business point. That's the reason for the planning of a number of brick and concrete structures which will be erected here within the spring months and which is also why the citizens of the town will spend more money on sidewalks in the next three months than any town in the state this size.
To enumerate all the buildings contemplated is too great a task for a busy man to tackle, hence we are mentioning only those which are certain to be erected. There's Mack Saied of the Leader store, putting in a two-story brick on his present location, Collier Bros., a two-story brick on the lot where the Merchants Cafe now stands; Jack Langston, a one-story brick on the lot occupied by the Elk Barber Shop: Carmichael Bros, a two-story brick where their store is now located and J. H. Heironymus a one story brick on the lots just west of this office. Then there is Mr. Westcott, who is putting in a brick show house just east of the Dreamland skating rink and J. D. Martin with a two story hotel building on the lots just west of Kimbro & Jacksons old stand. The Southern Supply Co., has its building completed and is doing business while every where you look new buildings are going up.
Today there are more people in Healdton by a third than were ever here before and they all want homes. Getting back to "normalcy" in a business way has caused a bit of distress but it is less noticeable here than elsewhere, as evidenced by the building operations either planned or under way.
Contracts have already been let for the laying of sidewalk from Proctor & Waltrip's store to the railroad on the south side of Main Street and from the Kozy theater to the depot on the north side. Then there's the block from the townside office to the central rooms which will also be laid at once. And then comes the walk to the high school building.
Wherefore, we proclaim to the world that Healdton is in a class by herself; that there is none other just like her and there won't ever be. It's a good town to live in and do business in - but a blamed poor place to die, because every body is so busy they don't have time to properly regret your passing. Come and see us. Healdton Herald
Visit us online at http://www.wilsonhistoricalmuseum.org or at the Wilson Museum. Hours: Tues., Thurs., Fri., Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
On top of spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball,
When somebody sneezed.
It rolled off the table,
And on to the floor,
And then my poor meatball,
Rolled out of the door.
It rolled in the garden,
And under a bush,
And then my poor meatball,
Was nothing but mush.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6itnCysoqsA
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
236 Timber Road
Ardmore, Oklahoma
580-490-6823
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
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 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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