PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected], Phone: 580-490-6823
For weeks Chuck Stallcup has been working on the Carter county schools overlay for use in Google Earth. This week the first release is available for download. I can not stress enough the wonderful piece of history Chuck has made available just for the asking. All made possible through this great technology we have at our fingertips today and the many of you out there who responded to Chuck’s plea for help. It will be invaluable for generations to come, long after we reading this today are gone from this earth. Thanks Chuck and all who contributed.
Below is an email I received this week from Chuck with some info and basic instructions on the new schools overlay:The placemarks for the Old Carter County Schools that you requested are in a file attachment. To view these, you must have the Google Earth program installed on your computer. This is a free, safe program that Google offers to the public. To install it, click on the following link and follow their instructions. http://earth.google.com/index.html (its a 14 meg file) (There should be a green box on the upper right of the screen. Click on it to download the program.) I suggest that you take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the basic controls, such as the zoom and directional movements, before proceeding.
When the program and overlay are installed, it will immediately take you to an overview of Carter County with the placemarks for the school visible. On the left side of the screen, you will see a box with a red bar at the top, labeled PLACES. In that box, look for a folder called TEMPORARY PLACES. Just under that you will find “Carter County Schools”, with a small arrow (triangle) pointing to the right. Click on that arrow and it will open another line that will also say “Carter County Schools”. Then click on that arrow and you will see a list of the schools.To view a particular school, double-click on the school’s name on the very top blue line, containing the name of the school. The program will display a box of information and move the map to the location of the school. A single-click will display the information, but will not change the view on the screen. The same results are achieved by clicking on the icons on the main view screen. When you close the program, you will be asked if you want to save files in your “Temporary Folder” into the My Places” folder. If you wish to view these school placemarks again, click on YES.
NOTE: The resolution of the satellite images in the eastern half of Carter County are very poor at this time. The folks at Google update these images from time to time, so hopefully it will improve soon. The images in the western part of the county are quite good. Future releases with other schools, as well as corrections and additions to these placemarks will be announced in Butch Bridges’ “This ‘N’ That” newsletter.
I would like to express my gratitude to all of the good people who contributed to this effort with information and photographs, and endured my endless questions and requests. Also, I would like to thank all of the people who have written to Butch over the years about these schools. I searched the old issues of “T&T” and used that information, as well. And, of course, I offer my appreciation to Butch Bridges, who provides all of the current and past residents of Carter County, Oklahoma a way to be a widespread, yet close-knit community. We may have very different lives, interests and viewpoints, but we are united in that we feel fortunate to have lived in such a wonderful part of the world.
I hope that you enjoy using this as much as I enjoyed putting it together. – Chuck Stallcup [email protected]
Below is a link to the overlay file, just RIGHT CLICK on this link and save to your computer. If you already have Google Earth installed on your computer, hopefully you can just double click on the file and it will automatically run Google Earth and load the overlay.
Note: if you have problems getting Google Earth setup, or getting the overlay installed, send Chuck or I an email.
To give everyone an idea what the overlay looks like, I made a screen shot using my favorite freeware program Screen Hunter. The pic does not do the overlay justice at all. There is so much more to it….. clicking on the names, reading about the schools, learning about their histories, looking at the photographs and more.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/CarterCountySchoolsRelease1.jpg
David Cathey (from Pauls Valley) was recently over in Eastern Oklahoma (actually the lodge is located just over into Arkansas) and took some pics where they spent the night at the Wilhelmina State Park. It’s where a lot of people travel in the Fall to see the beautiful Fall foliage. The park and lodge are located 13 miles west of Mena, Arkansas.
David Cathey wrote: Butch, been a while since I wrote and shared some photos. I recently did a little honeymooning of my own. The wife and I took a short honeymoon getaway to Queen Wilamina Lodge near Mena, AR. This is an interesting and beautiful place, and a favorite haunt of mine. I’ve been over to the lodge a number of times over the years for meals, but rarely staying there. This time we spent the night in a gorgeous room. The lodge has an interesting history, first being built in 1898 by the Kansas City and Gulf railroad as a stop over for the high society from the east on the rail line from Kansas City, MO to Port Arthur, TX. Here is a little history I snagged from the park’s website:
“The grand opening of the inn came on June 22, 1898. Soon, Wilhelmina Inn became known as the “Castle in the Sky.” The grandeur of this renowned mountaintop inn with its breathtaking scenery, fine accommodations and exquisite service, however, was to last only a few short years. Less than three years after the opening of the lodge, the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad, facing enormous financial troubles, was sold to what is now the Kansas City Southern Railroad. With the new owners in place, the lodge was abandoned by its former owners and languished into disrepair. Although the lodge did not close permanently until 1910, its heyday had too quickly come to a close. The building fell into decay.”
“By the 1930s, only remnants of the original structure’s stone fences and fireplaces remained standing, starkly silhouetted against the sky. The year 1940 brought a brief respite and renewed hope for the now desolate building. Earnest Rolston, a professor from Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, decided to create a summer music school using a portion of the inn. The idea was good, but unfortunately the timing was not. The beginning of World War II in 1941 ended any further attempt to restore the old ruins.”
“After the decade of the 40s, the 1950s brought renewal into sight. The war years had brought a travel awareness to the many men and women who had served in the Armed Forces. The growth of America’s travel and tourism industry was now on the horizon. In light of this, State Senator Landers Morrow and other community leaders created Resolution 17 to create a new state park on the site where Wilhelmina Inn reigned over the Ouachita Mountains. Act 76 was passed by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1957. Plans were soon underway to construct a new lodge on the site of the original inn.”
“Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the second inn opened its doors on June 22, 1963. Although less grand than the original hostelry, this lodge contained 17 guest rooms and a restaurant. Occupying the same site as the first inn, the second structure was built with some the rockwork still remaining from its predecessor. Operated for 10 years by the State of Arkansas as an Arkansas State Parks lodge, the facility was a popular travel attraction until, on the evening of November 10, 1973, a fire that began in the kitchen area destroyed it. Thankfully, there was no loss of life, but the building was totally destroyed.”
“To carry on this grand lodging tradition atop Rich Mountain, Arkansas State Parks lost no time in constructing a new lodge on the site, opening a new $3 million dollar state park lodge in 1975. Today, this lodge is the crowning attraction of Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Within walking distance of the lodge are a park amphitheater, playground, campground with 40 sites and a modern bathhouse, and hiking trails. To add to the park’s summer season offerings, two private concessions operate a miniature train ride and a rehabilitation center for species native to Arkansas. Queen Wilhelmina State Park remains as it has always been–the crowning glory of the Ouachitas. Come experience this royal retreat high atop Rich Mountain.”
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The following is a photo of Jefferson School in SE Ardmore taken around 1948. The picture was sent in by Jerry Brown in CA.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/JeffersonSchool1948.jpg
I have found a freeware program for the more serious T&T searcher besides the PicoSearch on my website. Its called Harddisksearchandstats. It is a program that you download (no install required) on your computer, a very small program, and it will allow you to search your hard drive or a certain Folder on your hard drive for a word or phrase or group of words. I suggest just creating a Folder on your hard drive called Search, and download the file to there. The file must be unzipped into that folder.Search example: you know your looking for a back issue of T&T where it mentions a cave near Davis, Oklahoma where a ghost reportedly lived. So we have three key words to enter in the Search Criteria: Davis, Cave, and Ghost. When you enter these words, one per each line, and click Search, you will find only 14 times where all three words are found in back issues. This narrows the “open and look” approach dramatically from the 1,000s of places during the past 11 years. When starting from the top, and opening each instance one by one, a person find after only opening the second file, it is the July 17, 2004 Issue of T&T where a 1911 newspaper clipping tells about this cave.
Or two more examples, (enter both words on one line in the search box) your looking where the game mumbly peg was mentioned in a T&T. Since 1997 the search results shows that mumbly peg is only mentioned in one issue, in March 2005. Or a search for Convict Hill on turns up one T&T where its talked about by a Reader…… on October 25, 2003.
What I did on my computer was create a Folder called “Newsletters” and I placed in that Folder all my T&T newsletter files from my website. It is really easy to do this, just go to my website where all the back issues are listed, right-click on one and SAVE it to you computer in a Folder.
Here is the link to the search program HardDiskSearch
http://www.harddisksearch.com/
I have a fairly new gasoline lawnmower, the push type, and it will only run for a few seconds. Probably needs a diaphragm kit. Does anyone know of a someone in the Ardmore area that repairs lawnmowers? When I was a kid it seemed like there were signs out all around town….. “LAWN MOWER REPAIR”. Only two or three now in the phone book. Things change.
Weather permitting, Jill and I are planning to travel west Saturday to Ringling and look around. I’ve heard they have a ‘newspaper’ museum on Main Street with all the old newspapers of the Ringling Eagle owner who died a year or are so ago. Also, if anyone knows of where to find a great hamburger in Ringling, let me know.
MAILBAG”Thanks for the photo and article about Paul Frame. His thesis about Ardmore’s history is located in the collections of the University of Oklahoma Libraries. Go to your local library and have them request the book for you via interlibrary loan. It’s a great read.” -Mark Coe
“Hello, my name is Barry Smith. I grew up at Reck and would love to know any history anyone may have on the area including pics. I was in the Gainesville outlet mall a few years ago and stopped by the store there that sells Indian headdress’ and all kinds of Indian artifact, I dont know if that store is even there anymore, but anyway, there was an Indian looking fellow working there that day and I just happened to have an arrow head in my pocket that I had found at Reck. I pulled the arrowhead from my pocket and asked the Indian if he could tell by looking at it which tribe could have made it, he said no and asked me where I had found it. I told him I found it at Reck, Oklahoma, I didnt think he would have any idea where Reck was but he quickly said ” Reck?? south of Healdton??” I knew then he must know something… I said yeah thats right and he started naming off Indian tribes that had lived in the area unfortunately I cant remember the names of the tribes but I dont believe they were the five civilized, they were smaller less known tribes. But he said the tribes from that area feuded a lot with tribes near Healdton. It was pretty interesting talking to him. My grandparents moved to Reck in the mid 40’s, they bought a two room home from a man named J.E. Edson. I have looked for info on him on the net and have found nothing. My grandparents home, now where my mother lives, is just a little over a mile north of Reck cemetery on the west side. I’m not sure where the school or post office was from there. I would love to know at what time Reck was first settled, I imagine it was late 1800’s ?? Any info at all you could send me I would greatly appreciate. I have also been searching the web for Red River history, I go fishing every chance I get at Leon and while I’m waiting for my pole to bob I like to imagine what it must have looked like to see barges passing by, cowboys crossing with a herd of cattle, or even Spaniards and Frenchman marching across. Anyway I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.” -Barry [email protected]
“Butch. Here are 2 post cards of the June 16, 1915, Healdton tank fire.” -Grover Wells
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“Butch— From 1957 until 1959 I was in the Army and assigned to the U.S Army Helicopter Square Dance Team. The lowest ranking man there and naturally the GOFER. I rigged, changed the oil, dressed up the choppers and whatever need to be done. I was the fellow in the white uniform that put the hoops, the barrels as well as hooking up the 4 foot in diameter Yo Yo. This was the Army’s precision flying team. They were organized at Ft Sill Oklahoma and Later moved to Ft. Rucker Alabama. 1956 the first shows were performed at Max Westheimer Field in Norman and Labor day at Will Rogers in Oklahoma City. I was wondering if any of the folks out there might have been at those show and maybe took some pictures. I would appreciate any photos, for that was a job to me and I didn’t take the first picture. Ned Gilliand from down at Boyd, Texas wrote a book and has a lot of personal photos in it. The name is Dancing Rotors by Harry E [Ned] Gilliand and can be found by just typing this into the net.” -Taylor F Crowe
[email protected]https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/BoZoCopter.jpg
“l just discovered that sbcglobal decided that all of March’s T&T’s were spam. I thought maybe you were busy or taking a break and never worried about it. Was checking on account settings and found the missing posts in the “bulk mail” (spam) folder. *sigh* Some e-mail providers get stuff right, some miss the mark by a mile.”
“Here is Ardmore’s Central Park this spring. The Ardmore Beautification Council which I used to be on the board of directors takes responsibility for this park. It is as pretty as I have ever seen it.” -Doug Williams
http://winterfamily.smugmug.com/gallery/2624419#P-2-15
“hello, im a young man residing in davis, oklahoma. i have just finished reading your hamburger report and was thinking about a hamburger joint in ada, oklahoma, it is called THE HAMBURGER KING it is located on main street after you cross the railroad tracks it will be on the left caddy corner from rhynes surplus absolutely the best burger and fry combo in the state (in my opinion) i myself like you always try the hamburgers. i have travel to many states and this one always come to mind when someone says something about the best burger ever. my aunt and i stopped years ago and i have to have one of there burgers every time im in ada. thanks for your time maybe you can try it out sometimes and let me know what you think. also may try the OLD STATION. located on chickasaw trail about a half mile from the Guy Sandy Boat Docks in murray county. they have a wonderful onion burger and apple cobler.” -nathan roady
“Good morning Butch. I work in Tulsa almost weekly and enjoyed a burger there that must be experienced to believe. The place is called the “Lot of Burger” and is located on Highway 242 in Tulsa. It was not only very large, but was loaded with everything you could want.” -Dale Gant
The Wilson News Clippings from Spring 1915:February 25 – “Freak Pigs” J. M. Spencer brought a couple of freak pigs into town yesterday morning. We use the plural because in the main part they were two distinct bodies, but there was but one head. The bodies were joined back to back. There were eight normal pigs in the litter. The freak was dead when Mr. Spencer found it.March 18 – Tuesday morning’s train from the east was delayed by a derailed car near Hewitt. The rains have made the ground so soft that it is a wonder that a new road like this has not had alot of such trouble and we can only account for the absence of those track troubles by the fact that the road has a most efficient and able operating crew working under first-class management.April 18 – Uncle Frank Jernigan, with a crew of men, is opening the section line one-half mile west of town leading to Reck. This line will be opened to the Love County line as fast as possible.April 18 – A large audience witnessed the baptizing last Sunday afternoon at Dr. Darling’s bathing pool. Those baptized were Mr. and Miss Baker, Eva and Marle DeMent, Mesdames Hill, Van Doren, Dowdy and Gardner. These were converts from the revival meeting recently held at the Methodist church. Mr. Gilliam did the baptizing.
Two history scrapbooks are to be compiled on the ghost towns of Cornish and Hewitt by Mary Wilson and Melinda Taylor. If you would like to contribute, please send us pictures (or good copies of pictures) of the towns, buildings, and people along with newspaper articles, stories or biographies. Please send Cornish items to Mary Wilson P. O. Box 258, Lone Grove, OK 73443 and Hewitt items to Melinda Taylor 723 Hewitt Rd. Wilson, OK 73463 -Submitted by Mindy Taylor
“Thought you might be interested. Here’s the link to several old Oklahoma maps.” –Jim Dyerhttp://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/us_states/oklahoma/index.html
“Met some folks from Ardmore in my hometown of Hope, Arkansas, and I told them I played baseball there in the summer of 1957, under Manager J. C. Dunn. They advised me get in touch with you. I am wondering if you have in your archives anything about the 1957 team. We won the league championship that year, which was the last year of the Sooner State League. I enjoyed Ardmore very much; have not been back since 57 but am thinking about coming your way in the near future. I would appreciate your response on this very much.” -Wayne Johns [email protected]
“We went to Woodford to Mountain Lake today and the guy told us to watch our step and if we did not believe him to look at the rock by the creek. This is what we found. The caretaker had just killed it. So summer is here and you had better watch your step. This is a western diamondback rattlesnake and he was over 4 feet long. BIG SNAKE.” -Doug Williams https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/WoodfordSnake7a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/WoodfordSnake7b.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/WoodfordSnake7c.jpg
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“Butch, I was out at the Gene Autry cemetery today and found this interesting name, wonder if he is kin to Wyatt?” -Doug Williams
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“Singing In The Rain” 1952
I’m singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feeling
I’m happy again
I’m laughing at clouds
So dark up above
‘Cause the sun’s in my heart
And I’m ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I’ve a smile on my face
I’ll walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
‘Cause I’m singing
Just singing in the rain
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443https://oklahomahistory.net
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American Flyers Memorial Fund – Administration Webpage
https://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
https://oklahomahistory.net/airbase/
Carter county schools, past and present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County Government Website
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
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