PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net, Phone: 580-490-6823
On Good Friday (April 6th) Jill and I took off traveling again, west, toward Duncan to see what we could see. Duncan had a lot to do and see for a town that’s a little smaller than Ardmore. We were surprised at all the activities going on during the weekends and holidays, people stirring every where you turned, cars going every which way. If there is a negative to Duncan, its the fact that Highway 81 runs right through the middle of town creating a LOT of traffic. But then even that has its plus side as we learned!
I’d been told one of the best places to buy an old fashion burger in Duncan is at Jonny’s Hamburgers. This burger place is located at 1215 N Highway 81 in the Oak Tree Mall (just north of Hastings). Jill and I stopped in a little after high noon on Good Friday, I ordered the “No 1” old fashion, and Jill ordered the No 55, a mushroom burger. My old fashion came with a thick piece of grilled hamburger meat, toasted buns, tomato, fresh lettuce and mustard. When Jill bit into her burger she immediately made the remark, its one of the best hamburgers we’ve tried, and I agree. So when your in Duncan, Jonny’s is a must try place!
Inside view of Jonny’s Jonny’s Menu Pic of burger
After leaving Duncan that afteroon we headed south down 81 toward Comanche. Since we had just been in Comanche 6 days previous, we opted to continue on south toward Waurika, Oklahoma. But just 6 miles before Waurika we found the little town of Addington, Oklahoma. And when we say little, we mean little, as in about 100 people. So as you can guess there is not a lot to see in that quaint little community. But we did find a very intersting little business establishment called The Addington Station. Its a antique and curio shop ran by a lady, I forgot her name, who is full of conversation and knowledge of the area. Plus you can be sure when you stop by the coffee pot is always on, so help yourself to a cup of joe and a cookie or two, and enjoy some great conversation.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/AddingtonStation7a.jpg
From the May 22, 2004 T&T: “Hi Butch, I hope someone can check out any report of the murder of my grandfather, Robert William Bridges, in or around Addington or Waurika, Jefferson County, Indian Territory sometime between 1897 and 1903 by Willie Cain, a brother of Drusie Ella Cain, wife of Robert. I have exhausted all other sources I can think of, so how about it? Please see if you can find any information regarding this. I could not find any record of his burial in that area last October when I was in Ardmore. I drove out to Waurika and I did come up with info about sale of his 500 acres at Addington 1906-1911 by his younger brother William Joseph Bridges. I think that possibly he actually was killed around Houston, Texas, while visiting his wife’s relatives there, but anyway. Thanks, nephew!” -Don Bridges, Sr. California.
I noticed about a 1/2 mile north of Addington on Highway 81 a historical marker pointing east 3 miles. Its pointing to the spot of the Chisholm Trail Lookout Point and monument. Below are some photos of Lookout Point Dwane Stevens took back in 2004.
View 1 View 2 View 3 View 4 View 5
The Addington Station may be chocked full of whatnots and curios but the most interesting excitement we found walked through the door while we were inside. It was a little lady with a BIG voice who can sing like you ain’t never heard! This beautiful 11 year old Terrel, Oklahoma Resident is Bailey Wesberry, and she’s making lots of public appearances around Oklahoma and Texas singing her heart out. She’s even been to our Washington Theater auditorium here in Ardmore several times to entertain.
Here is a pic I snapped of Bailey when she and her family were inside Addington Station.
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Below are 2 links to scans I made of Bailey Wesberry’s new CD. If you would like to purchase the CD from this up and coming bright Oklahoma star, just go to her website…… www.BaileyWesberry.com
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https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/BaileyWesberryCDb.jpg
Below is a link to Bailey’s business card.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/BaileyWesberryCard.jpg
Below is a link to a 30 second clip I made from Bailey’s song “Sing Little Girl Sing”. So turn up your speakers, she’s got a voice that grabs your attention!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/BaileyWesberry.mp3
After leaving Duncan Jill and I headed further south down 81 toward Waurika. Looking south down Main Street Waurika
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On a north wall of an old red brick building on Waurika’s Main Street is a mural and bandstand. I can imagine on Friday and Saturday nights this summer local musicians singing and playing to entertain the townspeople. Since Waurika still has many of their old red brick streets including Main Street still brick paved, I’m sure there would be some street dancing too. The mural is interesting, a depiction of the cattle drives that followed the Chisholm Trail through town over 100 years ago.
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Another town we visited was Wilson, Oklahoma. Jill wanted to meet our coffee making friends, Susanne and Dan Jolliff. They own and operate Coffee Professionals and distribute their coffees all over the country and overseas.
A couple years ago when I was at the Jolliff’s business I snapped a pic of their antique coffee bean roaster. It was made about 1895 and still works!
The Jolliffs gather their coffee beans from all over the world to make up their special flavor blends, about a dozen overall. (The Okie Blend is just one gourmet coffee they sell.) Here’ s group of beans still in their cloth bags, waiting to be roasted.
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This is a pic of their large roaster.
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Closeup of the larger coffee roaster bin where the freshly roasted coffee beans are dumped to cool before sending on to the grinders.
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View of the grinders where the beans are milled to just the right texture.
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So if its a good cup of joe you want, try their Oklahoma made coffees, they have several blends, including the Okie Blend. Send Susanne an email at jollymemaw@sbcglobal.net and say hello. And you can visit their website by clicking here…… Coffee Professionals
Before leaving Wilson we stopped at the Wilson Historical Museum. George Pinches was manning the desk and we had a nice talk about Wilson and the history of the museum and its beginnings back in 1997 when the City of Wilson donated the building for the museum which had their grand opening in November 2001. Here’s a pic I snapped of George and Jill talking at the desk. Jill may not be from this area, but she’s always got a million questions to ask about it, so she’s learning fast.
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Just before we exited the building, George said something about some sun bonnets Mindy Taylor had made and was about to go on sale as a fund raiser for the museum. That caught Jill’s attention and she wanted to see them. George took us to the back office where the bonnets had just arrived and not even set out at the front desk yet, so we got a pick of the bunch. Jill chose one that looked like a color and pattern my great grandmother Ida Miller would have wore when she went outside in the hot summer sun at 6th and H Street NE. Here is a pic I took of Jill modeling these unique sun bonnets from the past.
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By the way, if you want a bonnet send Mindy an email, I’m sure she will fix you up with one plus the money goes to a good cause. Bonnets are $6 each plus shipping. mindy@brightok.netThis pic was sent in by Toby Insenberg and is a bell located at the Coleman Baptist Church. Coleman is located about 10 miles south of Wapanuka in Johnston county. Its attached to the top of an “oil derrick” like mount. View 1View 2
We’ve had many mentions of the Hamburger Inn in past issues of T&T. I noticed in the newspaper a lady who was a waitress there years ago died this week. Her name was Cecile Rogers, age 90.
I remember for years back in the 70s and 80s a lady named Jean was a waitress at the Hamburger Inn, can’t think of her last name. Seems like she had a sister, or two twin sisters, or she was a twin, that worked with her sometimes??? Anyone remember?
Not a week goes by that I don’t receive emails from people asking if I stopped sending out my T&T because they have not received one for weeks. 99 percent of the time the problem is with the settings inside SBC Global subscribers settings. To correct, or hopefully correct the problem, one MUST log in from the internet to http://sbc.yahoo.com with their ID and password, and check the Spam Box. If you see an legitimate email like my T&T in there, you open it up, then click NOT SPAM at the top of the box. There is also a “White List” for approved emails in SBC’s settings.A couple months ago we told about a great spyware and antivirus program that is completely free to use by anyone anywhere in the world, and it works great. ttat program is called SpywareTerminator. I highly recommend this program if your pay program like Norton has expired. Anyway, now they have came out with a completely free program that monitors and controls your children’s internet access! This new ‘net nanny’ is Crawler Parental Control and if you have kids and need to stop them from accessing questionable sites, etc., give this free program a try at….. www.CrawlerParental.com
Has anyone got a scanner with a multi-page Document Feeder attachment? I need to scan about 75 standard size pages, and some scanners will let you put, say 40 sheets, in the document feeder, click scan, and it starts scanning page after page, until all 40 are scanned to the hard drive. I f anyone has such a contraption, let me know.
MAILBAG”I stumbled on your website by “accident”. Out of curiosity I typed in my grandfathers’ name, Hubert E. Bartlett, and there he was under your website. Tears are still rolling from my eyes. My name is Virginia E. Bartlett Lowry and I currently live in Conroe, Texas. My father, Aubrey Earl (Rudy) Bartlett, passed away in March 2001, the only child of Hubert and Alice Bartlett. He married Zelmarean Armstrong of Ada, Oklahoma in February 1939. Three daughters were born to Aubrey and Zelmarean, Estelle Annette Goldsby of Orlando, Florida; Virginia Earlene, Conroe, Texas; Audrey Deniece Saunders of Shawnee, Oklahoma. Zelmarean passed away in May 2006. I was only two (2) when my grandmother Alice passed away and I unfortunately have no memories of her. My grandfather Hubert was larger than life to me. I was only twelve (12) when he passed away in April 1959. My memories are of a granddaughter. Others will remember him as a friend, foe, businessman, etc. He wasn’t a saint, but he was my grandfather and I loved him. He taught me respect for law enforcement and PEACE officers that carries me to this day (I am now 60 years old). I understood that not all officers were “good cops”, but most had a hard job to do and deserved respect. While I don’t remember the rodeo of 1949 that is mentioned we have many pictures of my sister Estelle in her rodeo outfit. She and Papa used to ride in the parades and the Grand Entry of the rodeos. I believe it was this particular rodeo that she had breakfast with Gene Autry and he signed her cowboy hat! Woe is me; a few years later I was playing with that same hat and left it outside of our Norman, Oklahoma, home during lunch. Wouldn’t you know it. A good old Oklahoma ‘breeze’ blew it away and we never saw it again. Anybody out there have a little girls hat with Gene’s signature? I would be interested if there is anyone around that remembers either my grandfather or my father or my father’s cousin Victor Bartlett. Stories are always wonderful and will be treasured. If you knew my grandmother Alice I would like to know that also.” -Virginia Lowry missginny1946@yahoo.com
“The Civil War Comes to the Red River”
The featured speaker for the April 16th meeting at Lawton will be Patricia Adkins-Rochette. The focus of her remarks will be on the circumstances of how the Civil War came to the Red River area, in both Indian Territory and North Texas, the militias, the Indian regiments and Confederate troops and treaties.
She is the author of Bourland in North Texas and Indian Territory During the Civil War, a 1,000-page history of this era from the South Canadian River to the Fort Worth area. Family historians researching this time and place can use the extensive appendixes to look for ancestors, even if they were not associated with Bourland.
This program begins at 7:00 pm, Monday, April 16th, and will be held at the Lawton Public Library. You do not need to be a SWOGS member to attend. The public is welcome. Contact: Phyllis Young, Vice-President / Program Chairman
E-Mail: payoung@sirinet.net
“Your accounts of searching for the perfect hamburger always leaves me craving a good old fashioned hamburger. I read in one of your back issues one of your readers mentioned, “The Hamburger King,” in Ada as having perhaps the best hamburger around. I have to agree and it gets my vote. The french fries are also excellent made from freshly pealed spuds and not the freeze dried kind you get most places now days. I am sure you and most of your readers have heard of the famous Meers Burger served in Meers, Oklahoma in the Wichita Mountains. These are also good hamburgers and about as large as a dinner plate. If you like BLT’s you definately need to try one of theirs. Some of my former high school classmates and I went hiking in the Wichita Mountains last year and afterward we stopped in at the Meers Cafe. One of my buddies and I decided to split a Meers Burger and a BLT. He ordered the Meers Burger and I ordered the BLT, both of these sandwhiches were huge and we got our moneys worth. We are both hamburger fanatics but also like BLT’s this way solved the delima and left the Meers Cafe satisfied. The Meers Cafe, used to be an old country store many years ago, and has probably been standing for almost a hundred years. It’s a neat place.” -Mike Jones
“Hi Butch and Jill! That concrete floor looks great! Concrete floors are becoming popular; you can press designs into them as well as paint them any way you want. I had to send you a picture from our garden here in SE Florida. These are our hybrid hibiscus; we call them “pie plates” because that is how big the blooms are! Happy Easter to everybody!” -Cindy lifeisjustabeach@yahoo.com
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“While I can’t answer your specific questions, townships in Oklahoma (and in many states) have nothing to do with towns or cities. They are part of the original survey into sections, ranges and townships. A township is six miles on a side, and so it contains 36 square miles; a “section” is a mile square, and the boundaries of it are called section lines.
In the early days there was a provision for a rudimentary township organization–after all, six miles was a considerable distance with horse transport–but they mostly fell into disuse and eventually the idea of township “government” was abolished by either the legislature or a constitutional amendment, I don’t recall which. I don’t know if any townships still had an organization by then; they were pretty extinct by then as a political entity, but they still are very much alive as mapping and surveying units.
Towns and cities–municipalities–are an entirely different type of political organization.
Some places back east, that were never serveyed by the baseline and meridian method, have an entirely different form of township that still exists as a political entity.
Also note that Texas, then part of Spain and then Mexico, was never surveyed by the range and township method and so the boundaries of land titles are often still a mess to define sometimes in that state.” -Wes Leatherock wleathus@yahoo.com
“Another burger spot to check out is the Pinto Store (N on 89 again and continue N across 53 ’til you get to 7 and just across it on the left). Good stuff. Have fun!” -Garth
“Am wondering if anyone has any pictures of the Sooner State League 1957 team. I did not get to Ardmore until the 1st of July and I believe my first at bat was on the 4th of July and I got a single to left field. Our manager was J. C. Dunn who was later shot and killed on October 24, 1973. That summer in 57 we got into a shooting incident at Ponca City while the game was just beginning in the first inning. Dunn was shot in the back and leg in that incident but survived and was playing again shortly afterwards. Look forward to anything I can receive about the team of that season.” -Wayne Johnson ewj@arkansas.net
Here is a site with lots of old postcard pics. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/ppcs/ppcs.html
“Is anyone familiar with a breed of dog-Cavalier King Spaniel. A friend in Dallas heard someone in Ardmore breeds and raises them for sale. Let me know if anyone has any info. Thanks.” -Jerry jl71743@cableone.net
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew –
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941
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
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Official American Flyers Memorial Website
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Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Base Website
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Mirror Site of the Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
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Carter county schools, past and present
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Carter County Government Website
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