PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
Phone: 580-490-6823
This Saturday is the 2011 Oklahoma Outlaw Lawmen History Association RENDEZVOUS MEET on May 14th at Frederick, Oklahoma. Frederick is 120 miles west of Ardmore, 45 miles SW of Lawton. We are looking for a good turnout, with beautiful weather, and plenty to see and do. Herman Kirkwood will be having some great speakers on the history of Oklahoma outlaws and lawmen at the Vo-Tech there on the east side of Frederick. Start time is 9am sharp, we hope to see some of you there! Free admittance.
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And let’s not forget in two weeks on Friday, May 20th there is going to be something for all the railroad buffs out there. Steve Goen is heading up a tour that Friday of the railroad depots from Gainesville, Texas to Lindsay, Oklahoma. That evening at the Ardmore depot there will be a culmination of the day’s tour of depots. Ardmoreite Dwane Stevens says it best below:
“Butch, on Friday May 20th a Railroad Historian from Texas will be in our area conducting some activities that should be of interest to your newsletter subscribers. Steve Goen has published several books and videos about the railroads of Oklahoma and Texas and how they had a great impact on the settlement and growth of both states. Since in the early days, railroad depots served as the hub of activities for towns and in fact established many of our towns, Steve is conducting a depot tour of some of the depots that still remain in our area. Steve is hosting the depot tour starting at Gainesville, Texas and ending with Lindsay, Oklahoma. Depots along the way also include, Marietta, the Santa Fe/Rock Island depot and the old Oklahoma, New Mexico & Pacific depot, both in Ardmore, depot at Davis and depot at Pauls Valley. Steve also will present a program with slides and video of historical value concerning all the railroads that once served the Ardmore area. This will be presented in the large meeting room at the Ardmore Depot Friday evening. It’s all free to the public and everyone is invited to attend. Complete details are contained in the press release at the link below. I’ve always wanted to see inside the old Oklahoma, New Mexico & Pacific Depot (The Ringling Road Station in Ardmore) that was constructed by John Ringling of Circus fame and now I’m finally getting my chance. If you have never seen inside it now’s your chance also. Once again, this is all free to the public. Thanks for helping to get the word out.” -Dwane Stevens
The tour info at the link below is provided by Steve Goen along with the itinerary. It going to be a lot of fun and we hope to see many of you attend!
https://oklahomahistory.net/depottour2011.htm
After a long long dry spell, we finally got some pretty good rains this week. But we need more!
I was in downtown Ardmore last Saturday morning and noticed a garage sale going on in the new south parking lot of the First Baptist Church. Now let me tell you, they know how to throw a garage sale! The church band was great!!!
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A couple months ago Jill was wanting a stainless steel backsplash to go behind our kitchen oven. Anyone who has lived in Ardmore for many years knows the only place to get sheet metal work done was just off Grand Avenue at Arbuckle Supply. Arbuckle Supply after all these years is still in business but no longer does sheet metal work. But C&K Metal Works is directly behind Arbuckle Supply at 406 I NW and they made me a custom built stainless steel backsplash just like Jill wanted, perfect. If you need any sheet metal work, contact C&K Metal Works in Ardmore.
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Larry Milson provided a picture of his father-in-law’s artesian water well south of Ringling this week. Larry said its been flowing continually since the 1960s. There are not many artesian wells in this area but they are scattered around southern Oklahoma. I remember asking water well driller Harold Newman when he drilled our water well 3 years ago if he ever brought in an artesian well in his years of water well drilling. He said only one, south of Ringling, Oklahoma. I have since heard of a couple more artesian water wells south of Ringling, so the aquifer in that area must really be a good one. Maybe some of you know of an artesian well from your area??
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From This and That newsletter archives May 16, 1998:
Can you believe the smoke coming up from Mexico? Covering almost half the United States? I’ve never see anything like it. The skies here in Oklahoma have really looked weird. In the 60s a rock and roll singer named Barry McGuire (he was born in Oklahoma City) wrote a song named “Eve of Destruction”. I still have the original 45 record. In the song he sings….. “you tell me over and over, you don’t believe, we’re on the eve of destruction.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akoukq5DvAE
Q. OKC is the only state capital in the US with a oil well under it. What is the name of the well?
A. Capital Site No 1.
Q. What is the oldest chartered town in Oklahoma?
A. (answer in next week’s newsletter)
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
https://oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.htmlSome mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
There will be a Dickson School Reunion for Classes 1960-1980 on June 11th at the Dickson Cafeteria. If you would like to attend, contact Gary Scott at 580-465-5930.
“Butch: It was sad to see the photo of the DeWitt home and Cigar Factory as it is today because that had been just about the most colorful residence in southern Oklahoma. In my memory, the dwelling was painted in vivid, red, blue, yellow colors and the stand-out feature, to me, were the bas relief cigars.
Happy DeWitt was a phenomenal pool and billiards player. In the early ’40s he would occasionally put on an exhibition at a pool hall, “The Smoker”, which was a couple of doors west of the Tivoli Theater, demonstrating unbelievable trick shots. During the war there were many Air Corps guys who lost their pay, thinking they could beat him; none ever did.
Also, there was an old gentleman, Mr. Cobb, who lived in that same neighborhood. Mr. Cobb drove a standard transmission Studebaker which he never took out of 2nd gear. The car always sounded like it was perpetually climbing a hill. I worked at an ice plant on D NW, about half a block north of Broadway, and every day when Mr. Cobb was about a block north of us, on his way to town, someone would yell out “here comes Mr. Cobb”.” -Tom Meason, Tulsa, OK
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“Butch, I wonder if anyone remembers M M Wallis Dry Cleaning Plant. This picture is from 1936 and shows me, 2 of my cousins and an Ardmore friend. Milze Wallis’s wife, Joyce Landrum Wallis, was my aunt. She would have some of her nieces to come visit and often she would dress us up in finery (probably her own) and parade us downtown. We usually ended up at Daube’s for a treat (I think they had a tea room or something). Our visits to her house were always lots of fun and we got lots of attention from her and Uncle Milze. I lived with my parents in Sulphur and the trip to Ardmore through the Arbuckles was quite memorable, with all the ups and downs and the hair-pin curve along the way and viewing Turner Falls as we went by. Those were the days!” -Rose Marie Pfeiffer
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The citizens of Oklahoma are invited to once again take time out, as they do each year, to honor the service and sacrifices of their home town law enforcement heroes who daily risk their lives protecting the lives and property of its citizens. The 43rdd Oklahoma Law Enforcement Officers? Memorial Service will be conducted at 10 A.M. the morning of Friday, May 20th in Oklahoma City.
https://oklahomahistory.net/MemorialStateService2011.html
“I remember walking to Franklin to go to school and passing by that house at Wolverton and 6th. It always looked so scary. Seems like it was pretty grown up around it and you couldn’t see the house very well. My father, A.B. Moore worked at Moore’s Grocery.” -Arzella Jones
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“Last Friday afternoon, I was enjoying the Horse races on TV and decided i needed to go fix me a couple of snacks to go along with the races. When I toodled in to the kitchen I was greeted by 5 women and a whole bunch of activity goin on. The Wilson Extension homemakers were getting ready for a fund raiser. They always have some type charitable deed. And to do so, my wife had volunteered our kitchen to make fried pies for the event. There was dough, deep fat fryers, and fruit filling everywhere. Apricot, peach, apple, cherry, and chocolate. And probably more than I have mentioned. Anyways, I didn’t get to make me a snack or two. And anyways that’s okay. Lord, there are still a lot of good people in this old crooked world. And the Wilson Extension Homemakers are part of them.” -Ken @ Wilson
p.s. I had two apricot fried pies with my coffee Saturday morning. heh heh
“My husband’s Grandfather was the 1st visitor to the Wilson Museum. We went a few years ago. They honored him with that recognition. His name was Robert Wilson. Just thought I’d share that with you.” -Lisa Graham Cox
No coffee? No problem. To wake up any morning this week, all you need to do is look out the window for a beautiful dawn conjunction of planets. FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/09may_morningplanets/
Museum Memories
Compiled by Melinda Taylor
The Wilson News
October 27, 1916
CAUSE FOR REJOICING
The members of the Wilson Church of Christ are congratulating themselves that they now have their church paid for and are free from debt. Just fourteen months ago they decided that they must have a church building and at once set in to raise the funds and with the hearty contribution and co-operation of some of the best citizens of Wilson, they now have a commodious building nicely furnished on the inside. They intend to finish seating the house also and installing electric lights and a bell. The congregation has grown to about 60 members and they have a large Sunday School numbering about 65 regular attendants.
The members are in correspondence with a preacher who will be permanently located with them by the first of the year. Bro. G. W. Thompson will continue to fill his regular appointment on the first Sunday of each month. The members are very hopeful and expect to accomplish a great deal for God and his cause at Wilson. Evangelist E. A Bedicheck has been retained to hold their protracted meeting for the summer of 1917.
The congregation invites all Christians to come and worship with them and those who are not Christians they ask to come and investigate their claims of taking the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice. You will always be welcome to attend any and all services. Sunday School and Bible reading at 10:00 a.m. Preaching and communion at 11:00 a. m. every Sunday.
Visit us online at http://www.wilsonhistoricalmuseum.org
Wilson Historical Museum Hours: Tues., Thurs., Fri., Sat. 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
“Today, leaving home without a weapon is like leaving home without a cell phone.” -Don Westbrook, Healdton, Oklahoma http://www.sosafeco.com
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a minute!
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Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ardmorecriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells: https://oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
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/
Ardmore School Criterions
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com
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