PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
Phone: 580-490-6823
In a couple of days this year will come to an end. I want to express the appreciation I have for all the good times myself and so many others have shared right here the past 12 months, not to mention the learning of so much history from our past. There has been many new friendships made here and it saddens me to say some of our friends did not make it with us to the end of 2011, they will be missed. At the end of each year I contemplate bringing my T&T to an end, but then the emails start coming in from all over the country, asking me not to stop and to continue this electronic ezine. Every week for 15 years is a long time, but I’m looking forward to 2012 and all it brings. Thanks everyone, and keep those emails and Facebook postings coming in 2012. Throttle up!
Below is a request I received this week. I don’t recall an Ardmore’s Harlem Thrillers but maybe someone out there can provide information.
“Butch, love the stories. Here is one. Does anyone have info on the Harlem Thrillers basketball team? They would do fund raisers for schools. And put on a great show. I saw them twice as a kid. They were Ardmore’s answer to the Globetrotters.” -Marty
I did a quick google search and only found one mention. Ex-Ardmoreite Richard Loftis (now deceased) “decided to play professional basketball with the Harlem Thrillers, under the management of Mr. Art Smith, after traveling with this team for three years, he decided to go to Los Angeles seeking a job.” So if you have more info to share, please do.
The Ardmore Statesman
Ardmore, Oklahoma
Thursday, September 9, 1920
Chief of Police Chancellor has finally procured a motorcycle cop whose chief duty will be to catch and bring before the city court the “speeders” on the city streets. The new man is Mr. Jack Miller. As soon as the motorcycle for his use arrives, he will use his best effort to put a stop to the all too common practice of stepping on the gas on either downtown or the suburban streets. Such an officer has been badly needed in Ardmore for a long time.
Listing of Carter county townships in 1950
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CountyTownships1950.jpg
A repeat from last week, hope someone has more info: “I had a request this week aimed mainly at my Murray county Readers. Does anyone remember a stock car racetrack north of Sulphur? We know it was in operation back in 1957. If anyone has info such as who ran the track, years in operation and exact location, etc., let me know.”
Witch Hazel. I hadn’t thought about it since the mid 1970s. I started using it again the first of December, and its been nothing short of a miracle working stuff. History and uses of Witch Hazel
From This and That newsletter archives of December 27, 1998:
“We have been out of Wilson, Oklahoma since 1968. We currently live in…. West Africa. We get mail through Houston. We both enjoy your news about home.”
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“Bell Atlantic is starting a service called “Star 54” in Jan 1998. It will allow anybody to call 1-301-555-5454 and input your home telephone number and for 75 cents the computer will give the person your name and complete address. To get this service blocked on your phone number all you need to do is call 1-888-579-0323 and tell them you want “Star 54″ blocked from your phone. You have until Feb 7, 1998 to do this free of charge”
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I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas (and survived it). We didn’t get snow here Christmas Day, but we did the morning after. Santa was good to me this year. I received several nice gifts, including a world globe. Now I can give it a spin, and find all the places in the world where my friends live that I’ve met through the Internet. It only makes me want to go visit. I appreciate all the nice electronic Christmas cards I received from so many of you. I mailed over 40 myself back as replies and if I left anybody out, it was not intentionally. I do appreciate everyone’s thoughts, especially this time of the year. The world continues to grow smaller and smaller because of this marvelous thing called email. I have made so many new friends all over the world, who one year ago, I did not even know existed. Let me see…. A man and his wife in West Africa who used to live here in Carter county years ago, several new friends in Australia, an Ardmoreite living in Hawaii, another Oklahoman now in Alaska, several in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Isle of Man, and a number of new friends in England and the UK, and the list goes on and on. I just received email from my friend Elena Zabolotnaja deep in Siberia. She is doing okay, but will not celebrate Christmas until January 7th, the celebrated day the Magi came to visit the baby Jesus, twelve days after Christmas.
Q. Many know how “Sooners” came to be, but how about “Boomers”?
A. “Two types of Boomers, those who campaigned with the Federal government for the Indian land to be opened for settlement and those who actually moved to Indian Lands and settled there. Sooners being those who moved into the area to be settled a day or so before the run. They would already be camped out with land stacked out when the land run was opened.
There were several groups of people who were called Boomers and the Federal Government moved them all out before the land was opened for settlement. The boomers were loose groups of several families. And they were not really an issue since they were visible and more or less open about their intentions.
By the way, do you know how the city of Guthrie got it’s name?
The day and night before the area was opened for the land run, a group of lawyers and judges from Kansas City, rode the train down into Oklahoma. Among them a lawyer named Guthrie. This group quickly surveyed the area for a town and called it Guthrie. When the Federal Marshals came in the day of the run they resurveyed the town and moved the streets enough to make the Kansas City groups lots worthless. The group went back to Kansas City, but the name stuck. The lawyer who later became a judge in Kansas City was a cousin of mine several times removed. -Larry at Sulphur
Q. Meaning and origin to the saying, “God willing and the Creek don’t rise.”
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
https://oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
“Butch, in this weeks newsletter, there was reference make to Metzler’s BBQ in Lindsay, Texas , the restaurant is still there and still serving great BBQ. But the Metzler Brothers sold it to two nephews and is it is now the Deter Brothers. It is certainly worth the drive to Lindsay for a great meal, the FF’s and all fresh cut and the Onion Rings are fresh and hand breaded, The Hamburgers are pretty darn good also.” -Ken in Whitesboro, Texas. Formally from Wilson
Butch, here’s the skinny. -Jim, N5COP
http://www.dieterbrosbbq.com/history.htm
“Hi Butch, Have you ever done anything on the three southwestern counties that were stolen from Texas by the US government and added to the Oklahoma Territory? In the agreement for Texas to join the US, the northern boundary was the Red River to the 100th Meridian and northward along it. Greer, Harmon and Jackson Counties were originally part of Texas. The boundary followed what is now known as the North Fork of the Red River and the branch going more or less west was known as the Prairie Dog Town Fork, having been named that by surveyors in the 1850s. They had hearings before congress, hearings before the senate. They had hydrologists giving reports which indicated that far more water flowed down the North Fork than ever did from the Prairie Dog Town Fork. They finally brought a number of Indians to Washington DC and questioned them about what they called the various streams. In 1896 the Supreme court finally officially changed the names of the rivers, making the Prairie Dog Town Fork the Red River to the 100th meridian and the other form the North Fork of the Red River, officially stealing all that land from Texas.” -Jim Foreman
The Davis News – 100 YEARS AGO:
Lifelong Davis residents E.A. Tignor and Annie Brown were married at the home of the bride’s sister, Mrs. Otto Boyte.
Prof. Tom Youngblood resigned as school superintendent. His successor had not been officially named, but editor Fay Crossett wrote, “The school board have in mind a well known and universally liked local party.”
Thamazin Hutchins won the prize for the best letter in the ninth grade.
W.M. Moore & Co. advertised a fine stock of guns and ammunition.
“Auld Lang Syne” started its life as a poem written by Scottish poet Robert Burns that was set to the tune of an old Scottish folk song. Although Burns’ poem was dated to 1788, there are some lyrics that appear to have been taken from an earlier poem by James Watson, titled “Old Long Syne.” It wasn’t long before the song became traditional in Scotland and the British Isles as a folk song to be sung to commemorate the New Year.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
“Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.” –Clarence Odbody b. 1684
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3sXVxqDbFk&feature=related
See everyone next year!
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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