Ardmore, Oklahoma
Email: [email protected] Phone: 580-490-6823
Ardmoreite Angelia Phillips brought me an old political business card from the 1960s this week she found while looking through some stuff. It was a “vote for me” card on a Jim Payne. Jim Payne was County Attorney back in the 60s (this was before District Attorney’s office was created in 1968).
Jim Payne was the county attorney to file charges on the thugs who committed the infamous Sooner Foods burglary in 1960. Ardmore police officer Bobby Rudisill was killed during the burglary, and over 1,000 rounds were fired into the building on North Washington and 12th including machinegun rounds. Behind the building (Dollar General today) one can still find bullet holes in the walls.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/PayneCountyAttorney.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/rudisill.html
Seems pecans are a plenty in Southern Oklahoma this year. Every tree is/was loaded. We stopped at Landgraf Farms just west of Madill and bought some already cracked and blown to mail to Jill’s twin sister, June, in California, and also sent some to my 1st cousin twice removed in Connecticut. She’s 90 years old and they don’t have pecan trees in Connecticut. At Landgraf’s we bought Choctaw pecans from Texas, really nice and meaty. That’s Jill in the grey shirt pacing (she’s not patient at all) as we wait for the pecans to be cracked and blown. By the way, Landgrafs did an excellent job at the crack and blown, hardly a shell on any of the pieces, ready to eat!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/LandgrafPecans112412.jpg
http://www.landgrafpecans.com/
Last weekend we were out northwest of Ardmore, and stopped in at the Mercantile Antiques in Marlow, Oklahoma (north of Duncan). Really nice.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/MarlowMercantile121512.jpg
But the real surprise was upstairs on the second floor of The Mercantile. There is a great museum with all kinds of items from Marlow’s bygone years. Its a large second floor, takes some time to see everything, but well worth the look-see.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/MarlowMercantileMuseum.jpg
One display that caught my attention was about Pearl the Aviator. Pearl Scott was a Chickasaw born in Marlow and became the youngest licensed pilot in America. If you haven’t seen the movie Pearl the Aviator, its a great movie, a “must see” if you get the chance.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/PearlMarlowOK.jpg
Another establishment we stopped at in Marlow was called the Bargain Barn on Outlaw Avenue right next to Burgers and Beans. This junk store is not much to look at, nor well kept and clean, but there is a lot of stuff to browse within those walls. You never know what you’ll find just poking around. And the owner loves to deal, so play his game.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/BargainBarnMarlow.jpg
Mounted in the ceiling of the Bargain Barn is a covered wagon from Waurika, Oklahoma.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/WaurikaWagon121412.jpg
And owner had just bought a couple of buggies from the Amish near Waupanuka, Oklahoma.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/MarlowBuggy1.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/MarlowBuggy2.jpg
Our next stop was Duncan and we asked the owner of Butterfield Antiques, Rick Minter, were is a good place to eat BBQ. He suggested Phipps BBQ on West Main. But he added they had the most tender steak you’d find anywhere. Now this place is small, and not much to look at, but we tried the steak and it melted in your mouth. He cooks them over hickory wood and its more then one person can eat, a thick piece of meat. We had to bring some home in a to-go box.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/PhippsSteak121412.jpg
Lone Grover Cecil Tipton won the snow contest last week! I know he’d buy me a hamburger at Eggs Etc with his winnings, but since I’m on the Paleo Diet, he gets out of it this time. lol
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/CecilTiptonSnow2012.jpg
Q. How many Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Schools, can you name?
A. The Office of Indian Affairs (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs) established a network of schools throughout the United States, beginning with Carlisle Indian School, established in 1879. Some of these schools were day schools, usually focusing on Indian children of a single tribe or reservation. Some were boarding schools which served Indian children from a number of tribes and reservations.
In addition, other groups such as various church denominations established schools specifically focusing on American Indian children.
The following list of Indian Schools in Oklahoma has been compiled from Hill’s Office of Indian Affairs, Hill’s Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians, and others.
Armstrong Academy
Bloomfield Seminary
Burney Academy
Cantonment School
Carter Seminary
Cherokee Orphan Training School
Cheyenne and Arapaho School
Chilocco Indian School
Collins Institute
Concho School
Euchee Boarding School (Family History Library has some rec)
Eufaula Boarding School
Eufaula Dormitory
Fort Sill School
Jones Academy
Kaw School
Mekusukey Academy
Nuyaka School
Osage Boarding School
Otoe School
Pawnee Boarding School
Ponca School (transferred to Pawnee)
Red Moon School
Riverside School
Sac and Fox School
Seger School
Seneca School
Sequoyah Indian High School
SequoyahOrphanTraining School — see SequoyahBoarding School
Tulahassee Orphan Boarding School
Tuskahoma Female Academy
Wheelock Academy
Q. Who were the first known inhabitants of Oklahoma?
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of December 18, 1999:And here’s a TruGrapette soda that was bottled in Ardmore, OK
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/TruGrape.jpg
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I’ve received a lot of things in the mail, but this week a cassette tape came to me that knocked my socks off. My cousin in Virginia, Don Bridges, wrote a song about Brown Springs in Love County! Don plays the guitar (like my dad did when he was young), and titled the song “Browns Springs At Night”. He and his friend, Doug Rainoff, plays the lead guitar and accompanied him. Its a great song! Some really good guitar picking! Here’s the lyrics Don wrote:
BROWN SPRINGS AT NIGHT by Don Bridges in Virginia
Huntin’ snakes where woods devour the roadway
Leeper Lake down by the Texas line
Set the bait, retreat into the darkness
Death in the park that hist’ry left behind
Chorus….
Brown Springs at night
(The moon is bathed in blood)
Shadows in flight
(They shudder from the sight)
Man dog will bite
(You better bring your Bible)
Down in Brown Springs at night
Drippin’ meat chopped open with a hatchet
Evil deeds left scattered on the ground
Take a drink on top of toppled markers
Chickasaw heart screams out without a sound
Repeat chorus
Their spirits still fight
In Brown Springs at night
In the place where cannibals run rampant
Gettin’ late when ghosts begin to rise
Course your fate and hold onto your partner
Doomed if you start to open up your eyes
Repeat chorus
Down in Brown Springs at night
Down in Brown Springs at night
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“Just finished reading your current epistle. Can’t get over someone in Ireland calling you a handsome old geezer. I resemble (grin) that remark. Handsome, yes! Old, nada! And, my daughter and I both think you are probably full of the devil! I think that grin gave you away in the photo by famous Browns Springs lagoon! LOL!”
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“I wish you’d stop talking about pecans! They are one of my favorite nuts, and I walked all over them while researching in OK cemeteries. In California, they cost an arm and leg but I guess I’m going to have to break down, take out a second on the house, and go to the market and get 5 lbs. to hold me over for a time.”
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“I have a BIG pecan tree in my back yard. It was prolific this year. I got 5 FULL grocery bags of Big, Full pecans. I didn’t know how to shell them. After the feeble attempt with a little hand nutcracker. I called a local ‘Pecan and Gift Store” and asked them how the heck you shelled all those pecans. The lady told me to get an ‘inertial’ nutcracker. I didn’t have a clue as to what that was. I looked on INet and saw some photos. Then I started in, here in Houston. SOOOOO final results, I went to a fancy kinda upscale kitchen and hardware store (Bering’s) here in Houston. I found one. “Reed’s Rocket” ($17.95 and well worth every penny) !! YES .. it’s wood with a metal lever thing..you put the nut in there and mash down on the handle. It works. You soon develop a technical slant on the easiest way to do it. I started getting 75% of the meat out of the nut in one fell swoop and then dug out the little pieces that were left with the pointy end of one of the little gadgets that you hold an ear of corn with,to eat. Bottom line, I shelled all 5 bags of pecans, and got at least 20 lbs of shelled pecans. I have most of them away to my kids to use for Xmas. At the going rate of $4.99 for 8/10 ozs. I figured that was a darn good present :))) AND I finally learned how to make pecan pie.”
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“Hi Butch, Hope things are great with you. As far as the grapette thing, there is a Mexican drink that is sold in bottles in Wal-Mart in the Mexican foods section, it is called Sangria and is non-alcoholic and tastes a lot like grapette. anyway near enough that when you drink it, you think of Grapette!”
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This week I received some sad news from a friend in Davis, OK. Last July a sweet lady and the “unofficial historian” for Davis took me to where “Seven Springs” was located at the SW edge of Davis, Oklahoma. No one else I talked to really knew exactly where those springs where. She was 92 years old and took me right to those springs. Last Monday night there was a dedication in Sulphur, OK for their new book, “History of Murray County”. She was one of the main authors of this new book and one hour before she was killed in a two car crash, she was given the first book at that Dedication Ceremony. Opal Hartsill Brown will be sorely missed by many. A piece of Murray County history died that night.
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Charlie Durie, west of Marietta, Oklahoma called me the other day. He has the Love County Courthouse clock running almost perfectly. He found a major problem with the swing of the pendulum, fixed it, and now its right on the money. He does have to adjust the timing on the bell, but its working better then it has in many years.
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Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
“I noted the article about “grapette” soda in your last posting. Grapette is made in Grand Junction, Co. by the Pepsi co., but most all of their production goes west and north. I don’t know where else in is made, nor where Wal-Mart purchases theirs from. I drove for a company which took at least two dozen loads of cans and bottles a week for the Pepsi company from Sapulpa to Grand Junction for almost three years.” -George
“Hi Butch! I read about the bear hunt in 1915 at Enville. It made me curious because I am trying to do some genealogy on my mother’s side, and I saw in the article that a Tom Vinson was involved. My mother was born at Enville, Oklahoma and her mother’s maiden name was Katherine Severa Vinson! I wonder if anyone can help me with information about the family? Very surprising to see a badger in southern Oklahoma! Merry Christmas to you and Jill!” -Cindy Brooks (Koets now) [email protected]
“Butch, I was hiking this spring north of the airfield at Lake Murray. I came across a bear track west of Tipps Point south of the old dump site, off Cisco Rd. Didn’t see the bear, hoping it didn’t see me!” -Pete from Dallas.
“Butch: I work with men who tell me the eastern part of Oklahoma is now flooded with bears, and the season limit on them is forty. Once, almost extinct, in this part of the country, they are now very numerous. Heard a story that a approximately 500 lb bear was slain near Kiowa, OK a few months ago with a crossbow. Season begins Oct 1st each year; but, I don’t know when it ends.” -Scott Bumgarner, Sherman, TX
“Hi Butch, I checked at Barnes & Noble to see if the book Tainted Breeze is available. It shows to be available new for $19.95. I sent the link to the page in case someone else wants a copy.” -Cecil
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tainted-breeze-richard-b-mccaslin/1102509644?ean=9780807122198
“Butch, the best pecan sheller (or cracker) that I’ve ever seen is a Texas Pecan Sheller. Just a few dollars. Is a little cup-like thing with nippers on one side. Nip the ends off, then gently crack the shell, and voila! Halves most every time.” -Bob in Missouri
Q. Mr. Bridges I’m very interested in what was the original merchant in the building that is now Casa Roma’s Mexican Restaurant in downtown Ardmore just east of “B” Street on Main. I’ve tried to find out on my own and my Mom doesn’t remember neither does my brother. It’s the new location of Casa Roma on the South side of Main Street.
A. The address is 120 West Main. Rawlings Furniture: In 1907 Mr. A. Bledsoe Rawlins came to Ardmore, Indian Territory, and established a second hand store. He later started the Rawlins Furniture Store. His wife Ida, was tragically killed in a buggy accident. A. Bledsoe Rawlins later married Henryetta Younger, who was a sister to Cole Younger. There were no children by this marriage. A. Bledsoe died in 1935. Meredith Rawlins, the son of Philip A. Rawlins, was born in 1910 in Lancaster, Dallas County, Texas. The Rawlins family home at Lancaster was built by the family in 1854 and is the oldest home in Dallas county, to be continuously owned by the family who built it. It has been listed among the National Registry of historic homes. Meredith lives in Ardmore with his wife Geraldine, a well known and loved music teacher in the Ardmore school system for many years. She has led most of the important choral groups in Ardmore and directed the First Methodist Church Choir for many years. Meredith continued to operate the family furniture store in Ardmore until it was sold in 1959. Meredith and Geraldine have one daughter, Shirley Rawlins Hatfield Dibrell. Shirley is the organist at the St. Phillips Episcopal Church in Ardmore. -from the Indian Territory and Carter County Pioneers Book 1983In 2008 it was The Clothes Box. Probably something else before that.
“Butch, In my 24 years as Game Warden here in Murray county I had three encounters with badgers. All three were along the Washita River, guess the digging was easier than up in the Arbuckles. Oh, and lets not forget the one porcupine I found.” -Roy Roundtree
“Hi Butch, Just wanted you to know I downloaded you cousins CD “An Ardmore Afternoon” for my wife who is from Ardmore. We have really enjoyed it, good listening all the way through. An Album that each number actually tells a story, is easily understood and is not just 3 or 4 words and the same number of notes that are repeated over and over again for 4 or 5 minutes. Very refreshing.
My wife was Helen Turner when she lived in Ardmore. Her dad was Al Turner who was the caretaker at Hillcrest Cemetery. He also worked at Hudson Houston lumber yard. Helen’s mother ,Verda Turner, was a nurse’s aid at one of the hospitals.
Helen’s brother, Wayne Turner, still lives in Ardmore. He and his son, Gary, owned a barber shop in the “Ardmore Mall.” Helen’s uncle by marriage is Troy Seedig who lives there also. We love to come to Ardmore to visit all the places that Helen remembers. She was 13 years old in 1947 when the family moved to Fillmore, Ca .Since I was born in Fillmore that makes me a “Prune Picker” and Helen says that she became a “C.I.O.”, meaning, “California Improved Okie”. Really enjoy your T&T. Good work, keep it up.” -David Clapperton
http://www.donbridgesongs.com/
Never badger a badger by Jim Foreman
http://www.jimforeman.com/Stories/badger.htm
“I thought someone might have noticed that late last month we celebrated the 50th anniversary of a well known invention in Ardmore. It was 50 years ago that Jack Thompson opened the first wand car wash which he invented. Thompson had already opened the first coin operated laundromat in Ardmore and he followed that up with the invention of the coin operated hair dryer which he began selling for installation in laundromats. Both the laundromat and the car wash were located on West Main just west of the Broadway intersection. At the car wash, you got 5 minutes for a quarter. It seems like the hair dryer cost a dime to operate.
We used to drive to the car wash at noon from school, wash the car, race down Main to Commerce then jump on 77 North to Grand, catch a burger at the Sonic and get back to school before our next class. Car washed and dried, lunch, ready for class.” -Monroe Cameron
All I want for Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots
I don’t want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don’t care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWEfszb9h8Q
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
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/
Ardmore School Criterions
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com