PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402 Email: [email protected] Phone: 580-490-6823
Back in the 1930s under the Waldorf Astoria in New York City was a secret railway substation. It linked the Waldorf Astoria to Grand Central terminal, a 1,000 feet away. Still sitting in this station after all these years is a railroad car that in those days was built to carry the most important person in the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7fttpgp41A
Back in 2007 Chuck Stallcup worked tirelessly for weeks to create a map of all the old schools in Carter county on Google Earth. Finally Chuck, with the help of others, had a great historical research map finished. If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can click on the link below and pull up the schools of long ago in this county. Give the file a minute to load and run in Google Earth.
After you’ve pulled up the schools’ data in Google Earth, you can save it to MyPlaces and you’ll always have it!
Ardmoreite Jerry Landrum snapped a picture of a propeller driven bicycle at Anchorage, Alaska this week. I can’t see this being pushed much by the driven wind, but I can sure see a death trap in the making.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/AlaskanBicycle.jpg
Here is a 1983 photo of Joe Pack and his first and only helicopter ride as an EMT for Ardmore’s Ambulance Service. The helicopter was leased by Quentin Little Oil Company and was pressed into service when one of their oil field hands was injured at a rig near Ringling.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/PackHelicopter.jpg
Q. What Oklahoma Olympic medalist was given an American Indian name?
A. Jim Thorpe received the name Bright Path from the Sac and Fox Indian tribe. He won the decathlon and the pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics.
Q. How many miles of shoreline are in Oklahoma?
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of August 21, 1999:Turner Falls, Oklahoma, July 1999:
The Cave at Turner Falls
http://wwwpubco.com/image/turnerfalls1.jpg
One of the Falls and swimmers at Turner Falls, July 1999.
http://wwwpubco.com/image/turnerfalls2.jpg
http://wwwpubco.com/image/turnerfalls3.jpg
View from the Turner Falls Ranger Station Lookout.
http://wwwpubco.com/image/turnerfalls4.jpg
Looking through the hole in the rock towards the Ranger lookout station across the way.
http://wwwpubco.com/image/turnerfalls5.jpg
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“Butch, I’ve meant to ask this before now, but time wouldn’t permit me to sit down long enough this past week to sit down and send this e-mail. Someone mentioned the “doodle bug” thing in the last week or two. There are several of us from southern Oklahoma that also did the “doodle bug” thing when we were kids, but we can’t remember all the words. I don’t believe the words to this were written on your “This & That”. Do you know all the words to it? I just always kinda figured it was a southern Oklahoma “thing”. Maybe not.”
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“A good Sunday Morning to you Butch, Was just reading your t&t news letter and especially liked the story about Brown’s Springs….that is really interesting and sounds like it would make a good movie. A few years ago I saw a movie called “The Hills Have Eyes”. The movie took place out west in New Mexico or Arizona where some mountain people would kidnap unwary vacationers camping out by their motor homes and travel trailers. They would cook and eat their victims.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Bq2g7zA_I
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“Reading the stories about Brown Spring’s at Thackville, Oklahoma, brings back old memories. One Halloween my friend and I went riding around with some guys from Thackerville, OK. They decided they would take us to Brown Springs to scare us. We were trying to act brave, so I started up the hill to the old grave yard to show them where it was, (I had been there in the day time) over half way up we hear chanting and see smoke from a camp fire, I thought I was being set up for the ultimate scare, so I was being brave and trying to play along, till we came to a knife stabbed in a tree, with fresh blood on it. We all saw it at the same time, I blamed it on the boys, but after seeing the look on their faces, I knew it was time to get out of there!! All four of us were so terrified we could not even scream, we got in the truck, and no one said a word till we were back on highway 77 headed to town. I was told later that devil worshiper “wanna be’s” went up there and sacrificed small animals as a part of a s?ance type ordeal. I didn’t care what it was it terrified me. That was back in 1990. I have been up to the cemetery again since then in the daytime “only” and found some pretty neat history as far as the tombstones. My husband and I have drove on that road a hundred times going to the river to fish, and camp just southeast of the Springs, and have never had anything crazy happen, but that doesn’t mean the hair doesn’t stand up on my arms every time we are there!!”
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Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/index.aspx?mss=152754
Check gas prices by town or zip code anywhere in U.S.
http://www.kmov.com/traffic/gas-buddy
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
“Hi Butch, Down memory lane again by the article in Sunday’s Ardmoreite about the legendary tunnels. I’m wondering about a different tunnel that existed from the old jail to the courthouse. The jail was just East of the courthouse about where the County Commissioners are now. As a kid in the 1930s Floyd Randolph was sheriff & my best playmate was son of Dick Rabun, Randolph’s photo ID & fingerprint specialist. Some Saturdays we would go to the jail and the sheriff would tolerate us developing & printing pictures. Entry to the jail from 1st Ave was the offices area. Next was a barred area with the kitchen on the left and a down stairway on the right. Further back in the building was the barred off cell block area. The stairway led to a cellar-like room & on the West side was a barred door leading to the tunnel to the courthouse. It was said the tunnel was for the purpose of transferring prisoners to and from the courthouse but nobody knew of when or if it was ever used. The single light in the room only showed blackness as one looked into the tunnel. I actually was at the barred entrance to the tunnel and could see maybe 30 feet into the darkness. The old jail was razed maybe 40 years ago & I wonder about the tunnel. Unless it was never completed or filled in, it should have quite a lot of space for storage. Several issues such as whether it actually was connected to the courthouse & if so, what is its status today?” -Bob McCrory
Note: Bob, just for you I took these two photos of the tunnel that runs between the courthouse and the Annex 1 building next door (east of courthouse). The Maintenance crew uses this tunnel many times a day.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/CourthouseTunnel082213a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/CourthouseTunnel082213b.jpg
“Butch, I am a “transplanted Okie” living in California and surrounded by USC fans! I couldn’t wait to show them your article last week about the model for Tommy Trojan and to tell them that they could thank Ardmore, Oklahoma for it! Of course, they couldn’t stand that, so I received this from one of my tennis buddies the next week. Most of them originally thought the model was Ronald Reagan! Thanks for all your great info!” -Pat Garrett
Tommy Trojan
In the center of the USC campus stands one of the most famous collegiate landmarks in the country: Tommy Trojan. Since being unveiled in 1930 for USC’s 50th jubilee, the statue of the bronzed Trojan warrior has served not only as a popular meeting place on campus, but as a symbol of the university’s fighting spirit.
Sculpted by Roger Noble Burnham (the idea for the statue was conceived by Harry Lee Martin and Dr. James D. McCoy), Tommy Trojan cost $10,000 to build. A $1 surcharge then on season football tickets helped pay for it.
The statue is a composite of many USC football players from the late 20s, most notably 1930 Rose Bowl Player of the Game Russ Saunders and All-American Erny Pinckert. “Burnham made more than 100 oil paintings of various football players from our squad,” said Saunders, “and from them he selected the paintings of Pinckert and me. We put in a lot of hours posing, and the result you see is my head, chest and shoulders. The rest is all Erny.”
Inscribed on the statue’s base is “THE TROJAN” and the university’s seal, with the Latin motto “Palmam qui meruit ferat (Let him who deserves it bear away the palm).” Below the seal are inscribed the qualities of the ideal Trojan: “Faithful, Scholarly, Skillful, Courageous and Ambitious.”
The tradition of Tommy Trojan being painted blue and gold by UCLA pranksters was first recorded in October of 1941. Since then, Tommy has been “hit” often, but now USC maintenance crews cover him with plastic and canvas for protection during the week of the annual USC-UCLA football game.
And Tommy’s sword has been stolen so often that now, instead of replacing it each time with an expensive brass one, he is given a wooden one.
By the way, where did he get the name Tommy? Of that, no one is sure!
“Before it was a McDonald’s, it was a regular full service sit-down restaurant for several years (from the time the turnpike opened in 1957 or 1958. When their lease ran out they did not renew–by then it was apparent that sit-down restaurants weren’t the most used things on turnpikes. Fast food places apparently do better. I remember there was once a Howard Johnson’s sit-down restaurant on the Turner Turnpike, probably at Stroud (Midway) which was good enough that we and other Oklahoma City residents would drive out there sometimes to eat. I believe that, too, was followed by a McDonald’s.”
-Wes Leatherock [email protected]
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/McDonaldsVinitaOK.jpg
“Butch, re: the last letter in today’s TNT, I spent half my youth with my friends “dragging main” every night! We had a great time. Remember Matt Alexander, the cop on the beat? My dad had a pickup and all the girls loaded in the back. Matt was crossing Main in front of the Tivoli just after we had gone thru the intersection. One of the girls in the back had a cherry bomb left over from the 4th of July and she threw it and it landed right at Matt’s feet. He never jumped, just kept right on walking! It’s a wonder he didn’t arrest us all but I guess he was old enough to know we were just dumb girls out having a good time!” -danna
“Dear Butch: In your August, 15 2013 News Letter you published a photo of the first Cornish, Oklahoma Orphan’s Home and of its founder Moses Harris. I was fortunate enough to get to know Moses Harris when I was a young man after he had closed up the Orphans home you never met a nicer man. What I was writing you about is my Great Uncle Charlie and his wife Laura Paul who adopted a child from that orphans home back in about 1930, his name was Roy B. (Buster) (Satterfield?) Paul and he was born January 10, 1923 we think somewhere around Ardmore. Roy was raised in Wirt and went to school at Dundee. Roy was KIA (Killed in Action) in the Makin Island, Gilbert Islands November 20, 1943 during WWII and his name does appear on the monument in the park there in Down Town Ardmore. My Great Uncle Charlie and Great Aunt Laura B. Walker Paul had to wait six years for the Army to return his body which arrived via Santa Fe Railway on March 22, 1949 so they could bury him on March 23, 1949 his remains was buried at Mt. Olive Cemetery, Healdton, Carter County Oklahoma. I have been doing some family genealogy research on him and managed to dig up the fallowing information on him: An article from the Daily Ardmore dated January or February, 22, 1949 and his funeral record from the old Bettes Funeral Home there in Ardmore. According to the funeral record he had a brother named James who at the time was living in California, two sisters Mrs. Rosalee Brashears of Boswell, Oklahoma and Mrs. Bonnie Marie Roberts of Albuquerque, New Mexico and a daughter Judy Carroll Paul of California. I would love to be able to make a connection with some of his family members.” -Larry Paul [email protected]
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/RoyPaulDocument1.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/RoyPaulDocument2.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/Bodies_of_Six_Soldiers.jpg
“My name is Randy Harrington. I used to live in Oklahoma City and I now live in Fresno, California. My connection with Kate Galt Zaneis is that she is my Great-Aunt. She was the first Carter County Superintendant of Schools. I am trying to gather as much information so I can do my Family Tree which would go back to Sir Francis Drake. I enjoy looking on the internet for all the articles about my great aunt and the things she did for Education in Oklahoma. I hope to be going back to Oklahoma to visit friends and relatives and visit the Historical Society.” [email protected]
“Dear Friends, On Friday, August 23, 2013, my Silver Lake Band and I will be in Altus, Oklahoma for the Pre-Rodeo Gala. Come join us for the dinner/dance/concert at the Jackson County Expo Center. The BBQ dinner and music start at 5:45pm. We will wrap up the concert/dance at 7:10pm, in time for you to attend the rodeo, if you desire. Please call 580-477-1616 for reservations.” -Les Gilliam ?The Oklahoma Balladeer?
“I have some very fond memories of a very classy black woman named Anna Maude. She worked for my grandparents Max and Margaret Harrington and she is the same Anna Maude who for many years had the Anna Maude cafeterias for many years in the northwest and downtown Oklahoma City. I remember going with family after church to eat at Anna Maude or the Queen Anne depending on which cafeteria was less crowded. Also there was for those of us who enjoyed good Mexican food a place called El Charritos on NW 39th Expressway in OKC. It is not possible to make all these places ‘Historical’ except in mind only. I hope some people who see this will share memories.” -Randy Harrington in California
http://newsok.com/cafeterias-were-a-capital-idea-in-oklahoma-citys-history/article/3558509
1983: http://newsok.com/new-location-for-anna-maude-cafeteria-to-be-announced/article/2034461
“Hi Butch, I know about the Fred Hagler Jr. story. Fred had a daughter by the name of Melanie Lee Hagler. She went to Arlington Heights High School in Ft Worth Texas. I think she graduated in 1962 or 1963. I vaguely remember her (that was 50 years ago). She changed her name to her Mother’s Maiden Name of Patton in the 50s. Her Mother was Doris Patton. They were very nice people. She had a brother by the name of Fred. Little Fred lost an arm in a bicycle accident with a car in about 1959. He died in jail in Ft Worth in the 60s. If I remember correctly he used his belt to hang himself. I don’t know what happened to Melanie or where she might be today. I remember her Birthday was October 10. I would like to know if she and her mother are still alive and what has happened to Fred Sr.” -Charlie
https://oklahomahistory.net/DavidHagler.html
“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.” -George Washington Carver
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Carter County Courthouse Paver Project
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/pavers
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a minute!
http://www.CheapLongDistance.org
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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