PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
Phone: 580-490-6823
I am happy to report that we reached our goal of $500 this week for the law enforcement memorial that will be placed in Healdton, Oklahoma. The memorial will honor police officers Jim Hutchison (1930) and Doug Durington (1985) who died in the line of duty while serving the City of Healdton. I will be placing the order in a day or two.
Below is a link to a memorial monument at the Ardmore depot in remembrance of those who died in the 1915 Big Explosion. The memorial we will get from Wilson Monuments in Lone Grove to be placed at Healdton will be almost identical to the one below, as far as size, color, and thickness goes.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/Memorial092715.jpg
A big THANK YOU goes to the 14 donations below who made the Healdton memorial a reality.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14b/HealdtonDonors111214.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/hutchison.html
I will keep everyone updated from time to time as progress is made on the memorial marker.
I received an email last week about a tree of what the people in Sulphur called “The Monkey Tree”. The monkey tree was located just on the east side of the street where 12th Street dead ends at the Park.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14b/MonkeyTree2014a.jpg
I received an update email on 11/11/14 from Brad and Nellie in Australia about their cross country trip. After a 1,100 mile trip across Australia, they are finally safe back at home in eastern Australia.
“Butch, After about 18000 km (1,118 miles), 4 deserts (Tanami, Great Sandy, Little Sandy and Gibson), the Indian, Southern and Pacific Oceans and places such as Snottygoble, Useless Loop, Iron Knob and a thousand other interestingly named places we are home. Most of our travel was in areas with an annual rainfall of 50 to 100mm a year but on our last night we were hit with a thunderstorm and found that our tent weren’t all that waterproof. My camera and I were hit by a rogue giant killer wave while we were in Western Australia with salt water getting into the memory card slot. The camera was rendered just about useless and I haven’t been game to look at the card that was in the camera. Hopefully it will be OK and if so I will send you some photos of the Canning Stock Route. Had coffee with John and Shelley today and they said that they really enjoyed meeting you. Hooroo for now.” -Brad and Nellie.
Keeping our free programs updated with the latest version on our computers can sometimes be a pain. And when you do click on Update, after installation you see yet another unwanted Tool Bar at the top of your internet browser. Now enter Ninite (don’t ask me how you pronounce Ninite, I have no idea). Ninite is a SAFE website that lets you put a check mark by the free programs already installed on your computer, then at the bottom click UPDATE and it will automatically download the latest version of the program(s) you checked. It will skip the update on any program that is up-to-date. The updating is all done automatically and you don’t have to check any boxes, accept any legalese, or wonder if you’re really getting an update to a program you have on your computer. A really great utility!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14b/NiniteScreenshot.jpg
This is a screenshot of 17 programs on my home computer that I put a check mark by for updating and the progress report.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14b/NiniteScreenshot2.jpg
Link to the ninite website.
This weekend, the biggest event of the year, will take place in Carter County. It’s the annual Arts and Crafts show that’s held at the Hardy Murphy Coliseum.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14b/ArtsAndCraftsFair2014.jpg
Below is a paver I sandblasted the past week.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/CreasonPaver.jpg
Q. What town in Oklahoma is the home of the world’s largest deposit of alabaster?
A. Freedom, Oklahoma
Q. Who was the singer and actress born in Leedy, Oklahoma who was in Our Gang – The Little Rascals radio and films?
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of November 11, 2000:
Technology has not been on my side this week. I have been having problems with my old computer and was wondering if I was even going to get my T&T out this week. The problem seems to be in the hard drive or the hard drive controller.
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I received a rather interesting email this week from Mark Lynn Anderson, Ph.D. Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Department of English and Comparative Literature, Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Rochester, New York. He has been doing an intensive study on a former Ardmoreite, Clara Smith Harmon. Some of you will recall Clara Smith Harmon was involved in the mysterious death of Ardmore millionaire oilman Jake Harmon back in 1920. Mr Anderson said a movie was made in 1921 about the supposedly murder of Jake Hamon, and Clara Smith Hamon starred in that movie named “Fate”. He is looking for a copy of that 1921 movie Fate. Anyone have any ideas on where such a movie might be found? I for one, sure would like to see that movie. Here is the complete story on Jake Hamon and Clara Smith Hamon.
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“Butch, youngsters your age and younger may have never seen a Crosley automobile. While stationed at Ardmore Air Force Base before I became a permanent Ardmoreite, I owned this 1948 Crosley for a few months in l955. Four people fit snugly within its small interior. They existed for a short few years. Sure wish I had it now.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14b/CrosleyMotors.jpg
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“This picture was taken in the 1940’s and shows my little sister-in-law sitting at the base of the bronze colored Indian statue which was a trademark for the Palesine(sp?) Oil Co of Ardmore. (Wirt Franklin was the owner I believe). The site is at the look out of Turner Falls from the Filling Station located in the Arbuckle Mts. The bronze colored Indians were seen in many places in our area but it seems they have all disappeared.” -Ernest Martin
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14b/PalesineIndianArbuckles.jpg
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Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/index.aspx?mss=152754
Non-ethanol gas (pure gas) stations in the Ardmore area.
https://oklahomahistory.net/puregas.html
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
CHEROKEE ROSE ROCK LEGEND
In the 1800s, despite a decision in favor of the Cherokees by the Supreme Court, President Andrew Jackson ordered the removal of the Cherokees and other Indian tribes from their Eastern homelands to Oklahoma, a journey later referred to as the “TRAIL OF TEARS”. About four thousand people died along the way. Indian folklore states that “God, looking down from heaven, decided to commemorate the courageous Cherokees. As the blood of the braves and the tears of the maidens fell to the ground, they were turned to stones in the shape of a rose.” The Rose Rock is found in Oklahoma, the end of the journey. The State Flower of Georgia, the tribe’s eastern home, is the Cherokee Rose.
“Good evening Butch. I read with a great deal of interest the article in last week’s T&T on the Hoffman Gun Works. Joe Dubiel made custom rifles long after the Hoffman facility closed. I inherited from my dad a Dubiel rifle which is the most accurate firearm I own even into this day. Have a blessed day.” -Dale
“Butch, We saw the new movie “Interstellar” a few days ago when it first started showing here. We liked it so much that we went again with our oldest son yesterday. It’s a fantastic movie. Whether you like space fiction or not I highly recommend it. They used scenes from Ken Burns great documentary “The Dust Bowl.” May sound crazy but they did a great job of tying it all together.” -C. Dwane Stevens http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/
Greetings, Butch:
The conversations about Ardmore’s “commercial” parrots reminded me of my Grandfather’s “Polly”. Grpa “Newt” Crosthwaite had the “Live and Let Live” Shoe Repair Shop on Caddo Street in the 1920s and 1930s. Polly was his constant companion at work and entertained everyone with her very colorful vocabulary (which included calling him by name ….. “Crosthwaite! Crosthwaite!”) When he retired from his shop in the late 1930s he brought her home. (Later his son-in-law, Lent Matthews operated the shoe shop). Unfortunately, Polly’s “colorful” vocabulary upset my Grandmother’s sensitive ears, so Papa found a new home for Polly ……. with Jack Hammitt in his Barber Shop. I have no idea how much longer she lived (maybe some of the Hammitt descendants can tell me?). Hopefully her remaining days were happier in a male-dominated business atmosphere! Is anyone out there old enough to remember her, besides me?? Thanks, Butch for all your good reporting….
-Tania Colbert Patrick
“Butch, myself and some other rail photographers were recently allowed access to the Crusher area in Big Canyon, Oklahoma (Arbuckle Mountains). Dolese Bros. Company granted us permission to enter their quarry which is normally off limits to the public. Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer passes through this area so you can see it from the train. It’s one of Oklahoma’s most scenic areas. I’ve uploaded some of my photos to my Flickr account at this link and I’ll be adding more later.” -C. Dwane Stevens
https://www.flickr.com/photos/railheadok/sets/72157646902876394/
“I stitched together 8 overlapping shots to make this nearly 180 degree extra wide photo of the SB Heartland Flyer #821 passing through Big Canyon, Okla. and along the Washita River.” -C. Dwane Stevens
https://www.flickr.com/photos/railheadok/15158366513/sizes/o/
“Your readers are experts on so many things that I need the answer to a question I have. Someone once told me that if you put Horse Apples (Bois d’arc) under your house it would keep away certain bugs. Can someone tell me if it would keep Fleas away? Or just what bugs are they suppose to affect?”
“Hi Butch, T&T mention of Ardmore’s Hoffman Arms sent me back down memory lane again & into a google search. Frank Hoffman ex US Marine Corps, Hoffman Arms began in 1923 In Cleveland, OH; purchased by OK oil men & moved to Ardmore in 1925 – 1930. The depression put an end to Hoffman with total production no more than 500, mostly rifles. The Hoffman name was revived 1940 in Amarillo, TX. Some well-known Hoffman Arms Co. customers include Elmer Keith, Kermit Roosevelt, Charles Askins, Carl and Mary Akeley, and William Randolph Hearst. Townsend Wheelan. Listed were names of six gunsmiths & sources from whence they camr, among them, John Dubiel from Colt. The above is ‘piecemeal’ from Google, probably fairly accurate, some from records, some from memories & seeming some copying from each other. The following is fact from my memory. Yes, the former Hoffman factory still stands North of Ardmore. Mid 1930s we rode our bicycles & explored where they had done their test firings in a ravine South of the building. John Dubiel still had his gunsmith business there & wasn’t tolerant of kids coming inside. Dubiel family lived on D st. NW about 500 block. Son Joe Dubiel a bit older than I & a sister a grade or two behind me. Joe had a gunsmith business in 1949 on N. Washington just off Main street in Ardmore & later nationally known in the gun business in Denton, TX.” -Bob McCrory
“Dairy delight, Myself and three friends would ride our Cushman Eagles to there and order a peanut butter malt or shake, the attendant would stick a straw and spoon in it and hand it through the window up-side-down to showcase how thick they were. Oh what memories. Thanks Butch.” -Don Greenaway
One kind word can warm three winter months.
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
https://oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Bells of Oklahoma
https://oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
Carter County Courthouse Paver Project
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/pavers
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells: https://oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
Bill Hamm’s Cemetery Database
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/carter/cartercm.htm
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://cartercountyOK.us/
All previous issues of This & That can be found on my Website.
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