PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
Phone: 580-490-6823
The old Swift Meat Company was built around 1922 at Caddo and East Broadway as best I can find out through the Ardmore City Directories. It was similar to the Pennington Building at Caddo and East Main with refrigeration equipment to keep meat and other perishables cold. The building was built by my grandfather Stanley Carmon using the red bricks of that area, probably from the Ada Brick Company. The building has a basement and what’s left of an elevator is still visible inside the structure. I’ve heard talk there is an effort to bring the building back to life. I sure hope so.
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https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/SwiftAndCompany2001b.jpg
The Ada Brick Company started making bricks before statehood (1907) and ceased their brick making at the Ada plant on January 31, 1981. On February 1, 1981 a new owner commenced the operation of the Ada Brick Company, made four “runs” of bricks and then decided to not produce them anymore. The Ada Brick Company still sells bricks, but they are made by nearly a dozen other brick factories around the country. The old Ada Brick Company was located next to the railroad tracks in the far southeast part of Ada at Brick Yard Avenue and Kerr Lab Road. Here’s a map I marked showing the location of this piece of Oklahoma history.
https://oklahomahistory.net/maps/AdaBrickCoMap.jpg
Finally after many many months of procrastinating, I finally stopped this week and bought honey from the guy parked along Highway 70 west of I-35. The honey is Marion’s Honey out of Stratford, Oklahoma. $11 for 24 ounces. Raw, pure, and uncooked the way honey should be, and almost local. And boy is it good honey!
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A few pavers I sandblasted the past week.
https://oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/JoeThompsonPaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/TheWatsonsPaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/BarbaraBeckhamPaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/RuthThompsonPaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/RickThompsonPaver.jpg
Out of TruVision, but more on the way! Just give me a holler if you want to lose weight the TruVision way. “I’ll meet you at the Walmart mailbox!” Join us and check it all out at the link below.
https://oklahomahistory.net/truvision.html
http://butch.truvisionhealth.com/
OGE continues to report each week I am in the “Efficient group”. I have only been placed in this group since I installed my Okie Power Saver. My wife’s sister and her husband in California had some kind of power surges last week, different than usual, and guess what? They had several pieces of electronic equipment ruined. I guess I need to get them one of my Okie Power Savers, as they are also a FULL house surge protector.
Q. What Oklahoma county was named County No. 1 and later renamed for a Civil War general?
A. Logan was designated County No. 1. It later was named for Sen. John Logan, a Civil War general.
Q. In 1968 what Oklahoma State University graduate in electrical engineering is credited with inventing the personal computer?
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of September 7, 2001:
Here is what is reported as the last remnants of the old Brock School. The property owner where it is now located says he’ll be tearing it down soon.
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This is an old photo of Roosevelt, Oklahoma. It’s in Kiowa County south of Hobart.
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“We live just about 2 miles or so north of Hell Roaring creek. Take I-35 south to Oswalt Road and go west. It’s off Oswalt. I can’t remember the name of the road that you turn left on, but the right turn (north) is Marsden Road. If you turn left (south) at the very same intersection just a few hundred yards south you will find Hell Roaring Creek. Oswalt splits the names of the same road, but I can’t remember the name of the south turn.”
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“Butch, Reference the inquiry by a reader in the latest issue of T&T about ?Hell Roaring Creek?. To the best of my knowledge, this refers to ?Hell Creek? which flows north to south across Highway 7 between Duncan and Lawton. In the old days it was said that when the rains came and Hell Creek got up, it roared down the channel to the point where the old highway crossed going west to Lawton. The name of the creek was shortened to just ?Hell Creek?. This creek also figured prominently in the history of the capture of the Marlow Brothers with one of them being killed near ?Hell Roaring Creek? and the others subsequently taken to Texas for trial.” -Towana
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“Dear Butch, Greetings from (not so) sunny California. Re the recent inquiry about the location of Hells Roaring Creek. According to my trusty Street Atlas USA software, Hells Roaring Creek empties into the Washita River, approximately one and a half miles north, north west of Bradley, Oklahoma. Also, highway 19 bisects this river approximately two and a half miles west, north west of Bradley, Oklahoma. The map makers have cleaned the name up a bit. Now it is just plain old Roaring Creek.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/maps/HellsRoaringCreekMap.jpg
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“It’s strange how so many creeks can come up with the same name. I was born and raised on Hell Roaring Creek, but in Pawnee County.”
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“Oklahoma Place Names,” by George Shirk, agrees with this. The full entry for Durwood in the book: Formerly Yellow Hills. In Carter County 7 miles east of Ardmore. Post office name changed to Durwood, September 11, 1891. On April 8, 1913, another post office was established a few miles east Marshall County and designated New Durwood. Its name as changed to Durwood on October 11, 1913; in 1926 the post office was moved to Carter County. The name was intended to be Deerwood, but through error the Post Office Department established the post office under the name Durwood. For Yellow Springs, the entry reads: “In Carter County, 7 miles east of Ardmore. Post office established November 25, 1890, and name changed to Durwood, September 11, 1891.”
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“To the reader of your T & T who was asking about Jake Goode owning the Squeeze Inn in the 1950’s………as a matter of fact, he did. Jake Goode is the person who sold the Squeeze In Cafe to my grandmother, Tressie St.Clair, around 1962 and she sold it back to him in 1972. The place was very small, but the food was very good, and just like home cooking. I know there are many, many people who will never forget eating at the Squeeze In.”
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Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..“The 1966 American Flyers Crash’s 50th anniversary is 7 months away. I was wondering if anyone might be interested in having a 50th Anniversary Memorial Day at the Ardmore Airpark?” -New York
http://www.brightok.net/~wwwafm/afmlist.html
“Small’s Bakery is where Pa Bridges took me and Ed for donuts after my Dad’s funeral, I remember that day vividly as if it were yesterday.” -Ralph Leon Bridges Ford
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https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/PaulBridges1944.jpg
Bluegrass music is back in South Cochran, Georgia on Sept 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20, 2015. If you’re in the area come on out!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/BluegrassFestival2015.jpg
The Wilson Daily Democrat
July 7, 1923
PRISON COLONY FORMED AT CAPITOL
Oklahoma City – The 69 convicts at the work camp at the state capitol grounds here constitute a self-contained community, according to D. M. Ray, deputy warden of the state penitentiary in charge of the camp.
They were especially picked from the inmates of the prison so that every necessity of life for the prisoners could be met from among their own number, the warden said.
They include barbers, cooks, tailors, carpenters, firemen, laborers and clerks.
Warden Ray declared that one of the barbers of the camp is “the best barbers I ever saw.” Many of the male employees at the state capitol have discovered that he is a good one, Ray said, and are asking in increasing numbers for permission to have their barber work done at the camp.
Other capitol employees have found that the meals served the convicts are excellent. One day recently, according to Ray, a party of girl stenographers appeared at the camp for their noon luncheon. They were taken inside the eight foot barbed wire enclosure and the meal was served at a table with white oil cloth, at which the guards set.
The menu included fish balls, corned beef, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, peas, tomatoes, freshly baked bread and rolls, blackberry pie and iced tea and coffee.
The warden declared it the same menu served to the convicts. The room in which it was served was boarded off in one corner of the general mess hall. The prisoners are served at four long tables built of rough boards with planed tops. The seats are benches attached to the sides of the tables.
Eleven of the prisoners are regularly on detail as “kitchen police” and hold the assignment continuously unless discipline becomes necessary, according to Ray. One of the detail recently had a quarrel with one of the cooks over peeling potatoes, Ray said, and was put to work shoveling dirt out on the capitol grounds.
Used to the soft indoor life of the kitchen, heavy work in the hot sun incapacitated him in the afternoon and the warden placed him back in the indoor work when he promised he would make no more trouble.The prisoners sleep in screened tents which have board floors.
All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all
-Billy Ray Cyrus, 1992
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Follow me on the TruVision lose weight program
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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 Government Website
http://cartercountyOK.us/
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