PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected], Phone: 580-490-6823
I hope everyone’s 2018 is starting out on a good note, even though this area has experiencing some near record cold temperatures the past few days. I did not actually make any new year resolutions, but if I were to make a resolution, I would like for it to be this: Improve mental well-being, think positive, laugh more often, enjoy life. So let’s all strive to be better human beings during our short stay on this earth.The following was submitted by Ardmoreite Rick Wallace:
CONFEDERATE HOME
PHYSICIAN’S REPORT
Ardmore, Oklahoma December 31, 1918
To the Honorable Board of Trustees
for the Confederate Home of Oklahoma
Gentlemen:
In submitting herein my second biennial report (for 1917 and 1918) covering conditions from my view point as Medical Advisor for the Home, I refer with some degree of pride and gratification to the fact there have died not more than six inmates from acute diseases during this period. These six have all died of pneumonia as a sequel to la grippe. All other deaths (twenty seven in number) have resulted from infirmities incident to age. Thirteen of the deaths in the Home occurred in 1917 and twenty during 1918.
The general health of the inmates has been exceptionally good during the entire period covered by this report. There have been no cases of Influenza in the Home during the terrible epidemic which has prevailed so extensively since last September. Shortly after this fearful disease began to rage throughout the country , taking its ghastly toll of life, I placed a quarantine over the Home, hope to save its inmates from its ravages, fearing it would almost depopulate the institution in case it ever got started there and prevailed to the extent it had been doing elsewhere. After the first wave of this pandemic had passed over I found that for some reason, as yet unexplained, old people where in a large measure immune to this disease. I then lifted the quarantine and allowed the inmates their usual liberty. I have not been able to identify a single case of the “flu” so far in this institution, and as the second wave is passing, I trust we will be spared from this menace to the health in the Home.
Very respectfully,
J. C. McNees (1862-1938)
Physician In Charge
Hardy & McNees (W Hardy J C McNees) physicians 139-1/2 East Main, Ardmore, Oklahoma (1902)
November 1933
Investigation into the origin of the trouble between Rev. C. O. Bigbie, 20 year old Baptist preacher, and C. L Tidwell, 55, Justice of the Peace at Ringling, which was climaxed by the shooting of Tidwell, is moving slowly. Tidwell is in the hospital and is making rapid progress. Bixby is well-known in Carter County and formerly lived and preached in Lone Grove. No charges have been filed. Bixby is being held in the county jail in Waurika.
November 1957
Theo Knight is the only one of the J. Y Hitt’s family who is still left at the old stomping ground near Woodford and Milo. His wife is a daughter of the Hitts and she and Theo operate a store just west of Milo.
November 1957
The Woodford School building along with its teacherage, both handsome and wealthy preserved rock structures are practically useless now since the school was combined with either the Springer or Graham schools. Here is hoping that some use can be figured out for these buildings. Irvin Akers thinks the Woodford school is the oldest in the county, even predates Lone Grove.
A paver I sandblasted the other day.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/ArgusDog.jpg
You can find current gas prices for a particular Oklahoma town by entering the name or zip code in the GasBuddy search box.
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/Q. What city is the crape myrtle capital of Oklahoma?
A. Duncan, Oklahoma
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/39537
Q. Where in Oklahoma is the Skydance Bridge?
A. Answer in next week’s newsletterBelow is from This and That newsletter archives of January 5, 2006
I was going through some old photos in a box in my garage this week and found an interesting poster on a kinfolk of mine by marriage. My great grandmother, Ida Murphree Miller, was married to an H.C. Miller for a short time back in the early 1900s. H. C. Miller had a son by a previous marriage named W.H. Miller. This W.H. Miller was a candidate for the New York City Typographical Union No. 6 (typesetters) which held a convention in Houston, Texas in 1930. The poster announcing his candidacy made interesting reading when I stumbled across it this week. Here is a scan of W.H. Miller’s announcement. The poster was legal size, so I had to scan it in two parts. -butch bridges
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/WHMillerPoster1930a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/WHMillerPoster1930b.jpg
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1963 Ardmore Physicians, MDJohn R. Adair
Chaude H B Brown
Hoyle J Carlock
Frank W. Clark
C.D. Cunningham
Paul W. Dickinson
J.M. Gordon
Ray B. Graybill
W.A. Heflin
Author A. Hellbaum
Malcolm Horne
Lawrence E.C. Joers
Thornton Kell
Loyd L. Long, Jr.
Clifford Lorentzen
Don Mannerberg
Ethel M. Walker
W.R. Mote
J.N. Moxley
R.W. Murphy
John R. Pollock
Roger Reid
Tom Sparks
Hobson J. Veazey
Lyman C. Veazey
Kenneth L. Wright – “Anesthesiologist full time from mid 1950’s to 1965 half time to 1967 when he moved full time to Denton, TX in 1965 to 1967 he covered Ardmore, Gainesville and Denton. Initially lived at 212 4th SW then moved to a house his father built on property he purchased from “hamburger” Brown at 1902 Cloverleaf Lane that the city later changed to 2002 Cloverleaf Lane. The address sign I made in Mr. Dunn’s shop class in Junior High I believe 1963 before we heard in band class JFK had been shot. Hamburger Inn Mr. Brown also raised hunting dogs and trained them. Owned a large tract of land questionably his farm that an entire neighborhood was made from. Millers Pond was just down the block from us. 212 4th SW had a chicken coop that had a feed storage area that opened on either side of the coop great for hide and seek. At 216 4th SW lived 2 sisters that wrote children’s books had a goldfish pond in their backyard and a great climbing tree. Unfortunately one became senile before we moved. The 212 house had a candlestick phone with phonebox when we moved in. It was replaced with a 1930’s style deco phone, mind you this was the mid 1950’s and we only had basic phone service.” -Michael Wright
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/KennethL_WrightJr_MD.jpg1963 Ardmore Physicians, DO
G.W. Beckett
A.H Cockerell
H.W. Kenaga
Newton McBride
Helen L. Montano
Robert Patzkowsky
H.E. Williams
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A friend, who will remain nameless to protect his professional reputation, and I was talking about how to make a door bell out of some discarded parts. We threw out this and that idea, but one idea did stuck. Making a door bell out of an old smoke alarm. So after our conversation, my friend put together what I call the “Okie Buzzer”.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/OkieBuzzer.jpg
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“When researching some more of my folks I came across one of the Law officers memorials about a cousins husband. Louis Hervill who was killed along with a constable W. Arthur Hood in Addington, Oklahoma 28 Jan. 1928. The 1920 census list Louis with wife Laura two children and his father in law Jim Blalock my great uncle. I not being that familiar with the area didn’t find a News Paper with any stories of the shooting or where there was a trial. Do you know what papers I should try. I have a photo of Louis and wife on their wedding day,but it is on a tape and converted to DVD and I have never taken a photo from a DVD to print. I would be glad to furnish that portion of the DVD to the Historical folks if they wish. I would also like to make contact with who ever gave the information to the Historical Society about him.” -Taylor F Crowe
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“Here is a picture of Smith’ Grocery and Station located just outside the Air Base gate at Gene Autry. Robert and Gussie Smith ran the station and store. Gussie sold the little punch board, remember you paid money and punched out little prizes.” -Doug Williams
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/SmithsGrocery.jpg
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“I remember Paoli, Oklahoma well. Back in 1965 this was the old route (Highway 77) we used to come back home when we lived in Woodward. At that time there was one stop light in town.”
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“Hi, my name is Bonnita Sue Mendonce (Bunny). I am Deputy Sheriff Bill Guess great granddaughter. My Mother was his granddaughter and her Mother Juanita was his daughter. I have lots of stories about him and we still have his gun and badge. We also have all the documents concerning the shooting of the president of Mexico’s nephew. There are only a few of the family left and we are concerned that the stories are accurate and true. If you or anyone has information or questions please contact me. We are interested in any and all information concerning him. I look foreword to exchanging information. Thank You.” -Bunny [email protected]
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“Hello Mr. Bridges, I am writing to inquire of your knowledge of history. I live in Omaha NE and am working on a house built in 1933. In the house I found a old item of interest and I am tying to find out if it is worth something either as an antique or to someone who knows about it. The item is a brick about four inches tall and six inches wide and two inches deep. It has a picture of a warehouse building in fine detail with the name Carter Transfer and Storage on it. The only reference I can find on the web is in your This and That articles listed in 1919 as a business with the address “301 East Main”, along with many references to Carter county in other letters. This item is a neat historical piece which was perhaps an award or an anniversary item – its well preserved, but I know little about it. I would like to figure what it is and if it is worth anything. Perhaps you can help with any info, enclosed is pics of it.” -Nebraska
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/CarterTransferBrick.jpg
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————————————————————————Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
“Does anyone out there know anything about Cobb Town, a town in the ne carter county, se Murray county and northwest Johnson county area, around the turn of the century? It was between two mountains on the road from Dickson to Sulphur before the new highway cut through the mountains in the 50s? thanks.” -Bobby
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There were some spectacular cars around Ardmore – but not for kids. Here are some I fondly remember and lusted after —Cadillac 1931 16 cylinder seven passenger sedan with 25000 miles on it traded in on a 1940 Oldsmobile. Paid $7500 new, owner had used it for summer trips with his large family. Sold for $300 to a man for his son couple years older than us who soon lost his life flying a light plane.
Marmon 1930 16 cylinder coupe, much used, trade-in. Olds – Cadillac dealer was King Motors on Broadway across from the then Post Office.
Lincoln 1930 Victoria Coupe, beautiful condition, owned by prominent Ardmore man, became a delivery car for local butcher. It was seen often with a huge insulated box mounted on the back.
Auburn 1934 12 cylinder Victoria Coupe, had 12000 miles on it, owned by a lady, chauffer driven, serviced at my Dad’s station, then SE corner B street and Broadway. Fantastic green, chromed wire wheels, with every conceivable luxury of the day, 2nd gear shift lever for two speed rear. I once had the opportunity of backing it off the rack after an oil change.
Pierce Arrow 1928 Victoria Coupe, owned by friend’s dad who bought it after years of storage, like new, very low mileage. I drove it quite a bit. I recall how wonderful a car it was to drive and how some things about cars have not improved much over time.
Pierce Arrow 1914 seven passenger touring car was stored in a garage on a street I walked by often to and from high school. It had 7000 miles on it, right front wheel jacked up, sat there for years. Steering wheel on the right with hand levers outside. No front doors, one entered rear door and walked between front seats to drive it. I heard it went in scrap drive for WW2. All the above had aluminum bodies and probably suffered the same fate.
Mercer 1914 Racers – two of them, beautiful condition, were stored in a garage on Hinkle street, few doors West of A street. I went in and looked at them several times over the years and were there till around 1949. In mid ’50s I told a man in NY about them and he came to Ardmore to try find them but they had disappeared.
A high school teacher had a pristine Model T, another had a 1927 Whippet, a neighbor had a real nice 1925 Star pickup he drove every day as a carpenter. The city of Ardmore had two 1914 Seagrave fire trucks up to around 1941, replaced by new Seagraves.
My Father refused a 1934 Packard coupe, biggest straight 8 engine, because it needed brakes, muffler was blown out and it was such a gas eater. Customer of his offered it for $85. It was fun to drive. -Robert McCrory
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I was reading the article about the old cars and saw where they were talking about old washing machines in rural area (if a person could afford one). Here is a picture that I took at an appliance store years ago. It is a gas powered Maytag machine. -Cecil
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18a/GasPoweredWashingMachine.jpg
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This bottling works was in Hugo, I.T. in 1906 . You can see Hugo, I. T. on the sides of the crates. The machine in the center was used in placing soda and carbonated gas (from the metal containers on the left) into the Hutchinson soda bottles. The only person identified in the photo is Jimmie Means (in the center). Jimmie purchased the Hugo Bottling Works from Jesse Rodgers around 1911. -Robert Hensley
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18a/HugoITbottlingworks.jpg
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———————————————–An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. -Bill Vaughan (1915–1977)
Butch and Jill Bridges
“Friends Make Life Worth Living”PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
https://oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
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