PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected], Phone: 580-490-6823
Watson Grocery and feed store
Lee Watson, formerly of the state of California, is now proprietor of the first store to be built in a little town that is being built midway between Indianola Business College and Chickasaw Collegiate Institute, about 1/2 Mile northeast from the main business part of Ardmore. He has a full stock of groceries and feed, and promptly delivers all orders to any part of the city. He has been here five years and has surrounded himself with a host of friends in a prosperous business. He has manifested good judgment in being the first to select this suburban spot as a business site. Located, as it is, on the road that leads to town from the richest and most populous country tributary to Ardmore, a vast number of customers seen every day at Mr. Watson’s place of business. And besides his trade, his complete stock enables him to compete for the city trade, and of this he gets his share.
-Indian Territory and Carter County Pioneers book 1982
Ardmore, OK Train Wreck, May 1902
PLUNGES THROUGH TRESTLE
Disastrous Railroad Wreck in the Indian Territory
ARDMORE, I. T., May 20 – A construction train on the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf railway plunged through a high trestle twelve miles east of Ardmore this morning. Four men were killed and twenty-one injured, seven of the latter fatally.
Among those believed to be fatally hurt is A. M. OLIPHANT, a prominent attorney of Tishomingo, who was riding home on the work train. The other dead and injured are all members of the construction gang or train crew.
All are white. The dead:
CHARLES A. BLACK.
JAMES DOLAN.
J. R. GAINES.
JIM HOFEGOOD.
Fatally injured:
A. M. OLIPHANT.
JAMES WEAR.
ED CLARK.
HOPE JOY.
A. D. FURNEY.
WILLIAM SHIPP.
Unknown Man.
Seven were seriously and the remainder slightly injured.
The railroad officials are unable to assign a reason for the wreck. The train was running at the rate of eight miles an hour when the forward car jumped the track, followed by the rear of the train, a dozen cars pilling up in a heap thirty feet below.
The dead and injured were brought to this city. The injured were placed in the hospital where they were given every attention.
Ardmore, OK Refinery Explosion, Feb 1952
TWO KILLED IN EXPLOSION AT REFINERY
Ardmore, Okla. – (AP) – Two men were killed and another was critically injured in an explosion and fire which blackened the heart of the Ben Franklin Company Refinery northeast of here today.
The dead were identified as JAMES R. SONS, 20, and FOUNT DUSTON, 48, both refinery employees. In critical condition is J. A. BRADSHAW, 38. All three are from Ardmore.
Officials said the fire apparently started in the chemical area of the plant and became intense enough to cause the explosion. Workers said SONS rushed into the chemical area and was hurled through a wall by the explosion. BRADSHAW was blown 35 feet, witnesses said.
Homes over a three-mile area were shaken by the blast, which occurred at 8:10 a.m. Company and Ardmore firemen battled two hours before bringing the fire under control.
The refinery, located a mile northeast of Ardmore, is owned by the Bell Oil and Gas Company, Tulsa. It has a capacity of 7,500 barrels of crude oil a day and a gasoline cracking plant capacity of 4,500 barrels.
June 1935
New County Physicians were appointed by the Department of Health, including Dr R.M. Parish, Carter County.
June 1984
Kerney’s Car Wash at the corner of Newport and Highway 70 is under construction and scheduled for opening around the middle of July.
June 1984
The quality of Lone Grove water came under attack during the Water and Sewer Trust Authority meeting. Sherry Tynes, a member of the Lone Grove Board of Trustees, said her water was terrible, had bad odors, and was brownish red in color, and stained everything.
June 1984
Steve William Griffith, 36, has been charged with murder in the death of Everett Hall, 63, who’s badly decomposed body was found in an abandoned house in rural Lone Grove March 11th. Griffith is now on trial in Carter County before Special Judge D. Michael Hisey. Authorities say Griffith shot Hall six times, and all six bullets were marked with an X. Mrs. Griffith said she saw her husband cut marks into the ends of bullets.
John Denver’s given name was Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. Through the lyrics to his songs, his book titled Take Me Home: An Autobiography, along with the genealogical research his family members have done, the Germans From Russia Museum and Library in Lincoln and online have a fair amount of information on Henry John Deutschendorf’s history and family. The country roads of John Denver’s life don’t lead home to West Virginia, Colorado, or the mountains – rather to a small farming community in west-central Oklahoma called Corn (formerly spelled “Korn”).
Q. What street sign was invented in Oklahoma and used in every state?
A. The triangular YIELD sign was invented by Clinton Riggs in 1950. Riggs was from Tulsa and served in the Tulsa Police Department before he joined the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. One of the early designs is on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
Q. Where in Oklahoma is the Teepee Church?
A. Answer in next week’s newsletter
Every few months our whites were ruined by dirty SOWC water (had to throw them away $$$$). I put this filter on the cold water inlet to the washer a couple years ago, have never had ruined whites since. I change the filter ($5) every couple months, and boy is it brown dirt color dirty, I mean slimy dirty.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos19b/ClothesWasherFilter.jpg
Some grave stones I made the past week.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/TommyRainsMarker.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/BishopGraniteMemorial.jpg
Below is from This and That newsletter archives of August 2, 2007
Ken Bacon sent in an interesting photo this week. Its the Aunt Sam’s Hamburgers in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. What makes this place interesting is its stuck away under an old car wash stall. I gave a call to the number in the photo below, and sure enough, Aunt Sam answered. She said an old fashion burger was $2.25 each. Guess when I’m in the Pawhuska area, I must try her hamburger. Ken Bacon said Aunt Sam may have some of the best burgers in the state!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/PawhuskaBurgerJoint7d.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/PawhuskaBurgerJoint7c.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/PawhuskaBurgerJoint7b.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/PawhuskaBurgerJoint7a.jpg
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Doug and Sheryl Williams took an interesting photo this week of a huge hand statue just south of Stratford, Oklahoma. Interesting to say the least. Makes you wonder what was going through this guys mind when he welded this piece of artwork together.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/StratfordHand7a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/StratfordHand7b.jpg
A T&T Reader sent in a current map of Love County showing all the roads. Its was so big, I had to scan the map in 2 sections.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/LoveCountyMapWest.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/LoveCountyMapEast.jpg
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Doug and Sheryl Williams took an interesting photo this week of a huge hand statue just south of Stratford, Oklahoma. Interesting to say the least. Makes you wonder what was going through this guys mind when he welded this piece of artwork together.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/StratfordHand7a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/StratfordHand7b.jpg
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Speaking of Love County, I guess a lot of you heard about the big arrest at Thackerville regarding a horse race track. I remember back around 1980 and even before, there was a push for a pari-mutuel betting race track for Ardmore. The promoters hoped the race track would be built here. Then it was changed from Ardmore to Thackerville when the promoters saw it would never happen in this county. In the end, a track finally ended up at Oklahoma City. The article below is where I talked about that proposed racetrack at Thackerville back in 1999.From the June 5, 1999 T&T archive: I remember around 1970 Ardmoreite Jerry Putman proposed building a racetrack just west of I-35 and Highway 142 on the south side of the highway. Putman’s racetrack idea never left the starting gate. Here’s a pic of the race track model that was on display at Mt View Mall here when promoters were pushing for it.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/ArdmoreRaceway.jpgI looked at Google Earth, and the racetrack raided by authorities last Sunday shows clearly in the aerial due east of WinStar Casino (it’s a straight track not a circle track). Google Earth is one of the most amazing pieces of technology I’ve ever seen come across the internet.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/ThackervilleRaceTrackAerial.jpg
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————————————————————————-Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
I have a question concerning the location of a place northeast of Ardmore. I have never heard of it before. In reading an old obituary (1924), there was a reference to the funeral taking place at the J. P Berry store on the “old Benjamin road”. I know the location of the James Price Berry store but I have never heard its location called the “old Benjamin road”. Anyone know about old Benjamin road?
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Butch, the original Rock & Roller Wanda Jackson was from Maud, Oklahoma.
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Hello Butch, Vince again. My family has been in the Ragtown, Wirt, McMann, Dundee area from 19teens. Mother wrote the History of Dundee. The school DUNDEE was named after the founders hometown, Dundee Scotland. -Vince Freeman
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———————————————–“Wicked chickens lay deviled eggs” -author unknown
See everyone next week!
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