PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected], Phone: 580-490-6823
A Glimpse Into The Past
Looking Back In Time – Healdton, Oklahoma
Could this have ever been Healdton? Here is the way this now modern city of fine homes, schools and churches is remembered by some folks who knew her way back when . . .
Mrs. Jeff Fuller beat the railroad to the new town site, then “just a cow posture” with one over worked little jitney shuttling back and forth from Ardmore. Her family lived in a tent for about nine months, but it was a “nice tent” with two rooms, window screens and a real floor. In 1917, the year after they arrived, they took in boarders to help ease the terrible housing shortage. The town was pretty wild then, and one of the first non-oil businessmen to arrive was an undertaker.
B. R. Beall come in 1918 and lived in the feed storage building of the wagon yard. There was one silent movie house and no churches. Mr. Beall is now manager of the A&P Grocery on Main Street.
Bank President A. L. Jennings says that in the early days there were lots of fires, but no regular alarm system or fire department. So when a fire broke out the men would all fire their guns in the air as a warning and call for help. Probably what was the first piece of fire fighting equipment to be purchased was a two-wheel hose cart and 200 feet of hose.
Mary Evelyn Frost, an outstanding figure in the field of education, has taught for 40 years, two in New Mexico and the rest in Oklahoma.
She received her A. B. degree from Southeastern State College and her M.A. from the University of Oklahoma. Her master’s thesis, ” A History of Carter County,” was among the materials used in research for this book.
Her school experience includes three years in outlying oil field schools of the Healdton system, five years as teacher and grade principal at Dundee, 27 years as principal of Sunset Elementary at Healdton and three years as coordinator and supervisor of the Healdton schools.
She is a charter member of the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Healdton, a member of the National Education Association, Oklahoma Education Association, Oil Field Classroom Teachers and Delta Kappa Gamma. She has been a member of the First Baptist Church of Healdton for 31 years.
-from Carter County History book 1957
Robert Hensley sent in a piece of Ardmore history this week. Its a photo of the Cashway Lumber Company and Hudson-Houston Lumber Company nail aprons.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20a/CashwayAndHudsonHoustonAprons.jpg
Dixon Boot and Shoe Manufacturing – Ardmore
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20a/DixonBootManufacturingArdmore1918.jpg
March 1927
Clyde Lampkin, 32, an employee at the Magnolia camp near Graham was seriously hurt when some casing fell on him. Hope, however, is held out for his recovery.
March 1927
Tonsillitis caused the death of Minnie Alice Jones, 4, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Jones, at their home near Pooleville. The funeral was conducted Saturday afternoon by Reverend Smith.
March 1927
Fighting a gun battle early today with two bandits who staged a raid on Ringling, officers were foiled in their efforts to capture the bandits when a bullet struck a tire on the vehicle they were driving and the robbers made a getaway. Bullets were flying as the officers attempted a stop. Following a flat tire officers got another car off of Ambrose Ward, but stop their pursuit and the eastside of Lone Grove.
March 1927
Three oilfield workers were painfully burned in a gas explosion and fire at County Line. Injured included B. B. Davis and Lester Rozzell both of Graham. It is believed that a spark from a short-circuited electric wire on the derrick set off gas from the well.
The Oklahoma Land Run was originally supposed to be a raffle. Maybe the most famous, iconic moment in Oklahoma’s history nearly never happened. The original idea for the land run was to have all interested land runners fill out a form with their desired section of land. If their name was called, the land was theirs.
The nickname for Oklahoma is older than the state itself. At noon on April 22, 1889, eager settlers rushed into the Oklahoma Territory to claim 160 acres of unassigned land under the Homestead Act. While the rule was that everyone was supposed to begin their stake for acreage at exactly the same time, land surveyors, deputy marshals and others who were able to enter the land early did so in order to select prime real estate. The people who went too soon were called the Sooners.
I tried out my new General EZ Dovetail Pro jig for the first time last Saturday. That is the jig sitting on my Router table which I bought several years ago. For this first time I opted for making the simple Box joint. Turned out great, super strong and tight corners. I felt like I was re-living my first 21 years in my grandpa Stanley Carmon’s lumber yard on 3rd NE. Kinda felt like I was carrying on a tradition including my great-great grandfather Alexander Carmon’s vocation (born 1801). He was the architect and builder of Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. Every 10 years for the nearly 200 years they have a Carmon reunion at the college in Alexander Carmon”s honor. Some of his buildings at the college he built are still being used today. He served as treasurer on the board too. This would have been back in the early 1800s. The picture below is before gluing the corners up. I love working with wood. I’m ready for some more wood projects now.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20a/FirstBoxTails.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20a/RouterAndDiveTailsJig.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20a/GeneralEZdovetailerJig052820.jpg
This is a photo of the Ardmore baseball team at Lorena Park at Dornick Hills north of Ardmore.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20a/BaseballTeamLorenaPark.jpg
Q. What governor added the Oklahoma State Crime Bureau to the state agencies?
A. Marvin Trapp
Q. What town in Oklahoma was the first to receive electricity?
A. Answer in next week’s newsletter
Below is from This and That newsletter archives of June 5, 2008
Walmart greeters, move over. For over 10 years there has been an unofficial greeter at the Ardmore post office almost every morning between about 7am to a little after 8am, Monday through Friday. He’s always got a hello or good morning to everyone who comes into the building to get their mail, as he waits to pickup the mail for Noble Foundation. He seems to know nearly everybody who walks in, or will before they leave if they stop and talk. And Chan has a mind as sharp as a tack when it comes to recalling things around Ardmore the past 30 years, things I had already forgot it has been so long since I been there, or done that, or bought there, and he reminds me. He is really quite a history buff in his own right when it comes to the 1960s forward. When I got to thinking about this unofficial greeter the other day, I decided to snap a picture of him in front of the post office. That’s Ardmoreite Chris Ridley in the picture with him. Meet Chan Brewster….
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ChanAndChris060308.jpg
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Speaking of times of long ago, I clipped this article from The Daily Ardmoreite sometime in the late 1960s about a lady named Florence Sonntag who lived in Woodward, Oklahoma in far NW part of the state who could witch for water (not Woodford, OK). I know my great grandmother Ida Murphree Miller witched for water using a willow tree just like Mrs Sonntag, but Ida was born on October 2, 1874, not October 8th or 10th as a requirement told by Mrs Sonntag.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/SonntagWaterWitcher.jpg
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The first part of the week a Reader mentioned to me that another building in downtown Ardmore was coming down. The drive-in bank across the street catty cornered from the First Baptist Church. The only thing left on the entire block now is the old Gene and Frances McFall homeplace (315 Stanley SW – now owned by the First Baptist Church). Frances’ maiden name was Owens, daughter of the famous B.L. Owens Furniture store on East Main years ago. Here’s a pic I snapped of the bank drive-in about to be demolished.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/BankDriveInDemo053008.jpg
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Jill and I were over at Wilson, Oklahoma last weekend, trying a hamburger mentioned to us a couple weeks ago. For years this place was known as Dusty’s and was located just south of Highway 70 at the west entrance to Wilson. Marlin Isaacs and Tommi Sue Idleman own the convenience store today and put out a really good hamburger. It had a big thick piece of meat, crisp lettuce and pickles, and onion. I guess the only thing I can say I wished, is the buns were browned a little more. I could hardly tell the buns touched the grill. Outside that, this burger was a good’un!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WilsonBurgerStore.jpgHere’s a pic of the Wilson, Oklahoma burger……
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WilsonBurger.jpg
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————————————————————————-Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
Butch, my sister showed me a thread where you guys were talking about Roy Johnson’s old mansion. I guess Otey lived there a while too, but to me it was Roy’s. Thought this recollection might interest you:
Just dad and I went out there when I was quite little, and Roy Johnson was still alive and lived there. I remember even as a kid being in awe of the whole place. They had butlers dressed in white coats and gloves, and maids, answering the door and escorting us in. It was like an old movie like Gone With the Wind, or something. The opulence was grand, with huge masterpiece painting hanging on the walls everywhere. Elegant furniture and furnishings. Huge, heavy draperies.
We were led to stuffed chairs overlooking the back patio and the the manicured grounds behind the home. A butler came with a silver platter and offered us lemonade or some drink I don’t remember. I can’t remember why we were there or how long we stayed, but I was paralyzed in awe. My dad was friends with Roy and I maybe was 6 or 7 then.
He also had a true to proportion miniature train and track that ran the whole way around the property, and he would take a bunch of us kids riding on it. And like Linda said, he several times before he died, had a bunch of us kids come out for Saturday night socials, an besides riding on the train, he had a huge telescope, and he’d have us take turns looking through it at stars. -Skip
2010 – Wirt Franklin lived in the house after the Galts. This piece of Ardmore history is gone now… victim of the wrecking ball.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/GaltHomePlace.jpg
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The Daily Ardmoreite
11-19-1972
ALMOST 100 LOCAL EXTRAS USED
Almost one hundred local extras were used in the local filming of “Dillinger” according to the records kept by Lil Williams, local extras’ director.
Among the ninety-seven names on the books, fifteen had speaking parts and three, Larry Davis, Eddie Cook and Jan Cone, were used as stand-ins.
Local extras included James Clark, Bill Coburn, Lester Priest, Bob McQueen, Merle Salthouse, Wayne Warthen, Bill Wofford, Ronnie Roberts, Jim Williams, Charles Gilmore, Larry Smith, Harry Brown, George Capehart, Gary Worthen, Charles Forehand, Terry Dickson, Dennie McPherson, Allen Jones, Thurman, Thomason, Jodie Williams, Aaron Varon, Gus Hendrix, Mac Lambert, Jerrell Cathey and Hank Earhart,
Also, Bill Prosser, Dale Groseth, Jay Newman, Kenny Pence, Carol Brown, Mike Bieger, Mary Ve Watson, Ann Kerr, Phyllis Dyer, Lynda Groseth, Melody Cone, Amelia Watson, Laura Hill, Julie Hill, Renee Judd, Tom Watson, Glen Watson, Mark Dickinson, Wes Hartman, Rome Ingle, Walter Neustadt, Bill Ware, John Peterson, Ben Roberts, Mike Jobe, Keith Johnson, Philip Douglas, David Vernon, Kenneth Fitzgerald and Steven Bruce.
Also, Ed Lee, Randy Cumbie, Joe Stephenson, Gary Patton, Charles Snodgrass, Gary McKee, Mike McGowan, Walter Jones, Jesse Cavins Jr., Shadrach O’Bright, Jess Meeks, Lynda Kay Thomas, Buck Massey, John Bacon, Rodney Ross, Mary Bacon, George O Heath, Wayne Lawler, Karen Lawler, Larry Jones, Ann Riddle, Dianne Davidson, Clint Ross, James Hudson, Craig Harris, John Williams, Jan Ringwald, Frances Ponder, Laurie Stromberg, J. B. Clements, Ruth Clements and Patrice Ryan, Rotary Exchange Student.
From Lone Grove, Margaret Van Buskirk and Oliver Ashley; Bill Perry, Ada; John Cox, Madill; John Russell and Dean Russell, Tishomingo; and Charles Warthen, Durant.
From business men to the children all are anxiously awaiting the premier showing of “Dillinger” expected to be released early this spring.Museum Memories
Compiled by Melinda Taylor
The Wilson News
4-13-1917
MUCH ACTIVITY IN BUILDING OPERATIONS
W. W. Woodworth of Ringling has let the contract for the erection of a two-story brick building, 25×140 feet. The lower floor will be used for a picture show and opera house and the second floor for a modern flat. Mr. Woodworth says he will spare no expense in making this building one of the most modern picture houses west of Ardmore.
Postmaster, Roy M. Mobley, has just completed one of the best brick and concrete storm houses in the city. The postmaster says he is not afraid of storms himself, but his wife and children are.
R. S. Irby of Sherman, Texas has purchased the Jim White lot next to the post office and will erect a modern brick building at once.
Tom Roberts of Ardmore has purchased the lot next to Jim White and will erect a modern brick building which will be an up-to-date six-chair barber shop.
C. P. Hall of Ardmore has purchased the lot adjoining his on West Main Street and will erect a 54-foot brick at once.
B. F. Coe has sold to W. F. Gilliam lots 14 and 15, block 4 in the Ward Addition. Mr. Gilliam will build a modern home on these lots.
Postmaster Roy M. Mobley hopes to have the post office in the new quarters by May 1. He has purchased a new and up-to-date set of steel fixtures, costing $1,000 which includes 350 lock boxes. The people of New Wilson certainly appreciate the interest the postmaster has taken in the office.
Visit us online at www.wilsonhistoricalmuseum.org
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———————————————–It is better to be a young June bug than an old bird of paradise. -Mark Twain
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
“Friends Make Life Worth Living”PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
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