PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net, Phone: 580-490-6823
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
Robert Hensley sent in a photo of a piece of Ardmore history this week. Located in the 200 block of 1st Street SE since the early 1920s was the Tyler and Simpson company. Tyler and Simpson was a grocery distributor selling wholesale to Ardmore area grocery stores.
The photos Robert sent in is of a cigar box opener. I had never heard of such an thing. When you look at the picture below it looks like a little axe. Robert said it was about 5 inches long.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/Tyler&SimpsonCigarBoxCutter.jpg
Below is that old Ardmore phone book Robert found Tyler and Simpson company listed.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/ArdmorePhoneBook1950a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/ArdmorePhoneBook1950b.jpg
Below is an interesting photo sent in by Robert Hensley. Its Hardy Murphy and his trick horse Silver Cloud.
On back of postcard: Hardy Murphy of Ardmore, Oklahoma and his trained horse “Silver Cloud” are presenting a special attraction at Tex Austin’s World Class Championship Rodeo at the White City Stadium in England. June 9th to July 6th. “Silver Cloud” is claimed to be the world’s greatest educated horse.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/HardyMurphy&SilverCloud.jpg
Another beautiful old photo sent in this week by Robert Hensley. The gas station on Highway 77 at Turner Falls.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/LookoutPointGasStationTurnerFalls.jpg
This is a R C Cola wooden bottle with chain that Robert send it.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/RCColaWoodenBottleArdmoreOk.jpg
And this is a page out of the booklet given to new mothers after delivery by Tom Cooper Diary of Ardmore.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/TomCooperDairyNewBornBabyBookCirca1960.jpg
September 1926
George Anderson, for whom the local post of the American Legion was named, was the first Ardmore boy to give up his life for his country on the battlefields of France during World War I. He had been recommended for a captainship but at the time of his death had not received his commission.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26567913/george-reeves-anderson
The George Anderson Hut was located at #31 Burton Street SE in Ardmore.
The Warren Memorial Methodist Church was located at #40 Burton SE.
We passed another milestone yesterday, over $415,675.69 of unclaimed property connected to people in this area. The unclaimed property (insurance, not real estate) being held in escrow at the Oklahoma State Treasurers Office in Oklahoma City. So far the dozens of connections with people has been in the $2,000 to $5,000 range but one was insurance money in the amount of $24,000. Its been rewarding to help people when we are living in financially hard times because of the pandemic. I don’t get any money for my service, but the reward of helping others makes it all worth while.
So with the above being said, how long has it been since you check your name or a family member’s name? Its easy to do a search at the Oklahoma State Treasurer link below. I think every state in the union has a unclaimed property website through the state treasures website.
https://www.ok.gov/treasurer/
Q. Where in Oklahoma is a crater 8 miles wide?
A. Ames, Oklahoma, a meteor 1,000 feet in diameter hit the area thousands of years ago. The meteor created a crater over 8 miles wide, but it is not visible today because over 9,000 ft. of sediment covers up the hole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK2E-ss6VuU
Q. What Oklahoma outlaw was once one of Quantrill’s Raiders?
A. Answer in next week’s newsletter
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
This is a Tyler & Simpson cigar box opener. -Robert Hensley
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/Tyler&SimpsonCigarBoxCutter.jpg
—————————————————–
The question of the similarities of the towns in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma is because when the railroad was being built in Oklahoma, many of the workers were from Penn. and named the water stops for their home state’s towns. -R. Helms
—————————————————–
My Dad was a Ferguson (NOT MASSEY FERGUSON -FERGUSON WAS FIRST THEN MASSEY FERGUSON) Tractor salesman. He absolutely loved those little tractors. He had previously sold John Deere, Farmalls, and others; but that little tractor was his favorite of all. He took me to work with him sometimes in the summertime and he always took me there to eat. When we moved from Mannsville to Ardmore and I went to Ardmore Junior High I got to go to The Hamburger Inn every day. Yum! Yum! Seriously doubt it is still there in 2020!!! -Loretta Koons
Thanks for the Dundee School article. Dundee High School’s last graduating class was 1964. Johnny Delano was in that class. I graduated from Dundee in 1961. Both sides of my family, Freeman and Kimberlin, had several students attend from the beginning of Dundee until 1961. The elementary school kept going about 5 years after the High School. Healdton, once a major rival of Dundee, took in the Dundee School kids. Dundee had excellent teachers and students right to the end. The district really did not have a town, it was mainly oil company camps plus Wirt. When oil companies pulled out, Dundee School was doomed. -Vince
—————————————————–
Mr. Bridges, that Boarding house that you mention in your editorial next to the High School was where some baseball players live there during the baseball season and was Mrs Garrett who own the house or manager the house, she was a very nice lady, and I was in there too. we used to talk to the boys and girls between the windows I am talking about 1950 those years were the best years of my life, I don’t know now but then the people of Ardmore Okla. were so nice and so American that I loved them, everybody on this beautiful town were incredible good to us. That is the reason that after 70 years I never forget ARDMORE MY TOWN. -Ernesto in New Jersey
—————————————————–
The “Blue Star” I have on the top shelf of my computer table here at home was given to Mom by Harvey’s Funeral Home after Dad’s casket returned from Europe so he could be buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Ardmore; this was in 1945 so it’s 72 years old at least. Our Ma Bridges had the Gold Star and I have no idea what happened to that one but I’d sure like to have it to stand along side the Blue one. I do have a Gold Star banner hanging in the bedroom that I was able to procure from the Army after confirming that Dad was KIA in WWII. Thanks for the memories as I still vividly remember Dad’s Funeral that day and I had just turned two in December. -Ralph Bridges
———————————————————-
———————————————————-
Below is from This and That newsletter archives of December 4, 2008
I received an email this week from Indiana inquiring about a Ardmore arms company from many years ago. There has been plenty of emails over the years about Ardmore’s Hoffman Arms, which would later become Dubiel Arms. If I remember right, many of Joe and John Dubiel’s rifles were not the round barrel type, but had an octagon barrel. This produced the much heavier barrel mentioned in the emails below. Since there has been so sent in from time to time over the years about Dubiel Arms, I have put them all together below. Here is a photo I took in 2000 of a Dubiel rifle.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/DubielRifle00a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/DubielRifle00b.jpg
—————————————————–
“I was born in 1921 at Hugo, Okla.- We moved to Ardmore about 1926. I personally knew Joe Dubiel and he and I both were still in rompers when the old Gun Factory was located exactly where Lumberman’s Mill is now. In fact, I believe the Gun Factory building was old & likely vacant even then. It is true that Joe was an excellent gunsmith and he may have had a gun shop but the “old gun factory”
—————————————————–
Doug Williams sent in a couple photos he took of Cool Creek, just north of the Ardmore Airpark. Its dry, like everywhere in this area. We need rain. I remember going to this creek back in the early 60s on my cycle to shoot my 22 pistol.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CoolCreek120708a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CoolCreek120708b.jpg
—————————————————–
“Butch-Since there has been a lot of interest in the Palacine Indian, Wirt Franklin Petroleum Corporation and the Cameron Refinery, the attached advertisement in “Home Tried Recipes” might be of interest. The cookbook was published by the Women’s Missionary Society, First Baptist Church, Ardmore; date of publication not available due to a missing page or two. Several advertisements from Ardmore merchants are in the book. A grocery store, The “Split Nickel Grocery” might not be in your list of early day stores. It was located at 308 C. Street, SE and operated by J. L. Harlan, proprietor. If anyone knows the publication date of the cookbook, please advise.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/HomeTriedRecipes8a.jpg
—————————————————–
“Butch, Here are two different Indian statute picture postcards scanned at a slightly higher resolution for closer examination. One is located at the northerly end of a jagged rock wall and has a small, bullet-sized hole just above the arm pit, another in the thigh and a busted kneecap. The other one is located at the southerly end of the jagged rock wall and has completely different blemishes including a left shoulder blemish that is not seen in the photos of the other statutes. The rock wall base for the statutes is obviously different as well. There are definitely at least two different statutes and very possibly three different ones that were located at the Turner Falls curio shop at one time.You can see some people starting to descend down the rock stairs into the park in the one photo of the back side of the gift shop. My mom’s older sister, Irene (King) Myers worked for years in the 1960’s at the ticket booth located at the bottom of the steep, long, narrow and very dangerous stairs on the side of the mountain that led down from the curio shop. People would often try to sneak into the park only to find a very stern woman at the bottom of those rock stairs to take their money or send them back up those slippery stairs quite disappointed. She claimed that no one ever refused to pay if they had the money and she also claims to have never let anyone in the park without paying and knowing her, I bet that is true. You could drive a car within a few hundred yards of the falls in those days and park there at the concession stand. My aunt’s ticket booth was on the other side (southeast side) of the creek just south of the concession stand before the bath house at the falls. It was an easy walk from the parking lot on a smooth, well beaten trail that was even paved in places.
My younger brother and I all worked summers at Turner Falls for Max Sulcer and Bob Howell who leased the park from the City of Davis in the late 60’s and early 70’s. My cousin worked on the miniature railroad that ran from the Tavern to the Falls. They were always repairing or replacing sections of tracks. The pay was not much, but we got free admission and the views were not bad if you know what I mean.” -Mickey Shackelford
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/PalacineIndianNorth.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/PalacineIndianSouth.jpg
—————————————————–
“After looking at my pictures of Turner Falls (mostly old postcards), I have discovered that I have postcard pictures of at least two different Indian Statutes, each in a different location. I have one view of the “Little Place on the Hill” from the West, or from the falls side and when zoomed it shows two Indian statutes, one located just North of the building and one located just South of the building. The front of the building is not visible, so there well may be a third one standing in front of the gas station as in the other picture postcard. These two photos appear to have taken very close to the same time frame judging from the automobiles. I have rescanned these at a higher resolution for closer examination and attached them here for you to see.” -Mickey Shackleford
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/PalacineIndianNorth2.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/PalacineIndianSouth2.jpg
—————————————————–
“Speaking of the Turner Falls overlook, gas station and curio shop, does anyone remember an “Areo-Trolley” car ride by cable from the overlook down to the creek? By the way, every picture that I have seen that shows the Indian statute, shows the curio shop as a “one-story” building. The second-story appears when the gas station was a Skelly Station in the 1940s with no Indian out front.” -Mickey Shackleford in Chicago https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/TurnerFallsAeroTrolley.jpg
—————————————————–
“Butch, did you notice the bell on the roof of the entrance to the old Plainview school picture?” -Terry https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/PlainviewSchool_1923.jpg
—————————————————–
“Butch & Jill, What a treasure you produce!! I changed locations and servers and was so busy I lost track of this. I’m glad you have the past issues accessible. The Lone Grove train story takes me back to my youth as I would ride my mini bike up to the corner across Fred Taliaferro’s pasture from my home 1/4 mile north on Meridian on west side. My dad and mom, Jerry and Linda Lathum, as well as my sister Jennifer lived on the west side directly across from Truett and Judy Foster. I could hear the whistle when it crossed Brock road and would take off as fast as I could to beat it to the corner!! There was always a caboose (those were the days) and the gentleman never failed to wave at me and I thought I was the king of the world. On one particular morning I rode to the tracks as usual but inadvertently stopped on a bumble bee nest and thank God that Fred Taliaferro came along and rescued a crying and scared young man. Its last run was October 31,1976 and it was a sad day indeed. Thank you so much for the memories and your hard work!! God bless you richly.” -Rhett Lathum
———————————————–
———————————————–‘Across the Alley from the Alamo’
Words & Music by Joe Greene
Recorded by The Mills Brothers, 1947Across the alley from the alamo
Lived a pinto pony and a Navajo
Who sang a sort of indian
Hi-de-ho to the people passing by
The pinto spent his time a swishin’ flies
And the Navajo watched the lazy skies
And very rarely did they ever rest their eyes
On the people passing by
One day they went awalkin’
Along the railroad track
They were swishin’, not lookin’
Toot! Toot!
They never came back
Across the alley from the alamo
When the summer sun decides to settle low
A fly sings an Indian
Hi-de-ho to the people passing byAcross the alley from the Alamo
Lived a pinto pony and a Navajo
Who used to bake frijoles
In cornmeal dough for the people passing by
They tho’t that they would make some easy bucks
If they’re washin’ their frijoles in Duz and Lux
A pair of very conscientious clucks
To the people passing by
Then they took this cheap vacation
Their shoes were polished bright
No they never heard the whistle
Toot! Toot!
They’re clear out of sight
Across the alley from the Alamo
When the starlight beams it’s tender tender glow
The beans go to sleep and there ain’t no dough
For the people passing byhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qblb9SRL0vo
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
“Friends Make Life Worth Living”Lone Grove, Oklahoma
Subscribe to T&T Newsletter
Email addressFirst nameLast nameSubscribe
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
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
https://oklahomahistory.net/airbase/
Carter County Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us
All previous issues of This & That can be found on my Website’s archives.
Feel free to forward this free newsletter. Mailouts: over 1,300.
To be removed from my T&T mailings, just send me an email.
I do not sell, trade or give my mailing list to anyone for any reason.