PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected], 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.”
A Glimpse Into The Past
November 16, 1917 The Daily Ardmoreite – RESUME STREET CAR SERVICE TOMORROW
The Ardmore Street Car Railway service will be resumed tomorrow morning. Cars will leave the barns at 6:15 and 6:45 and every thirty minutes thereafter until 10:15pm. Cars will leave downtown at 6:30 and 7:30am and every thirty minutes thereafter, the last car leaving at 11pm.
The cars from the barns to Electric Park, Country Club, and Bloomfield Academy will eave at 7:15, 7:45 and 11:45am.
November 16, 1917 The Daily Ardmoreite – KRESS STORE OPENING TODAY
The informal opening of Kress’ store, 119-121 West Main street, this afternoon bore all the evidence of a social affair. Blooming plants on the counters and shelves added to the attractiveness of the spacious display rooms. Barnard’s orchestra gave a musical program as the guests passed up and down the aisles inspecting the array of choice goods, both useful and ornamental. Boxes of chocolate bonbons were given as favors.
November 24, 1917 The Daily Ardmoreite – ARDMOREITE IS MOVING TO ITS NEW BUILDING
Today, tomorrow and for a few days next week the office of the Daily Ardmoreite will be in transit, the work of moving the equipment from the ground floor of the Elks building (North Washington and West Broadway) to the new building for The Ardmoreite at the corner of East Broadway and North Mill Street, just one block east of the old location, being under way.
The subscribers are asked to be patient during this transition as the paper may be late. During the past fortnight the paper has often been late. Next week the work of installing the large 24 Hoe perfecting press will begin.
Side note observation: The Ardmoreite new location must have been about where the Shoppers Paradise was published for many years.
Two days ago I mentioned on my face book, can possums climb trees Here is your answer from 1917.
December 5, 1917 The Daily Ardmoreite – POSSUM HUNT
An old fashioned possum hunt was participated in last night by employees of the Hamilton Shoe Company, their wives and sweethearts. The party assembled at the William Prater home on West Main street, where with a pack hounds the chase began, continuing for three miles.
Possums soon took refuge in persimmon trees and were captured. When this sport was concluded a bonfire was built and a real camp fire supper prepared and enjoyed. The hunters were Mr and Mrs Prater, Mr and MRs Estes, Mr and Mrs Bullock, Mr and Mrs Cathey, Misses Everett Tucker, Giddens, Messrs, Lanford, Hamiton, Sprekelmeyer, P. Watkins, and J. Watkins.
I spotted this old homemade stage coach in the backyard at 1210 B NW here in Ardmore. Too bad it is left to deteriorate.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos21a/StageCoach050521.jpg
In last Thursday’s newsletter I told about the “most dangerous cake in the world”, the Five Minute Mug Cake. Reader Gary Heartsill didn’t waist any time trying out the recipe.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos21a/FiveMinuteMugCakeHeartsill.jpg
The most dangerous cake recipe
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!
A friend at Wilson told me the other day about the time he worked in the oil fields 20 years ago at Tussy, Oklahoma. He said there is a grave just west of Tussy, just past a bridge with old cars imbedded in the embankment, and then turn back north on an oil lease road a little ways. The solitary grave is just over into Garvin County. At that time it had a wooden fence around the grave, and some of the inscriptions could be read as best he remembers. He gave me better directions which I won’t go into right now because of space, but I sure would like to find that grave, take pictures, catalog it, get the GPS coordinates and put it on Find A Grave. I’ve got to go and try to find this grave. If you know me, you know this is going to bother me until that grave is located.
A grave marker I made this week.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/JeredSmithMarker.jpg
We continue making progress locating people or their kin with unclaimed property at the State Treasurers office in OKC. As of today we have reached area people about unclaimed property totaling over $791,500. And the search continues….
So with the above being said, how long has it been since you checked 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 respective state treasures website.
https://apps.ok.gov/unclaimed/
Q. Where is Oklahoma’s largest kid playground?
A. Kids Galaxy in Edmond, Oklahoma
https://www.kidsgalaxyedmond.com/
Q. Who is the richest person in Oklahoma?
A. Answer in next week’s newsletter
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
These are two dead horses by Whittington Hotel after the Big Explosion in September 1915. -Robert Hensley
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos21a/Exlposion1915ArdmoreDeadHorses.jpg
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I loved the “Bees Being Bees” article in last week’s T&T Newsletter. The story reminded me years ago when I was visiting my paternal grandparents during the summer. I was determined to help my grandfather get honey from a bee hive in an old oak tree. I dressed up in blue jeans with rubber boots, long sleeve shirt, gloves taped so no bees would enter, a grapefruit mesh bag and a straw hat to cover my head. Needless to say, I ticked off a swarm of bees that covered my makeshift bee suit. I headed full stride to my grandparent’s pond adjacent to the oak tree to rid myself of the bees. I heard so much laughing from my cousins and grandfather after exiting the pond soaking wet. I learned a valuable lesson that day; “Bees will be Bees and I need to let the professional bee keepers handle those little guys”. Again, thanks for sharing the article!
Your Texas Buddy,
Robert Boriack
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Tell you a little story about me and my dad. When I was about 4 or 5 my grandfather gave us a Brittany Spaniel pup. We kept it outside on a chain during the day. Dad came home from work and the pup was gone as was the chain. Next to where we lived (near the old pawn shop at Commerce and Myall was a big field with paths all through. He caught sight of tracks and appeared to be dragging something like the chain. We followed it until we got into a small grove of Elm trees. It was almost dark and dad was about to turn back since we hadn’t brought a flashlight. As soon as my dad turned we heard something and dad yelled “holy ____” and jumped backwards. When I looked up there was this huge monster hanging from a tree limb we had just passed under and my dad walked into it. It was a possum. I screamed too and started running. My dad finally convinced me to stop after about 50 yards and he was laughing. We never did find the dog. I was convinced the possum ate him and he was about to have my dad and me for desert. At 4 years old that thing looked like Godzilla!!! -Jimmy Gaston
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I discovered there was a Tom Cooper Studebaker dealership in Ardmore at 407-11 West Main in 1922. There were also dealership in Oklahoma City and Enid. Was this the same Tom Cooper who owned the dairy? -Monroe
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Hello Butch, the old cemetery at Red River Station mentioned in your newsletter is very interesting. It is located on the Texas side of Red River where the Chisholm Trail crossed the River. Fleetwood is on the Oklahoma side. My Grandpa’s family ran the ferry for a while. My Grandpa has young twin sisters buried in the cemetery. Last name is Kimberlin. Signs of the old trail are still in that location. -Vince Freeman
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Ramblings of an Olderly person——Bull Nettles on the Wild Horse!
Wild Horse is more of a trickle today but back before 1956 it was a savage stream in the spring. It was so savage a 4 or 5 inch rain would cause it to over flow it’s banks all the way from back in Stephens County to the Washita approximately 2mi. West of Davis. It had a watershed of over 200 miles. When it overflowed it would cause the Washita to overflow too. In 1956 President Eisenhower signed a bill authorizing the Corps of Engineers to build a huge amount of government lakes to slow and control these rivers.
We lived on the Wild Horse east of what was then Wynnewood View when I was 4 years old. Our house was built about two feet off the ground supported by concrete blocks with openings to let the water flow through. One pretty sunny day my mother suggested we walk down to the creek which was less than 100 yards away. There was a lot of sand around this area due to all the flooding. We hadn’t walked very far until I threw a major tantrum, you see the hot sand was burning my feet so I broke loose from my mom’s hand and run a short distance and plopped down on my butt. Well that’s not quite true as I plopped down on a BULL NETTLE. For those of you not familiar with this plant it is about the size of a tomato vine the big boy type. It has zillions of small nettles that feel like wasp stings. My mom picked me up carried me to the River set me in the shallow mud and smeared it all over me. It was quite a relief but I’ve never forgotten my experience with the BULL NETTLE on the Wild Horse. -Jim Hefley
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Below is from This and That newsletter archives of May 6, 2009“Butch, Eureka!! Dwane Stevens’ email and pictures in last week’s T&T about his trip to Mountain Lake revealed the dam construction that my grandfather, Ben E. Lindsly supervised back in the early 1920’s. I knew that he had built a dam near Ardmore, but Dwane’s pictures of the nameplates at the site confirmed that this was the one. Many thanks to Dwane and his wife, Terri, for making the trip and posting the photos on T&T. I have a page from an old (probably 1921) Ardmoreite that details the plans for the dam and cites my grandfather. The name of the newspaper and the date of the article are missing, and the paper is very fragile at this point. The article was written by William Krohn and the headline says: “Ardmore Undertakes Greatest Engineering Feat of Its Kind Ever Started in Oklahoma :: Tremendous Storage Capacity of New Reservoir Will Prevent Drought Effects in Territory Contiguous to New Lake — Two Hundred Acres of Clear Pure Water”. I am attaching a picture of my grandfather (on the right) with some official (maybe the Ardmore mayor) inspecting the dam site. I would love to know the identity of the other man at the dam if one of your Readers could provide it. I’m also including one of Dwane’s pictures of the dam as it now looks for comparison.” -Dick Lindsly, Frisco, Texas
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/BenLindslyArdmoreDam1920.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/Mountain_Lake_Dam_Dwane_Stevens_04-27-09_020.jpg
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“A man who works in produce told him the neatest, easiest, and best way to fix corn we have ever found. You take an ear of corn with the shucks and silks still on it. Cut the stem end off just a little, roll that ear of corn up tight in a plastic sack from the grocery store – WalMart, Homeland, etc. and place it in the microwave for 3 minutes (on High), take it out and let it set for about 3-5 minutes or until it is cool enough to shuck. It is so neat because the shuck AND the silks will come off the cob just as clean as can be. Cut the ends off, put your butter and salt on it and it has a wonderful fresh taste. When Herb told me about it, I said it wouldn’t be cooked! Well- WRONG! Try it, you will like it. I don’t know if you can cook more than one at a time, he said cook them one at a time, and that is what we do.”
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“You are right its the Most dangerous Recipe! We made it last evening. We used self rising flour, chocolate mint chips, delicious, served three. In five minutes!”
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“Butch, You did it this time. That 5 minute Chocolate Cake Mug worked perfectly. Here’s a few thoughts: Get a pack of White Chocolate Cocoa mix. Mix it real thick then drizzle it over the top (I did). This recipe is great because using these small amounts of ingredients, I might be able to make them for a little while and my wife wouldn’t miss what I used. The best part is by only using a tablespoon and a cup, you can make it, eat it and clean it up in 10 minutes with out leaving any trace you did it. It is so simple any guy can do it.
BUT!
Sooner or later you “WILL” get caught, so be prepared to share it with your wife. Messing around in the kitchen is sorta like when my B-in-Law takes some of my tools from the garage. I know he did it long before he tells me he took them. I’ll bet Jill has the same skills as my wife in this regard. Good job Butch and thanks in advance for the extra pounds you have just given me. LOL” -John in Illinois
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“Butch, Just a question concerning the deaths of three children in a house fire on Halloween night in the mid-1950s or late 1950s. The fire occurred about 1.5 miles west of Dickson on what was then US 70 highway. The house stood on the north side of the highway. I think a brick house is there now. Anyone remember the incident and the names of the children.”
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We struggle with the complexities and avoid the simplicities. -Norman Vincent Peale
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges“Friends Make Life Worth Living”Ardmore, Oklahoma
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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
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Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
https://oklahomahistory.net/airbase/
Carter County Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us
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