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.”
A Glimpse Into The Past
November 6, 1919
The Ardmore Statesman
METHODIST BUY LOT
Will Build An Up-to-Date Church Building on Corner Lot Opposite Central Park
The Methodist of Ardmore has taken the initial step for building a much needed church for their congregation in Ardmore.
They have bought the ideally located lot on the corner of West Main and E Street Southwest, opposite the corner of Central Park, on which they will erect a modern church building and parsonage, to cost between $125,000 and $150,000. This lot has a wide frontage on Main Street and runs back along will have long E Street to Broadway. The church will front to the south on Main Street, and will have a long exposure on E Street, and is located just where the residential and business districts join. It will be two blocks west of the imposing Ardmore Hotel, and will front the prettiest park the city has. No finer nor more appropriate location could have been found in the city for the building.
It is said that the present property owned by the church on the corner of B Street and Broadway, which as become surrounded by the business district of the city, will be sold and business houses erected thereon.
Robert Hensley send in some history photos this week. This first one is from a complimentary calendar by the First National Bank of Berwyn, now Gene Autry in the 1930s.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos21b/BerwynCalendarFirstNationalBank.jpg
This second photo is the Plainview students and staff of circa 1930.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos21b/PlainviewStudentsAndStaffCirca1930.jpg
And this last photo is Plainview students playing around the May Pole around 1919.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos21b/PlainviewSchoolsMayPoleCirca1919.jpg
Still finding people in Oklahoma with unclaimed money. We’re now over the $1,326,000.00 dollar mark. Sometimes progress is slow locating people or their kin with unclaimed insurance money at the State Treasurers office in OKC but we keep trying and we are making a difference in people’s lives.
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 the largest quilt shop in Oklahoma?
A. Prairie Quilt is located in a 100-year-old historic building about an hour north of Oklahoma City, is the largest quilt shop in the state. Prairie Quilt is located at 101 S Main St. in Hennessey, about an hour north of Oklahoma City.
https://quiltnow.com/
Q. Where in Oklahoma is home to the world’s largest collection of bull sharks in the world? Ten of the “most dangerous sharks known to man” inhabit the 380,000-gallon saltwater tank and tunnel.
A. Answer in next week’s newsletter
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
Q. Butch- I understand there will be a reunion of all the AHS classes of the 1950’s in October???
A. Who: Ardmore High School Classmates from the years of 1950-1960.
When: October 16, 2021
Time: 12:00-3:00 PM
Food: Heavy Hors-d’oeuvres
Dress: Casual
Where: St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parish Hall
125 E. Street S.W.
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73401
Cost: $20 per person to be paid at the door.
If you are able to attend please respond to Judy Beth Douglas Schimmel at email judybschimmel@gmail.com or phone 210-602-3396 by October 1 so we can get a head count.
If you have any mementos you would like to share, please bring them. ie year books, pics etc. We look forward to seeing everyone and having a “Rocking 50’s Time”!
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Below is from This and That newsletter archives of October 1, 2009
In some past issues of T&T we’ve mentioned the old Cameron refinery that was located at the NE edge of Ardmore back around 1920. It was started by Ardmoreite Ossian Cameron. His son, Monroe Cameron, lives in Montana today, and sent in a photo of his dad, Ossian Cameron. The photo was taken at Yellowstone National Park around 1920. We appreciate Monroe sending in a photo of his dad, Ossian Cameron was very much one of the pioneers of Ardmore, filling a need with his refinery.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/OssianCameron1920s.jpgMap of Cameron Street in the NE part of Ardmore leading into the refinery.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/CameronStreet.jpgA couple of photos Monroe sent in a while back of the refinery back around 1920.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CameronRefinery1920a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CameronRefinery1920b.jpg
The first refinery was Cameron Refinery, then Wirt Franklin Refinery, then Ben Franklin Refinery, Bell Oil Refining Company, Vickers Refinery, Total Petroleum, and now Valero.
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Back in 2005 Jim Hill of Springer, Oklahoma took me to where the old Woodford community water well was located back 100 years ago. Jim was born at Woodford in northern Carter county and attended Woodford school when it existed. The water well is still there but since it’s on private property and no longer used, it has fallen into disrepair. It has a big crack in the side letting the water run out and down a little stream. The water well is off the road (north of Woodford proper) to the east about 1/4 mile in the woods. It was quite a trek through the high weeds, cows, a small creek, snakes, and fallen tree logs to reach the well. I would estimate it what I’d call 2 or 3 city blocks off the road to the east. Below is a couple pictures I took of the well back in 2005.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/WoodfordWell5a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos5a/WoodfordWell5b.jpg
Here is a map I marked of the well location, as best I remember.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/WoodfordWellMap.jpg
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Here is a photo Keith Ward of OKC sent in 2002 of some 1944 students at Woodford. You can see some of the school behind the students, built in 1937-1938 by the WPA. This would have been the school Jim Hill and his sister Faye attended. The students in the pic as described by Keith are:“The first girl in the back row is my second cousin Ann Lowe (now Rempel); the names of the others, courtesy of her, are as follows: Back row—Ann Lowe, Charles Allen, Gayle McGoodwin (my third cousin), Charles Scoggins (went by the name Sonny Satterwhite at the time, while living with his Satterwhite grand-parents), ______?, Charles? Wallace, and Barbara Rice. The second row are Jack Ward (my first cousin on my dad’s side), Nelda Pender, Kenneth Clowdus, _____?_____, Venita Lynn McGoodwin (Gayle’s sister; my third cousin), Donelda Smith, and Wanda Tippit.”
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/wood1944.jpgThe original Woodford School was laid out and organized March 1909 – Township 3 south, Township 2 south – Range 1 west – range 1 east census 235. After bonds were voted and enlargement and repairs were made the school term for 1921-1922 was begun September 19 with a high school organized. Five teachers were required to do the work. Woodford has seen its high school grow from an initial enrollment of 14 to an enrollment of 39 in 1922-1923. The school has grown from the grades in 1921 to a high school offering 13 units of accredited work in 1922. R.R.Covey, Principal.
Woodford School 1923 picture
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Below is a of pic of Wirt, Oklahoma in its heyday when it existed just west of Healdton.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/WirtOK.jpgIn 1915 Wirt almost burned to the ground, but it was rebuilt because of the booming oil industry that was just beginning in Carter county.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/WirtOKfire_1915.jpg
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Last Saturday Jill and I went to George and Judy Davenport’s Alpaca ranch NE of Ardmore, about half way between Ardmore and Gene Autry. Their spread is called the Smokey Ridge Alpacas and this was our first exposure to these beautiful animals. They are adorable. We wanted to bring one home. Here are a couple of pics I took at the Davenport’s open house.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/Alpacas092609a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/Alpacas092609b.jpg
A lady was at the Davenport Alpaca ranch demonstrating how to make thread using the hair of the Alpaca on her spinning wheel. She made it look so easy. Now we want a spinning wheel.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/SpinningWheel092609a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/SpinningWheel092609b.jpg
Life Magazine. Google has digitized Life Magazine from 1936 to 1972, for your viewing pleasure.
http://books.google.com/books?id=R1cEAAAAMBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s#all_issues_anchor
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“Dear Butch, Kerosene is a refined product coming out of oil. Coal oil is derived from the destructive distillation of cannel coal, hence the name. A lot of people used to use the term lamp oil referring to kerosene. The reason I know that is because a friend of mine used to own an adobe home in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico with a dirt floor. Every year they used a mixture of coal oil and kerosene on the floor to keep it shiny and durable. The floor was as tough as linoleum.” -Monroe Cameron
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—————————————————–Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. -Mark Twain
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
“Friends Make Life Worth Living”Ardmore, Oklahoma
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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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