Below is a sketch of the Whittington Hotel built in 1891 in Ardmore. It was a wooden structure, probably made of cottonwood, which was popular building material at that time. It was built by Wiley Frederick (W.F.) Whittington. He had come to Ardmore from Dexter Texas, and had been a captain in the Confederate army. This first hotel was destroyed in the Great fire of 1895. -Photo courtesy of Ardmore main Street authority
The second Whittington hotel was rebuilt on the same site at Main Street and Caddo Street, but it was again destroyed in the 1915 explosion.
The next Whittington hotel was built with brick and boasted the first oldest elevator in Ardmore (Otis brand elevator).
After the oil boom, another floor was added to accommodate the businessmen traffic. (Courtesy of Ardmore Main Street Authority)
Below: The lobby of the Whittington hotel was long and narrow. At right is the registration desk with the clerk. At left is the cigar counter with female clerk. Several visitors pose, and luggage is stacked, far right back by the staircase. The center back is the pot belly stove with flue pipe going up about 10 ft before curving toward the east wall for ventilation. (Courtesy of McGalliard collection Ardmore Public Library)
In 1994 I became a HAM radio operator. Ten years later when it was time to renew my license, I let it expire for lack of interest, I guess, and the fact that many of the HAMs in our Ardmore club had passed away. So, for an 18 year period I had no HAM license. In December 2022 I decided to retake the HAM test again and renew my license. I am now, again, a licensed HAM.
I’m having a lot of fun talking to people all over the world using a program called Echolink on my PC computer. After an 18 year lapse in HAMing I’m enjoying it even more now. Echolink has so many neat features, I’m still learning about it. And I’m only using my computer not my HAM radio. But you do have to have a HAM license to use Echolink.
https://echolink.org
Last Monday evening of this week I had an enjoyable conversation with a man named Goran (SM5SSZ) in Sweden using Echolink. He’s been a HAM since 1989. I told him since 53% of my DNA is made up from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Sweden, we may be cousins. lol.
https://www.qrz.com/db/SM5SSZ
I’ve created a webpage on my website just for my HAM stuff including at the very bottom the HAM contacts I’ve made day by day (over 30 the past 4 days).
https://oklahomahistory.net/my-ham-radio-shack/
1974 newspaper clipping with Babcock Brothers Auto on Main Street.
17 miles north of Ardmore is the beautiful Turner Falls. With the zero temperatures the other day, the falls looked neat with all the ice.
Someone posted another picture on my Facebook Wall they took of the new mural on the side of the Blue Bonnet Feed Mill. Beautiful.
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG….
The Daily Ardmoreite will only be delivered by mail starting Tuesday January 3, 2023
“For me this is EXTRA sad news! I started my Daily Ardmoreite paper route at age 12. I FOLDED all my daily papers. Rode my bicycle 10 miles on my route 6 days a week for 2 years. Then I purchased a motor scooter and continued delivering the DAILY paper to my wonderful customers till I graduated high school. I learned so many valuable life lessons through delivering The Daily Ardmoreite!” -Rick Powell
Well it’s sad but official. An Ardmoreite carrier is now a misnomer (according to Webster a wrong or inaccurate name). I have associated with this name for 70+ years. First as a carrier in Davis, Oklahoma, when I was 11 years old. I walked a four mile route for about 6 months and then road a horse for about 6 months when delivering papers and with a bycicle for a short while. We moved to Ardmore in 1963 where I worked for C.R.Anthony Co. until 1969 when I started a 40 year career with The Daily Ardmoreite. In 1975 I became Circulation Director where I was in charge of 69 Carriers in 17 towns in southern Oklahoma delivering over 12,000 daily papers and over 15,000 Sunday papers. The total printed papers is now less than 2500 and is printed in Lubbock ,Texas. My son Shan and my daughter Shelli delivered multiple routes until they graduated high school. My wife had helped them with their delivery during bad weather so much she quit her job as a lab technician and continued the family tradition of delivering Ardmoreites until she retired in 1991. You might say the Daily Ardmoreite has been a staple for 2/3 of my family life. That is why I’m going to really miss the delivery. Since my retirement in 2007 hardly a week goes by that I don’t see 2 or 3 former carriers in Walmart or homeland. I don’t always remember their name but I will always remember the stamp they put on the cities of southern Oklahoma.
-Jim Hefley
The temperature this morning in Big Sky, MT was -31. Thankfully, there was no wind. The cold didn’t disturb the birds however. This time of the year we have Stellar Jays, Clark’s Nutcrackers, Gray Jays and occasionally Magpies. We live just beyond the altitude where Magpies live but we get a few when food is scarce.
Their favorite food is Ol’ Roy dog food. I go through a 45 pound bag every 10 days between what the birds eat and what the foxes eat.
MERRY CHRISTMAS -Monroe
Below is from my Vol 3, Issue 341 December 25, 1999 newsletter:
(None to Post)
A worthy New Year’s resolution, perhaps, is to take no hatred into the New Year without requiring it to restate its purpose. -Robert Brault
See everyone next Thursday!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore, OK
580-490-6823