Recently the City of Ardmore street crews were working on the parking lot at 115 West Main and uncovered an old abandoned water well in the street. There were at least 2 water wells back before 1900 in Main Street where people could get a cool drink or water for their horses. One well was in front of the old Daubes Department Store on East Main.
I noticed last month that the largest tree in Ardmore finally passed away. The tree is located at 11th and N Street NW, a block west of Walgreens Pharmacy.
3/30/25 The Liberty School and this bell is located in NW Oklahoma – Major County, 8 miles East of Chester, Oklahoma on Hi-way 60, and ½ mile North on Orion road 237. This Liberty School House bell was enclosed in the bell tower in the early 1980’s when the roof was repaired. It was rediscovered in the enclosed bell tower in 2024 when the shingles were replaced on the bell tower. The bell was removed from the bell tower at this time. A stand and platform was made for the school bell at the flagpole location to allow the community to enjoy the school bell. -Rick Mongold
Liberty School Bell 1 – Liberty School Bell 2 – Liberty School Bell 3 – Liberty School Bell 4
My Oklahoma History webpage of Oklahoma bells
https://oklahomahistory.net/bells-of-oklahoma/
Mail from the Mailbag
Q. Was that the same Mr. Blount who was the custodian at Lincoln school during the 1960s? -Larry Walck
A. No, that was Ben Blount. Also my uncle and brother of Leonard. -Robert Blount
The mention of the burger place on Washington that sold burgers by the sack was on North Washington street where the Family Dollar store is now, it was called Carrol’s Drive in. Dad bought us burgers there on the way to the Skyview drive inn to watch a movie back in the 60s.
About the Chickasaw Nation girls boarding school east of Lebanon, Okla, The Chickasaw Nation purchased the school and dormitory next to the school back in the early 2000 and put a metal roof on it and repaired the inside of the building. They left the original chalk boards that were in several rooms and made the stage with the original piano on it like it was when the girls were there. The dormitory was made of thick rock like at Fort Washita and had chimneys that adjoined each room. The second floor was taken off the building but they left the original worn staircase in place going up towards the attic off the first floor.
My great grandfather and grandmother Eastman Burris and Lena Pickens, (both were full blood Chickasaw). They were married at the school back in 1869 by Reverend Carr. Lena was a teacher at the school. Eastman Burris lived at Eastman I.T. -Robert Hensely
Restoration of the….. Burney Indian boarding school by the Marietta Monitor
I see orange flags have been placed up and down my road. Chickasaw Telephone will be installing fiber for high speed internet. Right now we only have DSL.
HAM Talk by Butch Bridges KC5JVT – Allstar node # 58735
To all Amateur Radio operators: The next 97 Net breakfast will be April 26th @ 9am at Swadey’s BBQ in Ardmore, Oklahoma. This not affiliated with any HAM club. Any licensed HAM is welcome to come and enjoy fellowship with other HAMs. Yes, Swadley’s does serve breakfast with 10 breakfast items on the menu!
The Arbuckle 97 Net conducts a check-in every Sunday night at 8:00pm. Any licensed HAM is welcome to check-in. Yes, Swadley’s does serve breakfast with 10 items on the menu!
To all Amateur Radio operators: The next 97 Net breakfast will be April 26th @ 9am at Swadey’s BBQ in Ardmore, Oklahoma. This not affiliated with any HAM club. Any licensed HAM is welcome to come and enjoy fellowship with other HAMs. Yes, Swadley’s does serve breakfast with 10 breakfast items on the menu!
https://swadleys.com/swadleys-bbq-menu/?rid=86
Below is from my newsletter archives dated
March 27, 2008 – Issue 587
Last weekend Jill and I was given a tour of an old Indian burial ground south of Wilson, Oklahoma. The couple who took us to the area has known about the burial ground since the 1970s, but only a handful of people actually knows where this burial ground is located. So Jill and I were really honored when they invited us to go see this piece of history and take some pictures. About 5 years ago a seismograph crew was in that area and using a bulldozer, and plowed right though the cemetery. I don’t think the crew really knew what was there, because only a trained eye would know what they were looking at.
Back in the 1970s they could identify about 12 graves, but because of pilfering and then the seismograph crew damage 5 years ago, only 2 or 3 graves are really recognizable today.
First, this is an overview picture I took of the burial ground when we first arrived.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/IndianBurialGround8a.jpg
This photo was taken in 1977 of the spot that probably belonged to a Indian chief. The indention in the ground was originally lined with rocks indicating a chief was buried there.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ChiefsGrave1977.jpg
The graves are south of Wilson at the Carter/Love county line, or what’s left of he graves and they are on private property This is the GPS location on Google Maps
This is a view of a lesser important person’s grave, you can see one stone at the top, and if you look close, you will see the other stone marking the foot of the grave.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/IndianBurialSpot8b.jpg
When I stood there and looked at what’s left of the grave site, and how the Indian graves have been vandalized, pilfered and damaged by others, it really made me sad. I can imagine how I would feel if my part Choctaw blood great grandmother Ida Murphree Miller was buried there and years later her grave was vandalized.
This is a photo I took near the Indian burial ground of a small tree with some kind of growth, nest or hive on its limbs. Maybe someone can tell us exactly what it is growing on the branches.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/UnknownGrowth8a.jpg
And just a little further south of that tree on top of the hill was an oak tree with a bee’s hive in it, or what is left of it after probably a bear robbed the honey comb. You can see in the second picture where the bear smeared honey all around the outside of the hole attempting to remove the honey. Since I will probably never run across a piece of nature like this in my lifetime, I was so glad we ventured to the south and made the discover.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/HoneyComb8a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/HoneyComb8b.jpg
And then a little further south down the other side of the hill is a spring fed creek.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CreekSouthOfBurialGround.jpg
Last week we talked about a newly published book titled “Bud Ballew, the Legendary Oklahoma Lawman“. The book review below was sent in this week by Sally Gray.
A short review, at Butch’s request, of the newly-released Bud Ballew, Legendary Oklahoma Lawman by Elmer D. McInnes and Lauretta Ritchie McInnes.
Much has been written about Ardmore’s famous deputy, Bud Ballew, but never before has a book delved so deeply into the personal and public life of this early day lawman.
Beginning with a short genealogical history, through his life as a peace officer and up to his tragic death, Bud Ballew is studied, scrutinized, analyzed, but never judged.
The book is rich in history of this area and nothing proved too sacred to print. Tales of bootlegging, bribery, murder and mayhem, all part of Ardmore’s checkered past, are put on display. The oil field town of Ragtown (Wirt) plays a prominent part in the career of Bud Ballew as he shot, and was shot, in his attempts to keep the peace in that city of sin.
Bud’s eccentricities, his legendary temper and his fall from grace make for some fascinating reading. The author’s comment in chapter 20 where he dismisses the story offered by Sheriff Floyd Randolph regarding Bud’s death seems a little mean-spirited. Randolph, who was on a first name basis with every performer on the rodeo circuit, and himself a veteran performer and judge, as well as an associate of both Ballew and Buck Garrett, made the statement that Ballew and his friend had gone to Wichita Falls to meet “some old rodeo women.” Bud’s reputation would seem to make this story plausible, not something to be rejected as “absurd.”
The Daily Oklahoman of June 4, 1922, suggested that a disturbance call answered by the Wichita Falls, Texas, police which resulted in Bud’s death, might be too simple an explanation; that instead it may have been the result of a business deal in which Ballew and his killer McCormick had butted heads. Only two men knew the answer to that question and we have to fall back on the old cliche that “dead men tell no tales.”
The authors have done an excellent job of resurrecting Ardmore’s famous deputy in the pages of Bud Ballew, Legendary Oklahoma Lawman and it is well worth reading. The book may be purchased at The Book Seller, 614 West Main in Ardmore. -submitted by Sally Gray
The old East Anadarche Creek bridge on Concord Road (used to be Blevins Road) southeast of Ardmore was built in 1927. The bridge is representative of many Warren “pony truss” bridges built across Oklahoma from around 1910 through the 1930s. This week Carter County Commissioner Bill McLaughlin had the bridge removed in preparation for a new one. I took a picture of the brass nameplate Bill removed for later mounting on a wood frame for hanging in his office. The plate reads: BUILT BY J B KLEIN, IRON & FDRY CO, OKLAHOMA CITY, 1927. Below is a picture I took of that nameplate along with other pics of the bridge just before the crane would arrive to move it.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ConcordRoadBridge1927.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ConcordRoadBridge8a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ConcordRoadBridge8b.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ConcordRoadBridge8c.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/EastAnadarcheCreek.jpg
Below is a picture I took of the old Wilson Fire Department watering trough located just west of the new Alexander Funeral Home in Wilson. It probably dates back to around statehood in 1907, maybe before.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WilsonWaterTrough.jpg
I snapped this picture of an old panel wagon type auto sticking out of the ground on Highway 70 on the north side side of the highway just east of Texaco Road and Highway (between Lone Grove and Wilson).
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/TexacoRoadCar8a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/TexacoRoadCar8b.jpg
Jill and I were at the Wilson Junction Cafe at Highway 70 and Highway 76 (just west of Wilson, Oklahoma) last weekend. Jill ordered a hamburger, and she said it was delicious! I wish I had ordered one too after her’s arrived at the table, but instead I ordered their baked ham plate, but it was great too.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WilsonJunctionBurger8a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WilsonJunctionCafe.jpg
I had a request this week, asking if anyone knows of a hamburger place on Highway 16 between Muskogee and Morris, Oklahoma that is run by a former Broken Arrow, Oklahoma police officer. If anyone has info on this place, let me know.
“Butch, the Whataburger coffee cup that Jim Rozzell found in Caddo Creek was part of a promotion. They would refill it for a nickel. I remember seeing those cups, but I don’t recall the time frame. When my father was transferred from the Samedan district #1 in Carter County to Odessa, Texas in 1962, I was 12 years old and didn’t find much to like about Odessa until we went to the Whatabuger. I’ve probably eaten a couple of thousand of them since then. I guess now that there is one in Ardmore, I can move back.” -Chuck
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WhataburgerCup.jpg
“Butch- I enjoyed the aerial photos of the Chickasaw Capitol building and of Devil’s Den. Those were very recent photos. You can see the newly installed median on North Capitol Street to the left of the Capitol Building. The Chickasaw Nation has only recently completed re-doing all of the streets around the Capitol Building.” -Rex
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/TishAerialWideView.jpg
“Butch, my wife and I were driving around and came across this old one lane bridge. The bridge crosses the South Canadian River north of Byars,
Oklahoma.” -Charles Smith
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ByarsBridge8a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ByarsBridge8b.jpg
“Dear Butch, before there was a Whataburger restaurant in Ardmore, there was a burger by that name. Back in the 1950’s, Bill & Barb’s Restaurant, originally located on US 70 East, had a burger on the menu called the Whataburger. In the 1960’s when Gibson’s Discount Store was built on North Washington, Bill & Barb’s moved into the space at the north end of that strip center. My grandparents who moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1963 ate Sunday lunch there every week after church. I believe the burger was about 7 inches in diameter. I don’t remember who supplied the buns. It was a meal. Having lived in Houston for over 30 years, before moving to Montana, I ate at Whataburger a lot. Some of the employees in the store I most often went to had been there more than 25 years. They certainly must treat the employees well.” -Monroe Cameron
“Joe Walker owned and operated a sawmill on the south side of Gene Autry, Oklahoma. I don’t know how long it was there but I can remember it very well. As you drive south across the railroad out of Gene Autry, you can bear to the west/southwest and on the south side of the road maybe 1/2 of a mile the sawmill sat on the side of the hill. The other sawmill was in the area of what I believe to be the location of old Umbria. My brother and dad went there many years ago and I recall my father pointing out where an old sawmill stood. It has been many years but I know the general location of it. Many years ago a road used to cross Caddo Creek going south from this place and it would eventually cross the extreme west edge of the old Walter Gant ranch (Oak Hill Farms). What I knew as the Homer Duke road would have gone straight north and become the road I just mentioned crossing Caddo Creek. The old Blue Hole store used to be just west of the Homer Duke road. The old store was west of the old Blackjack School building. I would like to see someone do some research on the Blue Hole store. One other thing concerning Umbria, if someone has time and patience, check the old issues of the Berwyn Light housed at the Chickasaw Library. They might contain some reference to Umbria.”
Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans. –Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997)
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
580-490-6823
https://oklahomahistory.net