Capitol Avenue in Tishomingo, Oklahoma many years ago. In the background is the Chickasaw Nation capitol. AI enhanced photo.
Doug and Scheryl Williams have been manning the Gene Autry Museum lately. If you haven’t been there in a while, you are missing out on some great history. Also if you are a true lover of old history, they could use some help. Any help is appreciated. Send Doug an email at jdougwilliams50@gmail.com
After 67 years of serving Ardmore, the T&M Pharmacy has closed its doors.
https://www.kxii.com/2025/11/13/tm-pharmacy-closes-after-67-years-serving-ardmore
A grave marker I made this week.
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG….
Q. I run across some random old things in the jars of buttons and jewelry I get at antique stores. I found this yesterday. Does anyone know any history on what this is? It’s from Oklahoma. -Penny Stephens Thomas
A. It’s an Oklahoma issued one-mill and five-mill coins, known as sales tax tokens, to facilitate the accurate collection of state sales tax, which was initially set at 1% in 1935. These tokens were used because sales tax calculations often resulted in fractional amounts less than a cent, creating a dilemma: rounding up would overcharge the customer, while rounding down would underpay the merchant. The mill coins allowed for precise payment, ensuring both parties were treated fairly. For example, a 1% tax on a $1.25 item would result in $1.2875, which could be settled by paying $1.29 and receiving 2.5 mills in change. The five-mill coin was worth half a penny, and the one-mill coin was worth one-tenth of a cent. These tokens were round, made of aluminum or brass, and featured a hole in the center. The system was used until 1961, when it was replaced by a bracket system that levied sales tax in whole pennies. The use of such tokens was not unique to Oklahoma; other states like Arizona, Colorado, and Missouri also issued similar mill tokens during the same period.
Below is a couple of photos taken when the town of Berwyn was officially changed to Gene Autry, Oklahoma on Nov 16, 1941. -Doug Williams
HAM Radio Talk By Butch Bridges KC5JVT
Allstar node # 58735 – Echolink # 101960 – HamsOverIP # 103010
Below is from my newsletter archives
October 7, 2000 Vol 4 Issue 181 – A couple of weeks ago I mentioned about a new program in Ardmore called Heartland Share. They have been giving food baskets to anyone who participates in their program. About $16 plus two hours of volunteer work for the community is about all that is required per share. The share for the month of September consisted of the following: 8 potatoes, 4 oranges, 2 grapefruits, 2 red peppers, 4 apples, 1 head of lettuce, 1 head of Cauliflower, 1 Jell-O gelatin snacks, 1 breaded chicken nuggets, 1 lb bacon, 1 family pack of chicken, 1 sliced cooked ham, and 1 meatloaf. That’s a lot of food. Here’s a photo of the “share food basket” for September 2000.
Turner Fall in 1908
The concrete steps below is all that remains of the building my grandfather, Stanley Carmon, built. It was located across Main Street south side of Main from the Depot.
Below is the above building (dark building on left) that has been torn down as shown in the above photo.
“I took this picture from Hinkle Street looking north to the backside of a building that I think is worth inquiring about. The front of the present building faces north to Main St. and would be in the 100 block of east Main (behind the old Texhoma Office Supply company at 106 E Main). I don’t have a clue as to what the fancy concrete work was ever a part of, but I sure would like to know. But I do think that on further into the back area of the existing building that you will see a concrete structure, such as a small windowless concrete room. This much I know…..at one time in that block there was a movie theatre by the name of “Liberty Theatre” and in order to see the screen where the movie was being shown you would enter the theatre and find a seat that would enable you to look back to the screen. In the days of the silent movies the film was a nitrate material and very subject to spontaneous fire. Many people were injured and died from theatre fires that started in the projection room. Even though they had a barrier that was suppose to drop down and keep the fire from entering where the audience was, it was not really successful enough. I believe the little concrete room was truly an appendage to the theatre building and contained the projection room – therefore any fire that may occur would be outside of the theatre itself. I was only a child back then but maybe someone will know about this for sure. The attachment should show you the fancy concrete work that I think predated the theatre I speak of.”
“The first time I was every assigned an account number at a bank was in the late 1950s. Before that banks always expected to look at the signature to see whose check it was and charge it to their account accordingly. In those days banks were expected to look at the signature and, if necessary, compare it with the signature card. Today if the machine can read the imprinted numbers the check may never be looked at by a human being. Even when we got account numbers in the 1950s, the numbers were just printed in a normal font above the signature line on your checks. Human beings still looked at them, machines did not read the number.”
“This is an excellent picture but reveals very little view of the north side of Main street toward Caddo street. I am pretty positive that the picture was made in the 1950’s, for this reason. I graduated from Pharmacy College at OU in Jan 1950 and went to work at my Dad’s Drug Store at that time. The building your Grandfather built was still being used and as a matter of fact Eric Middleton had his office in that building.- I don’t know what his job was, but among other things he was an amateur photographer. He took my photograph in that building in the early 1950’s (so dated). Dutch Rogers owned and operated the Pepsi Cola plant in the building where the Pepsi sign is visible on its east side. (years earlier this building housed the Fox theatre and it was there that one of B.L. Owens son’s was killed by getting tangled up in the theatre exhaust fan). Mitch Jones had his Furniture store on the NE corner of Caddo & Main. (It was in this building where B.L. Owens pretty well started his Furniture business, years before). Across the street (south) was Tom Echols storage building and he had freezer lockers in the basement, along with a butcher shop. If you look west of the Echols building you will see that the Whittington Hotel is no longer there because Mrs Jewel Whittington had contracted to have the old condemned building torn down. Much of the debris was used to fill in the basement of the old building. Not visible in this photograph, but there were other businesses located on the north side of the street between the Pepsi Cola Plant and Jones furniture store. The photograph had to be taken sometime between 1950 and 1957 because in Aug. 1957 I left my Dad’s store and opened the Broadlawn Pharmacy at the Broadlawn Shopping Center in Aug. 1957, although I never severed contact with the Martin Drug up until my Dad died in 1968. Actually I think the person had the right clue as to the date by identifying the model of the cars. I recall the railroad building being torn down but I don’t know just when that happened.” –Ernest Martin
Catawampus: Means “askew” or “crooked”
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
580-490-6823
https://oklahomahistory.net