The ice and snow has finally left southern Oklahoma. But I see my wife’s twin sister in NE Pennsylvania is expecting record setting cold this weekend, down below zero. Like I’ve said in the past, the colder it gets the better I like it, by the fire. lol
Robert Hensley sent in a photo of a oil tank fire this week on July 19, 1917 at the Ardmore refinery. Back in those days the refinery was located on the east side of the railroad overpass and Lloyd Noble Parkway (highway 199) in the NE corner of that intersection. I used AI to enhance and colorize the black & white photo.
Does anyone remember this piece of playground equipment at Ada, Oklahoma?
I remember playing on a merry-go-round at Washington school playground in Ardmore in the 1960s shown in the right side of the photo.
I’ve seen a lot of Posts on my Facebook about the underground tunnels around Main Street in Ardmore years ago. Some of the johnny-come-latelys posted they were all over downtown but I can only find documentation of proof of the one at Caddo and East Mail. If there are others, I wish someone would provide documentation.
I remember many years ago when the tunnels were brought up on FB someone said there was a tunnel that came out on the east side of the railroad track from somewhere under the Depot. Well, kinda, but not for human travel. It was a water drainage tunnel from downtown. It was about 5 feet tall, a person could walk up into it. Homeless people lived inside it at times until the City barricaded the exit with pipe, best I remember. It was in the 1970s since I visited the “tunnel”. It emptied into a creek that traveled SE and past the old McKerson BBQ place (west side) and on SE to Park street by the old City dog pound. Anyway, a lot of Posts about the tunnels in downtown Ardmore by johnny-come-latelys were actually drainage pipes, the kind you could nearly stand up straight in. I drew up the map below showing the water drainage tunnel’s location.
A reader sent in a picture of the cornerstone at Ardmore’s old confederate home on South Commerce (now Veterans Center).
Below is a 1962 group photo of the Ardmore Police Department. IA did not do so well on the re-constructing of a few names. 🙁
HAM Radio Talk By Butch Bridges KC5JVT
Allstar node # 58735 – Echolink # 101960 – HamsOverIP # 103010
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” ― Abraham Lincoln
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
580-490-6823
https://oklahomahistory.net