Above is the Ardmore Fire of 1895 (AI colorized)
Ardmore progressed rapidly from 1887 to 1895 but it was at this point that the citizens were to suffer their first town-wide setback- the big fire of 1895. The blaze started on Caddo Street just west of the railroad tracks and ran uncontrolled through the business district. The flimsy nature of the buildings fed the rushing flames.
More than 80 buildings were consumed by the blaze. Mrs. B. E. Davis (the former Clara Mansfield), who now lives in Magnum, recalls the fire vividly. Mrs. Davis, who come to Ardmore with her family in 1894 says that at the height of the fire her mother pushed her sister, Connie Young now Mrs James “Jim” Young of Gene Autry), in a baby carriage up Main Street ahead of the flames. Mrs. Davis says she was hanging onto the carriage and her mother during the speedy trip as the trio outdistanced the flames.
No lives were lost in the blaze but certainly the destruction was heartbreaking to the residents who had been able to accumulate holdings under difficult circumstances. Soon after the fire was out a new and better, Ardmore began to rise in the form of more substantial buildings.
The fire also had another beneficial result, it furnished the impetus for formation of a fire deportment for the town. The first steamer was purchased of a cost of $1,800 and was named in honor of L. L. Stoew (may be Stowe). The first officers were John S. O’Mealy, chief, and Bud Conlee, assistant chief. Twenty-five volunteers completed the department.
-from Carter County History book 1957
The town’s reliance on three public wells on Main Street failed when they went dry after an hour.
Granville Maxwell Young. 2nd Carter county commissioner, District 1 (AI enhanced).
My lower back has been bothering me for 2 months. (I’ve never had back trouble in my life.) So much I even called that place in Sherman, QC Kinetix. But they don’t take Medicare. Then I thought of my horse liniment I bought at Orscheln’s Farm Store in 2010. 7 hours and still pain free. It’s miracle stuff I tell you. By the way, its $15.99 at Bomgaars in Ardmore.
Absorbine Veterinary Liniment Gel does not contain DMSO (Dimethyl sulfoxide). It is a menthol-based formula designed for horses to relieve muscle, joint, and arthritis pain using natural herbal extracts.
Active: Natural Menthol, Chloroxylenol, and Potassium Iodide.
Inactive: Plant extracts (Calendula, Echinacea, Wormwood), Glycerine, and Witch Hazel.
In the 1970s when I had a health food store at 12th & E street NW I had a few people that used DMSO on the knees. DMSO can be harmful if used incorrectly. Personally I would not use DMSO.
Yesterday (4/22/26) was the 60th anniversary of the 1966 plane crash at the Ardmore Airpark where 83 people lost their lives in the worst plane crash in Oklahoma history. Channel 12 KXII came to Ardmore’s museum and did a special video for broadcast to recognize that sad day.
https://www.kxii.com/2026/04/23/remembering-1966-plane-crash-that-killed-83-ardmore
HAM Radio Talk By Butch Bridges KC5JVT
Echolink # 101960 – Allstar node # 58735 – HamsOverIP # 10301
From This Weeks Mailbag
This ring was found while going through some of my mother-in-law’s belongings after her passing. It’s from Daughters of Rebekah, a branch off of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
NOTE: Daughters of Rebekah (Odd Fellows) rings are fraternal jewelry for the female auxiliary branch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), typically featuring symbols like a beehive, dove, or blue/white/red enamel. Vintage and antique, often sterling or 10k gold-filled, these rings represent the group’s principles of love and charity.
Q. They said there was a small German POW camp in Ardmore. Do have any information on it? -Rick Woodbridge.
A, It was at the Ardmore Airpark. The Ardmore Army Air Field POW camp was a branch camp operational from June 1945 to November 1945, housing approximately 300 German prisoners of war. Situated near Ardmore, Oklahoma, it served as a branch of the larger [~Camp Hearn/Other main camp~] and provided much-needed agricultural labor to local farms, alleviating the wartime labor shortage.
Tech Talk
Online Security?
For years I’ve been concerned about hackers and spammers when surfing the Internet. I have antivirus and antispam/malware programs but they don’t do it all. I finally found the prefect program at a price I can afford. It’s headquarted out of Denmark. Its called Surfshark.
Surfshark hides ALL my devices behind a VPN, watches for any spammers and hackers 24/7, protects from viruses and malware, and blocks ads and trackers. I pay $2.08 a month for their most popular plan. And the program has even speed up my 15 year old PC, 2 other computers and both our cellphones. You can add unlimited devices for the one Plan. In the past I wouldn’t even try to google for something on my cellphone because changing screens was so slow. I have 3 computers and 2 cellphones all protected for the $2.08 a month. I can even put my 2 smart TVs behind the VPN. And there’s a 30 day money back guarantee. By the way, I haven’t took the time to put my 2 TVs and five IP cameras behind the VPN yet but I will, if China wants to watch my TVs or 5 cameras I guess its ok, for now, soon those devices will be protected.
Anyway, if you’re concerned about online safety for a price you can afford, check it out at the link below.
https://surfshark.club/friend/4vhaWbNT
Last week I talked about a backup program called Urbackup. It’s way to slow on indexing my 91,000 files (29,000 pictures) (29 Gigs of data) so I deleted it from my computer. So I’m still looking for a good computer backup program.
With 29,000 pictures (jpg files) on my computer I know a bunch of them are duplicates. So over the next couple days I will be trying out a free program called DupeGuru to safely get rid of the duplicate JPG files on my computer. More about that next week. Below is the link to DupeGuru program.
https://dupeguru.voltaicideas.net
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
580-490-6823
https://oklahomahistory.net