The Great Ardmore Fire of April 19, 1895
It was in Harper's livery stable on North Caddo, that the Great Fire of 1895 started, wiping out or damaging all buildings in Ardmore's business district. Forty-six structures were destroyed and nine others sustained damage. The fire burned through the area bound by A Street northwest, North Caddo, Broadway and Main Street, taking with it the city's best buildings, including the Anderson-Burch Opera House, the First National Bank, which was the first brick building to be built in Ardmore, the Klosky Opera House, the Ardmoreite Building and the Pennington Building. Prisoners in the Federal Jail on Mill Street were moved to the Broadway Baptist Church and then to a second house near Santa Fe tracks. In the first hour of the conflagration, the three public wells on Main Street went dry.
Although the cause was never identified, the great fire began in Harper's livery stable on North Caddo street. High winds caused the fire to spread south, attacking the back walls of businesses on Main street. It was the Ardmore Board of Trade's night watchman who discovered the flames and alerted the town with several revolver shots, the usual alarm for fire. Scores of people rushed to form bucket brigades, but the walls on Main Street emptied too soon. When it became evident there would be no way of extinguish the flames, store owners tried to save some of their stock by moving it into the street. The fire jumped Main Street and destroyed several businesses on the south side of Main Street as well as buildings south of Mill Street. The Ardmore State Herald ran a story the next day stating that "Ardmore has been almost licked clean of buildings." The Alliance Courier, the Wind Bag, and the Daily Ardmoreite were destroyed. The Daily Ardmoreite printed its April 26th edition through the Purcell Register. -Courtesy of Ardmore Main Street Authority
Below is an aerial view of Ardmore in 1972. Memorial Hospital on the left and the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital on the right.
HAM Radio Talk By Butch Bridges KC5JVT
Echolink # 101960 – Allstar node # 58735 – HamsOverIP # 10301
Some good history re Charles Dibrell, one of the founders of the old Ardmore HAM club. Off the Arbuckle Communications website. -George Pretty W5SCX
https://arbucklecomm.com/our-history.html
From This Weeks Mailbag
“I used to work at the Willows Assisted Living in Pauls Valley which I was actually employed through the Pauls Valley General Hospital before it had shut down. I had a 401k through them and have no idea how to get it.” -Katelynn
Reply from Larry Stephens:
How to Apply for Retirement Benefits from the Closed Pauls Valley General Hospital
If Pauls Valley General Hospital (or Pauls Valley Regional Medical Center) closed and you were a participant in its retirement plan, you may still be eligible for benefits. Since the hospital is no longer operating, you’ll need to work with the plan administrator or the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to claim your benefits.
- Gather your documentation
Collect any paperwork you have from your employment there, such as:
Employment start and end dates
Social Security number
Any benefit statements, summary plan descriptions, or pay stubs with the hospital’s name and address U.S. News+1
- Contact the plan administrator or successor
If the hospital’s retirement plan was managed by a third party (e.g., a pension or insurance company), reach out to them directly. If the company no longer exists, has merged, or is bankrupt, they may have transferred your benefits to PBGC U.S. News+1. - Search PBGC’s unclaimed benefits database
If your plan was terminated and benefits were transferred to PBGC, you can search their database:
Go to the PBGC Unclaimed Retirement Benefits search page
Enter your last name and the last four digits of your Social Security number
PBGC will check if it has records for you and provide contact information for the plan administrator Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
- Follow up with PBGC or the plan administrator
Once you have a contact, request your benefit statement and instructions for claiming. PBGC can help you file a claim if your benefits are unclaimed Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. - Consider legal or union assistance
If you believe your benefits were mishandled, you may want to consult an attorney or a union representative. In Pauls Valley’s case, former employees have pursued legal action to recover unpaid wages and benefits KTEN. - Be aware of vesting and eligibility
Make sure you are vested in your benefits and understand the rules for receiving them. Some plans require you to be at least 55 or 60 years old, or have worked a certain number of years, before you can start receiving payments U.S. News.
Tip: Keep copies of all correspondence and keep track of deadlines. If you miss a payment deadline, you may lose the right to claim it.
By starting with PBGC and any old employer contacts, you can often recover benefits even after a hospital has closed.
Q. Good morning, Butch. Do you have any info on the Blue Ribbon School that set at on Memorial Road? The cellar is still there. I was raised there and can’t find any information about the school. -Sharon
A. There are a lot of mentions of the Blue Ribbon school on my website. In 22 issues. Go to my website oklahomahistory.net and in the Search Box type in exactly like this: “blue ribbon” with the quotation marks and hit search.
https://oklahomahistory.net/
Q. Where was the Rodeo Cafe in Ardmore? -Rick Burris
A. It was in Wilson, Oklahoma. Across the street from where the funeral home is now. -Pamela Russell
“Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day” is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19096 and many different variations of it have been recorded. The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roud_Folk_Song_Index
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
580-490-6823
https://oklahomahistory.net