This and That
Newsletter
A Weekly Publication
Vol 14 Issue 714 Circulation 5,000 September 30, 2010
PO Box 2
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
email address: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
580-657-8616
Many of you have heard through the news media this week that the old barracks at Ft Washita burned last weekend. A number of you wrote in to let me know, and one Reader even sent in photo taken a couple years ago by a friend of hers:
"Butch, I received this from my friend Paula Ayres. I am so sad that the fort has burned down. It's such a beautiful place there; so much history, so many memories. This is how beautiful the Ft Washita barracks looked before it burned to the ground early this morning. I took this photo on Dec. 13, 2008 and if you look real close you can see people in and around the building as they were doing a reenactment that day. What a monumental loss to our state." -Candis McDonoughhttp://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/FtWashitaBarracks121308.jpg
This is the building on fire that evening.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/FtWashitaBarracks092610.jpg
I received info this week that Judy Michener is retiring after many years with the Oklahoma Historical Society in OKC. She has helped so many people through the years, and will be missed by many who seeked help on Oklahoma history. This is a photo sent in by Joe Hock, with his friend Judy.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JoeHockJudyMichener.jpg
Chuck Stallcup wrote in the other day mentioning the old Pennington home place (still have to find out where this home was located) and how similar homes were sold in the Sears mail order catalog back in 1909. Boy, I wish we could buy one today for that amount!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/QueenAnneHome1909.jpg
When google came out with the aerial view in their Maps, I was impressed. But Bing.com has them beat. As best I can tell Bing has the whole county (and US) mapped from a birdseye view. Just go to www.bing.com, click at the lift.... Maps, type in an address in the white search box, it will take you straight to that address. At the top of the box click on Aerial, then on the pull down menu click "Birdseye View" and you can look at the house/property from all four sides. You can zoom in and out, rotate in a circle, pan in any direction as far as you want, and the clarity of the pictures is crystal clear! I typed in our old address on E Street SW and the aerial has been taken since we moved from there in Feb 2, 2008. Bing places the orange round marker right in the center of the roof top. Amazing technology.
Here is Bing's aerial view of our old property in SW Ardmore, taken after we told it 3 years ago and moved to Lone Grove.
Talking about maps and all, I'm working on a webpage that will have the longitude and latitude of the 72 cemeteries in Carter county. When someone wants to know the location of a certain cemetery from bygone years, all they need do is type in the longitude and latitude in Bing and bingo, up a map.
For a week I have been trying to find some kind of 2 inch rubber hose, like a radiator hose, to connect 2 sections of 2" PVC pipe (about a foot span). I went to 2 hardware stores, 2 plumbing supply stores, 2 automotive parts houses, 2 lumber yards, 2 camper repair places, and 1 place that sells swimming pool stuff. None of them could help me. I even asked a half-dozen friends and none of them could think of a place in Ardmore to buy such a thing, only thinking that one of the places above should have it. Nada. Then I thought of JACS down on south Lake Murray drive by the Hardy Murphy coliseum. I gave owner Jessie Clinton a call and he said he thought so, to come on down. Jessie went out back, in a few minutes came back in with a radiator hose from a tractor or something, and it fitted my PVC pipe perfectly, and it only cost $5 bucks. I am so thankful Ardmore still has some old family run stores, where a guy can find hard to find items. If you haven't been to JACS, I can tell you its like a step back in time with all the old antique stuff he's got on display around the walls. Here are a few pictures I snapped while in there:
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/ParkingMeterJacs8a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JACS2010a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JACS2010b.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JACS2010c.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JACS2010d.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JACS2010e.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JACS2010f.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/JacsTrailerPlace8a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JACSstoreArdmoreOK.jpg
Aerial view of JACS by Bing.com
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JACSinArdmoreOK.jpg
We've got a couple young bucks, a couple of does, and a couple of really young fawns coming up in our backyard to eat the corn I put out every evening. They are so beautiful. Even though I snapped this pic through our kitchen window a couple days ago of one of the bucks, it turned out great.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/DeerBuck092310.jpg
Q. What is Oklahoma's coldest
recorded temperature?
A. It was 27 below zero in 1905 at Vinita, and also 27 below zero in 1935
at Watts.
Q. Who was married in a
mock wedding in the Oklahoma statehood celebration?
A. answer
in next week's issue)
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG....."Butch, The white mound mentioned in this week's T&T is located on the Black James Ranch located just east of Big Canyon north of the road to Nebo. Black James was really a colorful old pioneer and he had lots of stories of early day southern Oklahoma." -Roy Miller, Oklahoma City
"Butch: Just finished tonight's T&T and can answer two questions. First: the house on C street is not the Pennington home but was built by A. C. Cruce, one of the three Cruce brothers to come from Kentucky to Ardmore and engage in the practice of law. His brother, Lee Cruce, was Oklahoma's second governor.
second: The mystery flower is a lily commonly called "naked lady" because it has no foliage, just a red bloom." -Sally Gray
"The name of Kathi's flowers is: Belladona lily, commonly known as "Naked Ladies", no doubt because they bloom before their leaves appear. I have them also blooming. They almost appear overnight and may be in different colors." -Joh G., Sulphur
"Tell Kathi I have these flowers in my yard and I had a friend, Louise Oakman Eakins, that gave me my start and she always called them Naked Ladies. They are Lycoris Radiata and have many aliases; they are Spider Lily, Naked Lily and Red Spider Lily. They are in the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. She can find more information about the plants by going on the internet and typing in Lycoris Radiata. I have always enjoyed the surprise flowers in the late summer and is such a nice reminder how special good friends are. I have several plants that Louise shared with me so I always feel by sharing plants you always hold that person close in your heart. Hope she enjoys these as much as I do." -Janelle
"I have always heard the flowers called naked ladies, They are a member of the Lillie family. They are a bulb the are dormant until next year about this time. The reason they are called that is because they don't have any leaves. I hope that helped. Enjoy your this & that ever week. Thank you & Jill for all your hard work." -Ruby
"Hi Butch, Surprising after all these years, nobody posted this: Lane's Grocery located SE corner E St & 6th Ave NW, across the corner from former Franklin school dates from 1920s. Name, etc, still visible on North side of the building, dim but legible." -Bob McCrory
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/JDLaneGrocery092810.jpg
"For your grocery store list for Carter County.....Monty Kerns grocery store in Clemscott. We paid our bill each month and he would give us kids a sack of candy. What a treat that was."
"Hello Butch, Carolyn and I worked for Gene Coxsey at the Honda shop in 1969 until he sold out to Leo Chaney in 1972. Yes Gene is still living, we think it's Victoria, Texas."
"When my sister and I were little girls our dad would visit with Black James. While he was visiting, we would take a short walk into the mountains and look for sea shells of the ancient ocean. This was in the late '40's and there were lots of shells to be found. This was in the Dougherty area of Murray County. Later, the students from O.U. came to study the area. I think that the Jack Family was related to Black James and they were a prominent family in the area, also." -Iva
"I have a statehood-era Geography of Oklahoma book (by Charles Gould) which has a picture of White Mound and some kind of a group outing there. Also, I've heard that tours sponsored by the Sam Noble Museum in Norman make trips to White Mound. I ran into a group of people from a tour at the Sulphur Braum's last weekend. They had just visited White Mound and were so excited by the trip. Apparently they also tour the geography/geology of the Arbuckles. Sounds pretty cool!" -Kathy
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/WhiteMoundOK1909.pdf
"Chicken will lay small eggs a the end of their laying cycle and also when they start back laying again." -Bob and Edna
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/SmallEgg092110.jpg
"Butch, Referencing your story about White Mound, it is in Murray County near Dougherty and Nebo. The picture you have linked to the story is not of White Mound, but it could be from the general area. I've been there several times, and the story is correct in that there isn't much left of the mound. It was at one time a world famous location for collecting Phacops trilobites. I have several trilobites I found along with rugose corals and loads of brachipods. It is on private property, and I'm not sure if the land owner still allows folks access to the property or not." -Lisa Ingle, Geologist, Broken Arrow, OK
"Butch - Your friends are right; the Lewis & Clark expedition did not get into Oklahoma but one of the members did come to Oklahoma after discharging his duties of enlistment. Sgt. Nathaniel Pryor, after being mustered out of the army, came to eastern Oklahoma, married an Indian woman and opened a trading post on a creek near what is now the city of Pryor. He was well respected & made significant contribution to the development of area. He was buried at his Trading Post but urban expansion of the city of Pryor made it necessary to move his grave to the local cemetery. An elaborate monument marks his present resting place." -Tom Meason, Tulsa,OK
"Butch, My Mom, Tweed Stonum Machock (former Ardmore resident), will be 95 Friday. I hope some of your 2,000 Facebook friends can email her a Happy Birthday wish." -Helen Newell, Dallas helentweed@sbcglobal.net
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/TweedStonumMarch2009.jpg
"Butch: Thanks Very very Much. My daughter-in-law Trici Gilbert won the contest www.limeadeforlearning.com put on by Sonic, they are going to buy the equipment needed for the autistic children in her class! Thank you and all who helped with this worthy cause!" -Hoot Gilbert
"I think you missed a grocery store in Lone Grove that was Hunter's Grocery. It was on the east corner of Highway 70 and North Newport Road. Joyce Payne was their daughter and Rick Payne, their grandson, grew up in that store. John and Ada Hunter were good friends of my family. I have a lot of good memories of going to that store with my Grandfather, Joe Temple, and even after I married I took my own daughter to that store and they helped spoil her also. Rick or Joyce could tell you a lot of good things about the Hunter's. One story I remember very well was on my birthday. I couldn't wait to tell John Hunter it was my 13th birthday and so there he was all propped back in his chair talking to some other guys and I went up and said, "Guess what John Hunter, I am thirteen today"! His reply was "H-ll, don't tell me tell that boy going out the door"! Needless to say I was totally embarrassed and I hit him on the shoulder and said, "Oh, John Hunter"!. Was I ever surprised that night when someone knocked on our door and there stood Mr. Hunter with a box of chocolate cherries and he said, " Ada said I was too hard on you today and that I owe you an apology". When John Hunter died he died on my birthday...Good Friends are never forgotten. Also Louise's mother, Mrs. Norris (Mable) Oakman, and I shared the same birthday. Some things you just never forget." -Janelle
"Butch, Please remind your readers in the Lone Grove that our little dog, Murphy, is still missing and we still hold out hope that someone has her and we will get her back. We are so heartsick. No one knows unless they have a special pet just how much it hurts to have one lost.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/Murphy081310.jpg
1930s - Outhouses
Memory lane again - a less than normal fragrant subject.
Sanitation or lack thereof has been an issue since pre-history. It existed in a fairly primitive form until recent times. My first memories are from late '20s, we had 'modern' sewage as did much of Ardmore at the time. Back of the house across the edge of my grandmother's garden were a pair of almost weathered-away 1x12" planks. At some point she explained that they 'used to be' for going to the outhouse. Alleys behind the houses were lined with outhouses. The city had a crew that performed periodic cleaning and tossed in lime to minimize odor.
Out in the county and in less developed parts of the city the outhouse was in common use. The more affluent rural homes had flush toilets and sewage using septic tanks, feeders, etc, fore runners of as used today.
The typical outhouse was a "two holer", capable of seating two at once. I never witnessed dual usage but maybe the reason was to have 'his and hers'. I have often heard reference to 'built like an brick outhouse' but don't recall ever seeing one built of anything other than 1 by 12s with strips covering the cracks. Typically the structure was sitting over a pit. Periodically the house could be moved a few feet away and the pit covered up. In it's most primitive functional form, last year's Sears Roebuck catalog was nailed on the inside of the door.
Mid '30s my father owned a little gas station on 77 South at (now) Commerce & Myall. One of his renters also spent his spare time fixing radios. As a gag, he rigged up a loudspeaker under the seat of the outhouse out back. Customer's would arrive and as one of the girls entered it, he called attention to the others and would speak into his microphone "Lady, please move over, I'm painting down here". Rapid exit and laughter.
-Bob McCrory, Ardmore
"Butch, White Mound is located in Murray County off of Big Canyon/Nebo Road about 4-5 miles West of HWY 177. The geologic feature has been a source of Devonian Age fossils that Geology students have been coming to study for years. As a student of Geology I was there on a Stratigraphy Field Trip in 1956. I graduated from Okla. A&M (OSU) in 1956. Students come from many Universities in surrounding states as well as those science students in lower grades. This has been happening since before the forties when it was part of the James Ranch. Presently White Mound is in a pasture owned by the Howe Ranch. Which is part of our family. I married Dorothy Howe." -Richard Shive
"Eat every good pig, one rib at a time." -Budro's Rib Joint sign, Ardmore, Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/BudrosRibJoint093010.jpg
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a
minute!
http://www.CheapLongDistance.org
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ardmorecriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells:
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
American Flyers Memorial Fund - Administration Webpage
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/crash66.html
Official American Flyers Memorial Website
http://www.brightok.net/~wwwafm
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Base Website
http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons
Mirror Site of the Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter county schools, past and present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County Government Website
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
Ardmore School Criterions
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com
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