This and That
Newsletter
A Weekly Publication
Vol 17 Issue 855 Circulation 5,000 June 13, 2013
PO Box 2
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
email address: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
580-657-8616
Every month or two I see Albert Cullum from Overbrook at Walmart and he always has some interesting story to tell me. This week was no different. He told me that years ago before the advent of reflective materials, traffic signs were made to show up in the dark by lining the letters with clear glass marbles cut in half. The crystal clear marbles were fairly large, cut into halves, and stuck to the signs. When headlights hit the signs, the light was reflected out kinda like a prism, and the lettering showed clearly. I remember seeing them now that Albert had jogged my memory. I found several for sale on eBay and they are going for hundreds of dollars. Wish I had several lying around.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/MarbleTrafficSign.jpg
1910 - Ardmore Dairy and Ice Cream
Factory, Leverett West, 1401 North Washington.
Ardmore Concrete Company, Daniel S. Blackburn, Quinn Wicker, 215 West Main.
1913 - Ardmore Brick and Tile Company, John B. Spragins, president; J.R. Pennington, vice president; P.C. Dings, secretary-treasurer; W.T. Harris, manager, 720 D Street NE.
I had the honor of meeting this week family members of Stanley Nasuta, Jr. Mr. Nasuta was one of 72 Army personnel who died in an American Flyers plane that crashed in 1966 near Gene Autry, Oklahoma. The Nasuta family met me at the Memorial site located at the entrance of the Airpark the shared memories and information and hopefully bringing some closure to the Nasutas to a sad accident that happened long ago. Ardmore photographer John Williams joined us and share his experience with the family members as John was one of the first people to respond that evening. John had been called at his home in Ardmore by The Associated Press and asked to go to the crash site. John donated all the photos he took that evening to the Greater Southwest Museum here in Ardmore, and some of those photos are on display in the military section of the museum. I took this picture of the Nasutas when we all gather in Ardmore later to eat before they returned to DFW to board a plane to return home to Connecticut. Left to right is Mr. Nasuta's daughter, Cherie Sheldon, Mr. Nasuta's widow, Gladys Seymore and son Stan Nasuta.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/Nasuta061213a.jpg
Q. Originally constructed in
1972 and opened in 1974, the Underground is a system of tunnels beneath downtown
Oklahoma City. What was its original name and who was it named after?
A. Originally constructed in 1972 and opened in 1974, the Conncourse,
now renamed the Underground, is a system of tunnels beneath downtown Oklahoma
City. It was originally named after banker
Jack T. Conn (1909 -
1991) who conceived the idea
along with Donald Kennedy and Dean A. McGee. Construction cost $1.3 million, and
it is about a mile long in total.
http://www.downtownokc.com/ParkingTransportation/TheUnderground.aspx
Q. Where is the oldest park in
Oklahoma?
A. (answer in next week's T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of June 17, 2000:
This week I learned about a neat place in Gainesville, Texas that I know I'm going to have to visit soon. It's called Big Bear's. If it's Native American, then you will find it at Big Bear's. I may just have to go down there and buy me one of those new Sacagawea Gold Dollars. Big Bear's is located in the Prime Outlet Mall on Interstate 35.----------------------------------------------------
"Hi Butch, Wherever I travel T&T has become a part of my weekly enjoyment. I have a favor I would like to ask of your readers. An old hobby of mine is to visit and map out old Ghost Towns and aviation graveyards. Though I have visited several throughout the U.S., I have not discovered any in Oklahoma where I now reside. I was wondering if any T&T readers would know of any and if so, would they share them with me. Thank you, Butch, and keep up the great service you generously give to us all." gas@ardmore.com
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"I AM SEARCHING FOR DESCENDANTS OF ATTORNEYS POTTER AND BOWMAN THAT WERE IN PRACTICE IN THE 1880s-1920s. THEY PRACTICED IN ARDMORE AND WERE ATTORNEYS FOR A LOT OF NATIVE AMERICANS FOR THEIR CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS." User920035@aol.com
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"Butch, I took some photos from the Sulphur Days Spring Water Festival on Friday June 9th"
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"Could someone help me in finding out some information on the Hugo, Oklahoma smallpox epidemic? My great grandmother died and was buried in a mass grave there. I am trying to find newspaper articles, or any information at that time period. The smallpox epidemic would be around the year 1912 in Hugo, Okla. Thank you for any help you can give me." ronsmith@brightok.net
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"I notice another of your readers seems annoyed that Ardmore's Civic Auditorium has been renamed "Heritage Hall". I try to keep up with local news and events, but I was totally unaware of the name change until I attended a graduation ceremony there recently. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the doors and saw a big "HH" etched into them! Who, in their infinite wisdom, was the decision maker behind this? I think your next poll question should be if your readers like the new name or not? If enough folks don't like it, maybe we can send the results to our city leaders and get it changed back. I don't want to sound like a complaining old hag, and I'm all for change and progress, but some things (especially landmarks like this one) need to be left alone!!!!!"
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"This tornado (in Ardmore) was on Feb. 13, 1946 and happened on the first night I was home after WW-2 and being discharged from the Army Air Corps. I slept through this storm although it missed my parents house by only two or three blocks. I was almost 25 years old at the time."
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Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/index.aspx?mss=152754
Check gas prices by town or zip code anywhere in U.S.
http://www.kmov.com/traffic/gas-buddy
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
There is a myth in La. that you are supposed to only catch and eat shrimp in months that have and "r" in them. I don't know how true this is, but I enclose a tale of my friend and I shrimping when we were living in Lake Charles.
Lake Charles, La. June 1972
"My good friend, Cleo Schmitz and I decided to go catch some shrimp. He had a
boat and we were going shrimping. Somewhere he borrowed a shrimp net and boards.
So we went in the Lake Charles ship channel. We caught quite a few shrimp.
Somewhere round 60 pounds. Some great biggins, like butterfly. We also caught a
two lb flounder. It sure looked good. Anyway we continued shrimpin down the
channel. When all of a sudden I look up and here comes a big ship. And I mean
"big". Cleo says hold on we cant get out of here and cant out run him down the
channel. You must understand the ship channel is just a huge big deep ditch, cut
for ships to travel Inland from the Gulf to Lake Charles. Here we are, caught in
the channel with this ship bearing down on us and no place to go. We move
over to side of the bank to let the ship pass. Sailors are standing on their
deck, and wave and laugh at us as they pass by. I remember the ship was from N
Korea, pushing a 10+ foot wave of water in front of it. After it passed us, our
boat dropped down and I could see forty feet of ditch and then the waves would
push you up on top and you could see for forty miles of land. This went on
sometime until the water finally settled down. It was funny after it was over.
But not too funny then. We finally made it home with our catch and decided to
have a shrimp and crab boil at my house. AND that's when we caught the house on
fire! Us Okies not knowing how to cook shrimp, put all the shrimp and crabs in a
small wash tub, with the boiling ingredients, lemon, crab boil spices, etc. and
set them on our electric stove in the kitchen. Turned on all four burners to
ensure enough heat. This caused the burners to "arc" across each other and
started an electrical fire. We called the Fire Dept. They brought a big set of
wire cutters and disconnected the electric stove. Our Insurance paid for a new
stove and some smoke damage. And the crabs and shrimp spoiled in back yard! I
guess there is something to that myth your not supposed to catch shrimp in the
month of June." -Ken in Wilson
"The skunk is under a porch, deck, garage: Get a bottle of plain old household ammonia and some old absorbent rags. Soak the rags with the ammonia and stick them under where the skunk is. Best to do this during the day because Mr. or Ms. Skunk is napping because they've been out prowling all night. The skunk will leave that night. Close up any openings with screen or wood to prevent future inhabitants. Yes, it is that easy. We got that tip from a game warden when we had a skunk under a shed." -Teresa
"I am having my sale Friday (June 14th) 8am to 2pm and Saturday 8am to noon..... hundreds of timetables and dining car menus, Rock Island and Pullman linens and lots of misc paper stuff. It is at Parkway Mini Storage, 1841 Sam Noble Parkway, unit 722, Ardmore, Okla. my phone is 319 2389. thx." -Ron Wagner
Arbuckle Historical Society program : Monday night, 7:00, Vickie Skidmore will present "Sulphur: Then and Now" at the museum - 402 W. Muskogee, Sulphur, Oklahoma
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little. -Franklin D. Roosevelt
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
All previous issues of This & That can be found on my Website.
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