Our Oklahoma Blog

I am interested in the Main Street Lounge. I heard that a long time ago that it used to be the Logan’s Hotel/Motel or the Hogan’s Hotel/Motel. I’m not sure if this is true or not but am very curious to find out for sure. I also heard that at one time it used to be home of some apartments. I know there are nine to eleven rooms upstairs (most of them are now boarded up) upstairs. Supposedly there were some murders that took place back in the early 1930’s as well? Can anyone shed any light on this?

I, my husband and part of our Ghost Group went and did a paranormal investigation on the fourth and fifth floors of the Ardmoreite Building. We didn’t get lucky enough to catch anything on cam but we did catch about 5 voices on the tape that don’t belong to those who were there. We are working on getting some of the static out of the tape so you can hear it better but we were so excited about getting to investigate that building. At one time the fourth and fifth floors belonged to the Masons and now the entire top (5th) floor is KICM and KACO radio stations. In 1976 Ricky Bournes a DJ for a radio station died from a gunshot wound after he signed off the air. They say his daddy, Sonny, never got over his son’s death. Also I found some information on this web site that I confirmed through Charlie Ammons from the Ardmoreite. http://riptx.dns2go.com/ardmoreok.htm It tells of a secret staircase and room. We did get to go up there and we were so amazed at what were getting the chance to explore. I’m working on getting into another one of Ardmore’s Historical Buildings and do a Ghost Hunt there. I would love to hear ghost stories that people have or know of Ardmore and Lake Murray. Send me an email. spoiledkiddo@yahoo.com

I’ve been working on my family genealogy and have come across Ardmore a lot. My grandparents - William Laurence Goodman & Mary Idella Hinton Goodman - on my father’s side were all born in Grundy County, Tennessee. All of my father’s siblings were also born in Grundy - Except my father. He was born in Ardmore in 1911. The family is shown on the Ardmore 1910 census, and my father’s younger brother was born in 1914 back in Grundy County, so they were only there for less than 5 years.
There was another family from Grundy County named LeVan. They also moved to Ardmore during this period and stayed. They were Z.H. LeVan and Eliza Jane Guinn. Eliza Jane is my grandmother’s aunt. Z.H. LeVan’s mother was also a ggaunt of mine; it gets complicated. I know they sold furniture during this period. The LeVan family is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.
It is also coincidental that my father later moved to Ardmore to work during WWII. My brother was born in Ardmore.
My question is what was the draw to Ardmore in 1910? Especially for Tennessee folk? I have also found two other family names from Grundy County that also migrated to Ardmore. I suspect that the LeVan family might have been prominent in the area during that period and that they did the inviting. Any comments would be appreciated. -John

I was a small child during WWII but I remember quite a lot. My father worked as a paymaster or bookeeper in a wartime factory in Ardmore that made something like shell casings. The factory was shut down after the war and I remember my mother taking me over to the factory to visit my dad. He was busy finishing up and the factory was empty. He was one of the last employees. After that we moved on to a new job in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I have some family photos of my dad standing with a company baseball team in Ardmore.
Anybody have an idea what the factory name was or where it was located? -John

06/24/05 Friday 7pm. Took two hours to get through the construction mess for the new Winstar Casino Exits, etc. of I-35. Mornings are better with a 1 hour delay through the construction stretch. On this particular Friday at 7pm, the traffic was backed up south from the Red River to the Outlet Mall on the north side of Gainesville. -Butch Bridges

I have a little bit of information on the photo that Butch talked about in his latest email:

“A Reader sent in the pic below, he didn’t know what year it was taken. I see the names Jim Bramlett, Harold Parker, Sid Gilstrap and some others. Maybe someone can tell is the year?”

I see someone in the photo is named “Jimmy Holder”. I have a lot of Holders in my genealogy database that lived in the Ardmore, OK/Gainsville, TX area including the mother of Millie Myrtle Witt, who is Amanda Josephine Holder (1844-1904). One of the Holders in the database (only indirectly related to Amanda Josephine is named James Paul Holder (b. 1929). It is possible that this is the same Jimmy Holder that is identified in the photo which would date the photo to the mid-1940s… but that might be a stretch… Does anyone have anything better?

I’m searching for info on one Norman Newman, arrested in 1898, I think, (for murder). He escaped, and went to W.W. Cox’s ranch in New Mexico. He was living under the name of Reed. He was shot and killed there by an Oklahoma sheriff who had Pat Garrett with him at the time. The reward was never paid. As far as I know, he never went to trial. I would like to find out more about him, and find out if “Reed” was Norman Newman or not. Thanks, Martha. Great site. I’m also searching for Oklahoma Newcombs I might be related to. I’ll put up the info I have, which isn’t much, if asked. I love History, & I love Oklahoma/I.T. History. Thanks, Martha.

Amelia Earhart, noted aviatrix, was the first woman to fly the Atlantic in June, 1928, and in July 1937 disappeared in the Pacific Ocean while on a highly publicized world flight attempt. Not many folks know that she landed briefly on June 17, 1931 in Gainesville,Texas while on a flight from Dallas to Tulsa and while looking for the Ardmore, Oklahoma airport. After refueling and visiting briefly with local residents she took off and indicated that her next stop might be Pauls Valley or Shawnee, Oklahoma. It is not known whether she made one of these stops on that date, but if anyone has such information it would be interesting to read about the details. There may have been some local newspaper report.

Richard Williams on Car

Originally uploaded by tyrsdomain.

Richard Edmond Williams was born May 3, 1906 in Ardmore, Oklahoma. His parents were John Ed Williams and Millie Myrtle Witt.

His wife was Alice Hurley and their children were:
i) Richard Darrel Williams
ii) Donald Williams
iii) Beverly Deene Williams

He graduated from Ardmore High School on May 30, 1924.

Through the mid 30s, Richard and his family moved between Fort Worth, Gainesville, and Dallas, Texas in search of work. Finally, in 1935 or 1936, they moved to Los Angeles.

A friend of mine told me about an old indian campground close to Durant, Oklahoma. There also used to be “hanging trees” there too. Supposedly if you go out there sometimes you can hear the beating of the indian drums and sometime if you are luck (or unlucky, however you choose to look at it) you can still see people “hanging” from the trees. Can anyone shed any light on this?