00:00:00Unknown Speaker: This is a program done by Lucille Qualls for Culture Club, and is a recording made at the meeting. Her program is interspersed with very interesting comments by some of the members who have been longtime residents. And it's history that should not be lost.
00:00:16Lucille Qualls: Early history of Bristow and in the early part of the year, 1898, The Frisco Railroad was extending their road from Sapulpa to Oklahoma City. Of course, they were grading the road and building bridges and the laying of the ties and the steel, and it was all just going along at great strides. And in the month of June, 1898,they had completed the road almost to the present site of Bristow. And, of course, there were a great many people who followed this construction, and among them was Mr. And Mrs. C. O. Crane. And Mr. Crane erected a tent store where he sold tobacco and work clothes and staple groceries. And in a short time, why, he thought it would be nice to form a town, so he applied for a post office, and his appointment came through the fourth assistant Postmaster General, whose name was Mr. J. L. Bristow, and that is where Bristow got it's name. It wasn't,it was on the Fourth of July, 1898 that this was made official. And of course, they had a big celebration. Why all the construction workers and the farmers, I presume the Indians, they didn't mention them, but I imagine there were some around. And they had a big picnic and a dance. And the new postmaster and merchant soon found that mail delivery, excuse me, mail delivery from Sapulpa wasn't always dependable, and on several occasions it became necessary for him to ride over to Sapulpa to get the mail. And of course, that was a two day jaunt, because it took him a day to go over and the day to come back. We think our mail's slow now. But Bristow began to grow, and in less than 30 days, it had added 100 citizens, new tent stores, fenced in wagon yards, cold drink stands without ice, dry goods stores, clothing stores and shoe stores. And frame buildings were being built everywhere. Wells were drilled, and by August the 15th, there were 25 frame buildings completed and used for living quarters and stores. And the corner of our present Sixth & Main, which is right where we are, was the center of
00:03:06Unknown Speaker: town. I think that is tremendous growth in 30 days. By this time, the Frisco was running a passenger train from Sapulpa to Bristow, and the first train that arrived in Bristow in August of 1898, and it came from Sapulpa and returned there by backing up all the way. There were no fences, so the cattle and pigs ranged wherever they pleased, and sometimes, the pigs pleased to dine with the tent dwellers, who were sort of at their mercy. But, every once in a while, there was a pig missing, and the aroma of roast pork permeated the neighborhood. Now one of the first priorities of a new town was a school, and the first one was a subscription school with no regard to age. And one of the first teachers was Mrs. Lucy West. Now this developed into a good preschool system by 1903, and there they had built one school building, and it was occupied by the principal, Professor Gordon Castleberry and the more advanced students above the fourth grade. The third and fourth grades under Mr. P.A. Spice (ph) and his assistant, Ms. Stella, Stella Hankin (ph), had about 140 enrolled, and they met in the Methodist Church. First and second grades, with about 100 students under Mrs. J. N. West and her assistant, Ms. Maude Vann (ph), occupied the Christian Church. Now this was all temporary, of course, until the construction of the new and larger brick school building could be completed. Let's go back to 1900 where I found a few little choice items in the paper that I found down here at the library. And one of the items read, "George Carmen and family came to Bristow from Billings, Missouri. He is around trying to locate himself in some kind of business." I presume that's Jack's father. And H.W. Corey and family, Aiden (ph), Gussie (ph) and Ralph moved to Bristow, and Mr. Corey is a Frisco agent. It also mentions that the First Christian Church was finished that year, and their preacher was Reverend Roberts, and the Methodist Church completed theirs the same year, and their
00:05:55Unknown Speaker: minister was C.N. Roy (ph). Now I got these things from Mr. Purdy's book down at the library, and he's supposed to have gotten them out of the newspapers at that time. But if you, if I make a statement here that you object to, please tell me, because I don't know. All I know is what I read in that paper, but those listed as high school grades in 1900 were Ethel Carmen (ph), Elmer Chandler (ph), Myrtle Merriman (ph) and Dolly Vogle (ph), and their teacher was J.L. Walters. I imagine that Ethel Carmen (ph) was one of Jack's relatives. Is that right? And I don't and Myrtle Merriman (ph) was Augusta [indecipherable] mother, and the name Vogle is very prominent in our Methodist history.
00:06:52Unknown Speaker: She was a sister to J.M. Vogle (ph) here, and a sister to Mrs. Dr. Schrader (Charles T. Schrader).
00:07:02Lucille Qualls: I see, it's very interesting. by the way, I might explain these names right now. Down at the library, they have, they have these old newspapers, and they have these old brochures that they have sent out, used to send out to entice people are too Bristow. And I, there were three lists, and I got the names as far as I could go on this poster. So there, there were more names that I couldn't get on there. So if you know somebody that should have been on there, it wasn't, it was just because I ran out of space. But I thought perhaps those names might bring back some memories to some of you, and it was interesting to me to recognize so many still here in Bristow. Another little item that I picked up down at the library in 1902, P.A. Spice (ph) the intermediate teacher, whipped Lucy Combs (ph) and Alva Groom (ph) for writing love letters to their sweethearts, Hyde Fox (ph) and Plaid Purdy (ph). The letters were also read before the entire school. Times have changed. Another little item, an early day teacher, J.L. Duncan (ph) also graduated with that year's class, so he must have been a busy man. Bentley Sears (ph) was the first football player from Bristow to make All American, or All State, excuse me,
00:08:42Lucille Qualls: Is that right?
00:08:42Unknown Speaker: And my husband's the only one in Bristow who's ever been all state two years.
00:08:45Unknown Speaker: He was national high and low hurdles champion in the United States.
00:08:54Lucille Qualls: Well good.
00:08:55Unknown Speaker: Another Bristow boy, Sammy Allen (ph), came along and was another national champion from Bristow. Sam Allen [indecipherable].
00:09:05Lucille Qualls: Very interesting.
00:09:08Unknown Speaker: Jack missed about that far.
00:09:10Unknown Speaker: That big colored boy.
00:09:11Unknown Speaker: No he didn't.
00:09:14Unknown Speaker: But Jack missed it about that far.
00:09:18Lucille Qualls: I thought one of the interesting things about this Bentley Sears item was that he made only one touchdown in his whole career.
00:09:26Unknown Speaker: He was blocked.
00:09:31Unknown Speaker: I guess and in 1901, Ed Abraham was operating a confectioner (ph) and was arrested for selling ice cream on Sunday. These little things give you an idea of life back in 1900 in Bristow. Then Bristow progressed, I think, very rapidly, because in 1906 these businesses were listed. And I don't whether you can all read that or not, but I think that's [inaudible] that lawyer stuff.
00:10:30Unknown Speaker: Show them that calendar over there. That's a 1906 street scene. Shamas put that calendar out every year. And he goes back and gets an old postcard.
00:10:32Unknown Speaker: That's 1906, the same year that you're, very interesting.
00:10:36Unknown Speaker: Turn that around for people to see.
00:10:38Unknown Speaker: See there's the State Bank right there, and across is OG&E used to be the Opera House. Yeah. Sixth and Main. [Inaudible]
00:10:49Lucille Qualls: What year was that? What year was it?
00:10:56Unknown Speaker: 1905.
00:11:03Lucille Qualls: Well, it seems that the town was really growing, and they were sending out, I don't know they, I don't know whether they had a chamber of commerce at that time or not, but they certainly had some town boosters, because they were sending out brochures and trying to get people in the east to come and settle in Bristow. And they were a little bit flowery with their with their writing. And I wanted to read this to you. I thought it was very interesting. This is one of the things that they sent to entice people to Bristow. "Do you want a home in the most beautiful town in the new state of Oklahoma, where society is good, where school and church facilities are excellent, where health is splendid and morals above reproach, and where many opportunities to engage and manufacture and various other business and avocations business avocations exist. If you do, you not, you cannot find a town of its size where so many opportunities exist to such a degree as in Bristow. The thriving, wide awake town of the Creek Nation, a more beautiful spot for the location of a town could not be found in this immediate vicinity unfolds a vast panorama of nature's grandest scenery and plain valley with hill and water course all mingle in one vast, poetic dream." [Inaudible]
00:12:47Unknown Speaker: We need them now.
00:12:58Lucille Qualls: Yes.
00:12:58Unknown Speaker: Have us send those out.
00:13:00Lucille Qualls: "While cold, clear, crystal water, as pure and limpid as the water of the pellucid nevus can be a pained on every hand. Bristow is surrounded by timbered hills free from any local cause for disease, with summer's cool and winter's mild, with the purest of water and fresh breezy air, possessing the most healthy and desirable climate to be found, with great valleys and rich upland and prairies of all the finest farming lands that will produce all manner of crops. The home of magnificent fruits as juicy and luscious as any that ever tickled the palates of the gods or [indecipherable]. Our little city offers to the casual visitor or permanent home seeker, a home where he may spend his life as pleasantly as though in the orange scented groves of Florida or on the shores of the sunlit Pacific. Come to Bristow, where you can secure property cheap and build you a home where you can educate your children and bring them up in a good, moral town among the best people." [laughing, applause]
00:14:14Unknown Speaker: Yay, Bristow! [inaudible]
00:14:23Lucille Qualls: I found that all of the writers back in that day were just a little bit flowery, and
00:14:30Unknown Speaker: Who wrote that? Lucille, do you know who wrote that?
00:14:33Lucille Qualls: No.
00:14:33Unknown Speaker: Did they sign it? It sounds like Mr. Purdy [Indecipherable]
00:14:37Lucille Qualls: Probably was. It was 1906.
00:14:39Unknown Speaker: It sounds like Al Clark (ph). But, of course, he wasn't here at that time, but he used to put out stuff about our town.
00:14:44Lucille Qualls: This was, this was put out in 1906. And there were, there are really some more that really put this in the shade. But I thought this was a little more precise. In 1906, the first graduating class from Bristow High School consisted of four people. They were Ralph Corey (ph), Waldo Stickle (ph), Alice Rue (ph) and Ina Green (ph). And in 1915 the entire enrollment for Bristow High School was 52 and that year they selected the colors purple and gold. Now, in the early 1900s cotton farming was the mainstay of this area. In 1916 during the harvest season, cotton wagons lined the entire length of Main Street, waiting their turn at the gin. And there were eight gins here at that time. Helen, can you remember those cotton wagons in the street?
00:16:02Helen: They were still here in 1920 when we moved here.
00:16:05Lucille Qualls: Oh, were they?
00:16:05Helen: And they would line up on East Ninth to get into the one gin, particularly there by the railway. It is still standing, the old building, on the north side of the railway track. And after they left, our street would be white for days, because the cotton fell out. It was interesting to see all these people come in early in the morning, stay late in to the night, because they waited in the wagon. And then, as I remember, they sucked it up, that big [indecipherable] they had, yeah, the suction line. And then [indecipherable]
00:16:45Unknown Speaker: Well, they gave a big prize for the first bale of cotton. So that's why they came in early. [Inaudible] [laughing]
00:16:55Lucille Qualls: You mean people did that?! I talked to Opal Lyons (ph) about the cotton and her dad owned the gin, and she said he would go down and he'd buy the cotton right there and pump out the cotton right there at the wagon, and then he would send her word to her up in the office that this man so that she could the man always owed them money, and so she was to collect the money. And so I'm sure that was a very interesting and busy time in Bristow. And of course, during the same time, peanuts were an important part of Bristow. I'm not just I couldn't find out exactly when peanuts they started raising peanuts.
00:17:53Lucille Qualls: When cotton went out.
00:17:54Unknown Speaker: Oil boom came just before the [indecipherable].
00:17:59Lucille Qualls: Oh, it was later then.
00:18:01Unknown Speaker: I think Gene Coleman (ph) was the first [indecipherable].
00:18:05Lucille Qualls: Is that right?
00:18:07Unknown Speaker: Not sure.
00:18:08Lucille Qualls: These buildings down on South Main are the original buildings that were erected to take care of the cotton.
00:18:15Unknown Speaker: Peanuts.
00:18:20Lucille Qualls: Those things are but sometimes it's a little hard to pin these things down when you're trying to get dates. As you can see, things were going pretty good for the new community. And in 1919 the Bristow boosters were sending out glory glowing reports of this city, and they claimed, excuse me, they claimed the purest water in large quantities, paved streets, which, by the way, are the same bricks that we ride over today, an unlimited quantity of natural gas, oil all around the city and more coming in every day, a glass plant with a payroll of more than $2,000 a week, a commercial club, steam laundry, four banks with a combined capital of $1,000,750, Masonic Temple costing $30,000, and I presume that's the same one that's down there today, a modern refinery, an ice and light plant and a modern high school. [Inaudible] I was interested in ads in the paper in 1919, because the professional people were advertising, and you don't see that nowadays, but there were four doctors, one dentist, one optometrist and two lawyers advertising in the paper that I was looking at down there. And you might be interested in their names, because one of them was John M. Wells, MD (ph) and I'm sure Reba (ph) knows who that is. [Inaudible]
00:20:41Lucille Qualls: Oh, I see.
00:20:43Unknown Speaker: Was a bookkeeper for years.
00:20:44Lucille Qualls: Well, she, she remembers that then. And W.F. Snorgrass, MD (ph).
00:20:52Unknown Speaker: That's Jack Snorgrass' (ph) father.
00:20:53Lucille Qualls: Is that Jack's father?
00:20:54Unknown Speaker: They lived out here where J.T. Cassady lives.
00:21:02Lucille Qualls: Oh, I see.
00:21:02Lucille Qualls: Well, and C.G. Martin, MD.
00:21:04Unknown Speaker: On West Sixth Street.
00:21:05Lucille Qualls: Is he Thelma Collins' uncle?
00:21:09Unknown Speaker: He left Bristow. [Inaudible]
00:21:09Lucille Qualls: And W.E. Reynolds, MD. [Inaudible]
00:21:12Unknown Speaker: Uh-huh.
00:21:12Unknown Speaker: And she's still living?
00:21:27Lucille Qualls: Yes, she's living in Tulsa. I've met her. And then there was an A.P. Watson (ph).
00:21:38Unknown Speaker: A dentist.
00:21:39Lucille Qualls: Right. These are just the ones who were advertising in this paper that I was looking at. Elizabeth Buchan (ph) B, U, C, H, A, N, I presume that's the way you pronounce it. She was an optometrist and W.T. Banks (ph) and W. E. Tomey, lawyers, were advertising. [Inaudible]
00:22:16Lucille Qualls: I'm going to let both of you plead your cases in just a minute. In 1919, there were 200 automobiles in Bristow. Real estate was booming. Telephone rates were raised from $2 to $3 for business phones and from $1 to $1.75 for residence phones. And the local theater was featuring such stars as Theda Bara, William Farnum, and "Fatty" Arbuckle [Roscoe Arbuckle]. Now, of course, this burst of activity was brought on partly from the discovery of oil around Bristow. And Claude Freeland (ph) started the whole thing in 1905 when he drilled in the first well on what is now East 12th Street, and I've been told that that's probably up in Mrs. Albert Kelly's neighborhood.
00:23:06Unknown Speaker: I was thinking one of the first wells we had in town was what we called [indecipherable].
00:23:16Unknown Speaker: Now is in the Kelly [indecipherable] with Albert Kelly the greatest production we ever had [indecipherable].
00:23:25Lucille Qualls: Well, this was in 1905, and it was 14 years later that the oil boom really started. [Inaudible]
00:23:32Unknown Speaker: That was, I thought that was the original [indecipherable].
00:23:39Lucille Qualls: Well, Norva Freeland (ph)I called her and talked to her, and she got some papers out, and she said that Claude built his well on East 12th Street, and he had enough gas to supply them. They had gas lights and gas to heat with, and but it was not, evidently, there was not a lot of activity then, until about 14 years later, when when they really started with the drilling and now, I noticed that Isa (ph) said 14, there were 14,000 people here. I was told 16,000 and and they said that that Depew had about 3500 people.
00:24:44Unknown Speaker: Slick was the town of 10,000 people.
00:24:47Lucille Qualls: 10,000
00:24:49Helen: Buildings on both sides of the road there and the corner was the schoolhouse square north [indecipherable].
00:24:54Unknown Speaker: Four mile corner [indecipherable].
00:25:12Helen: Yes. [Indecipherable]
00:25:17Lucille Qualls: But the roads were so bad that you didn't travel very much. In fact, one lady told me that it took about an hour to get down to Depew at one time. And I can I can understand that because I've been in the oil fields a long time. [Inaudible]
00:25:46Lucille Qualls: Now that's about as far as I could go with the written word that I could get down at the library, and so I am going to open this up to just some reminiscing. And I have asked Helen and and Reba Lee if they would sort of be thinking about some things, I think past 1900 mostly. I'm sure they couldn't remember too far ahead of that, that some incidents, perhaps that they might remember that would be real interesting to us.
00:26:27Unknown Speaker: Well, you know, [indecipherable] there and got two livery and sale barns. I lived over on East Seventh Street. In fact, my daddy's name is still on the steps over there, and there's a livery stable there where Wells Grocery, you know, right next to the street. And I can remember going by there walking around all the mess and all that sort of stuff. It was right across from where Lorene Roberts (ph) lives now. And another thing I might tell is this Walter Groom is really Dr. W.W. Groom, and he was a doctor, but he never did practice. He got into banking, and when he left Bristow, he became the Executive Secretary of the Masonic Lodges of Oklahoma at McAlester, with his history down there, and was that until his death, and he was one of the big instigators of the Rainbow Organization. We're number, what is the number of the Rainbow Group here? Way down four or five or six? And we, we had the state chapter, but Dr. W.W. Groom made real history down at McAlester. [Inaudible]
00:27:38Unknown Speaker: And I'll tell you something about the bank building over here. You see this first picture over here, and it's been covered up with, like, what they call it? Stucco or something to start. Jack's father built that building. It's the first brick building in Bristow, and they made the bricks. Old Curt Gillaspie can tell you all about that, but they made the bricks. So when, when they were going to tear it down, when an author told Jack that they were going to, so Jack went down and got a lot of the bricks to give to all of our grandkids and everything that their grandfather, great grandfather, had made in this bank building. I didn't mean too many years ago toward the [indecipherable] would put this covering on it first. And back in the 20s, Bristow was famous for its bank. They called it the Million Dollar Bank. [Inaudible]
00:28:57Unknown Speaker: Yeah, it was. It was a big robbery. [Inaudible]
00:29:16Lucille Qualls: Was that during the oil boom?
00:29:18Unknown Speaker: What year was that [indecipherable]?
00:29:30Unknown Speaker: This is not the bank that was robbed. It was in the old American National up there. The back of it was a telephone office. And if you remember, it was all glass, mostly on that north side. And he came in and robbed the front of the bank.
00:29:57Unknown Speaker: [Indeciperable]
00:29:58Unknown Speaker: See, we had four banks here at one time, and these robbers came in and robbed the bank. And they had to go back up past where [indecipherable] office was on Seventh Street. He had his own door back there, and he didn't do the thing that grab a gun and start shooting. And they had quite a shoot out there in the street. They tore that building down up above [indecipherable].
00:30:45Unknown Speaker: Wonderful to have memories. [Indecipherable]
00:30:46Unknown Speaker: You're the only one to use your head.
00:30:47Lucille Qualls: I think the closet was a good place to be.
00:30:50Unknown Speaker: Ann Stark found out later that she was shot right here. [Indecipherable]
00:31:31Unknown Speaker: [Indecipherable] people have their life savings in a jar. [Inaudible]
00:31:35Unknown Speaker: I wasn't there, but I was in high school and I can remember [indecipherable].
00:31:37Unknown Speaker: And, then, it also went bankrupt.
00:31:41Unknown Speaker: Yeah, well, that's when I first came.
00:31:42Unknown Speaker: And what was it, two banks, two banks went bankrupt. One went bankrupt and we hadn't been here very long and didn't have any money in it, so.
00:31:54Lucille Qualls: Walter Simons (ph), the Secretary Chamber of Commerce, and they hired him to run this bank. Well, it was not solvent.
00:32:07Unknown Speaker: This was 1906?
00:32:11Lucille Qualls: No, no, the other.
00:32:13Unknown Speaker: The other?
00:32:13Unknown Speaker: The original bank was across the street from where it was, where the Safeway store [indecipherable].
00:32:25Unknown Speaker: No, no First State. There were four banks. They had one on each corner. Right.
00:32:33Helen: Oh, and another thing we had it during the war. We had a big flagpole right out in the middle of the Seventh Street. You remember that, don't ya? The flag pole on Seventh Street? Had a great, big, round thing like this. We had to drive around the flagpole. [Inaudible]
00:32:55Unknown Speaker: I don't remember that, but I remember the flag pole on Seventh Street. [Indecipherable] July, 4 of July, you know, all around the flag pole.
00:33:06Unknown Speaker: Oh, and there was a little band stand up there we used to have [indecipherable] library. And every summer we'd have band concerts on Saturday night. Do you remember that?
00:33:19Unknown Speaker: Another thing we had the Chautauqua Circus. You all remember the Chautauqua Circus? And Bristow always had that in the summertime. And boy, you go sit under the tent and just sweat. I had some fans, some old, old fans from here, a bunch of new churches around here, and the funeral homes. And I forgot to bring them. [Indecipherable]
00:33:44Lucille Qualls: Reba Lee brought some annuals, 1923, '24 and '27 that I'm sure it would be very interesting to some of you, and be sure and look at them. [Inaudible]
00:34:09Lucille Qualls: Yes, it just wasn't. It wasn't like it is now. [Inaudible]
00:34:19Unknown Speaker: Oh, and from our bunch [indecipherable] but you know, like Opal and Beverly Freeland and [indecipherable] and the Carmen's, Gertrude and Jack and me. And of course, my brother had been there before, before me. Well, he was younger. [Inaudible]
00:34:51Lucille Qualls: No, it wasn't. It wasn't as common. [Indecipherable]
00:34:53Unknown Speaker: A lot of girls went to private schools then. [Indecipherable]
00:34:56Unknown Speaker: You know, on of the things that I remember was the Christmas openings at night. When you had the things at night.
00:35:12Unknown Speaker: I loved the Halloween when each merchant had [indecipherable].
00:35:23Unknown Speaker: Everybody had to come to town on Saturday night. Everybody, yes, you just beeping at everybody and having a good time!
00:35:30Unknown Speaker: Everything was closed on Sunday. All the stores.
00:35:33Unknown Speaker: We used to have a good time on Halloween. It was Pauline Abraham's birthday, and she always threw a big party up here on West Eighth Street in the house where France Hill (ph) is living now. And, boy, we used to have the best times on Halloween, big occasion, Halloween.
00:35:57Lucille Qualls: I looked back through some newspapers. They have old newspapers on microfilm at the library. And if your neck will stand it, it's a very interesting thing, but you certainly break your neck trying to, trying to get those. And I found in society poems the names of a lot of people that I recognized. I didn't try to bring them because there were just too many of them. But I kind of got the idea that Bristow was very, very social place about that time, because at least they put it all in the paper because it was full of bridge parties and dances [indecipherable].
00:36:47Unknown Speaker: See, and E.E. Mount over there, he had the first self-service grocery store in Bristow. Remember up on east, west Seventh there by the telephone office. And I remember you he had a little sign, you know, you walked through and the gate clicked, and why that was a grandest place on earth to go up there and [indecipherable].
00:37:04Lucille Qualls: Did he have carts too?
00:37:07Unknown Speaker: I dont know, I don't remember that part. That was our first self service up there. Of course, the E.E. Mount family built that house on East First Street, just across from the Washington School. [Inaudible]
00:37:31Unknown Speaker: The old Hamburger King.
00:37:38Unknown Speaker: Going from coast to coast.
00:37:39Unknown Speaker: Yes. [Indecipherable]
00:37:40Unknown Speaker: Well, I can tell you, when we were back at school, hamburgers were a nickel or a dime. Ten cents at that time. [Indecipherable]
00:37:50Unknown Speaker: He was always telling the tale on himself and and Wallace Bisbee (ph). You all remember Dr. Bisbee (ph), the surgeon, and they went up to the hamburger, and this was old greasy John, you know lived up there on West Tenth, and they want, they had a dime between them. So they ordered a hamburger, hamburger, and Wallace stepped up, he says, and I want pickles on my half.
00:38:26Helen: Oh, they were here ever since I can remember.
00:38:30Unknown Speaker: 1907.
00:38:32Unknown Speaker: Jack [indecipherable] came here in in 1898 or 1889 and then my daddy came here in 1909, well, a little bit before that.
00:38:53Unknown Speaker: My daddy and Schrader (ph) and Reynolds (ph) and all that [indecipherable].
00:38:59Unknown Speaker: And Dr. King. A.H. Stone.
00:39:05Unknown Speaker: Tom Foster, he was just a Democrat.
00:39:14Unknown Speaker: [Indecipherable]
00:39:14Unknown Speaker: Anna Sue's (ph) father, wasn't it?
00:39:14Unknown Speaker: E.O. Foster, there.
00:39:16Unknown Speaker: Pete (ph) and his brothers [indecipherable] when I was a kid.
00:39:22Lucille Qualls: I was wondering about Mrs. A.C. Cook (ph), she was the only lady listed except Elizabeth McCann (ph). Was she a special citizen? Mrs. A. C. Cook?
00:40:03Unknown Speaker: Let me tell you this, [inaudible] she had just she left Bristow the first time [inaudible] they were very confident, and they lost everything.
00:40:12Unknown Speaker: It's amazing how many people [inaudible] and you have to struggle things. [Inaudible] But it is amazing.
00:40:27Lucille Qualls: Well, in 1929 there's a lot of people lost everything in a hurry and had to struggle for it. [Indecipherable]
00:41:03Unknown Speaker: When did the Krumme's come here?
00:41:11Unknown Speaker: They came later.
00:41:12Unknown Speaker: That J. S. Carman [James Silas Carman] is Neva Gurley's dad and their home place is right up there where the [indecipherable] apartment sits right on that corner.
00:41:12Unknown Speaker: Well, I think there is a picture. [Indecipherable]
00:41:26Unknown Speaker: No, that's Ethel Carman bought that later on. No, the old grandpa, Jack's grandfather and mother [indecipherable]. The Sharpes, they lived along and in there where the old Turner where the Turner [indecipherable] Motor Company is on Main. [Indecipherable]
00:41:51Lucille Qualls: There's a picture of Ann Jones' (ph) home up here. It doesn't look like it's a stone home.
00:41:59Unknown Speaker: Well, they built that home, the one [indecipherable].
00:42:09Unknown Speaker: No, the Hanes you're thinking about is H.Y. They were kin to the Vogels (ph). I think that's who you were thinking about. They were in the Methodist Church. [Indecipherable]
00:42:22Unknown Speaker: [Indecipherable] and kin to Walker [indecipherable] Fannie Watson (ph) [indecipherable]/
00:42:33Lucille Qualls: And Mrs. Klingen, Mrs. Klingensmith had a had a [indecipherable] shop. [Indecipherable]
00:42:44Unknown Speaker: And that Lovett (ph) is Gertrude [indecipherable].
00:42:46Unknown Speaker: I think that's her daughter. [Indecipherable]
00:42:53Unknown Speaker: Oh! I can tell you all about Norma. She and I were very close friends in 1926. Is that about right? Norma.
00:43:01Unknown Speaker: Norma who?
00:43:03Unknown Speaker: Norma Smallwood was her name, and her aunt worked for the Jackson & Lee Grocery Store, and she was an old maid, and she lived up there on that corner where, you know, where Fern Brooks lives? Well, their home was on that corner. Well, anyway, Norma's mother and daddy were separated, and they would come here a lot of time and stay with Ms. Nettie (ph). So, they were here, and Norma and I were real close friends. Then she her mother, Lucille, moved them all to Tulsa, and she became Miss America from Tulsa, and then she married Gilcrease (ph) and they had one daughter, Denise, born in France, [indecipherable] I'm crazy French name, and I knew her real well, because she belonged to the same sorority and we used to go to our state meetings and we'd chat and talk about her mother, and her mother died of cancer in Wichita Falls. Oh, and 10 years ago, of course, [indecipherable] was killed in a car wreck and in Dallas. And this beautiful room that's on the west, I believe, of Gilcrease was in memory of her [indecipherable].
00:44:21Unknown Speaker: Very beautiful girl.
00:44:24Unknown Speaker: Oh, Norma died of cancer in Wichita Falls. [Indecipherable]
00:44:34Unknown Speaker: Her daughter is dead, too.
00:44:41Unknown Speaker: Yes, she was killed in a car accident.
00:44:43Lucille Qualls: Is there anything else that anybody thinks of that would be a real addition to this? We could, but I don't think we should. It's after three. I was interested in Lyons Cafe because I'm not, I don't, don't go back past where a lot of you do. And Lyons Cafe was open for business in 1934, and of course, they they closed in 1973.
00:45:16Unknown Speaker: Well, let me tell you the background of that. You see, this Conger up here, Dr. Conger, had a brother, and he owned a little confectionary down here, along about where [indecipherable] and Opal and Merlin bought them out, and they still had those little ice cream chairs and all that sort of stuff. See, but that's the start. L.B. Connor (ph) and Roberts were their names, and that's where that originated, Lions confection.
00:45:41Lucille Qualls: Well, I'm sure most all of you may, perhaps Sandy and Isa may not remember Lyons Cafe, but the rest of you probably would. It's just sort of a landmark in Bristow, and it was very interesting to me to get those dates and and also the old Laurel Hotel was a real Bristow landmark, and I understand it was on Sixth Street where the National Supply is [inaudible].
00:46:19Lucille Qualls: Is that right? It was, it has I have noticed. I noticed in those newspapers that I scanned that it was not it was mentioned in so many places that I thought it it deserved a place in Bristow history.
00:46:39Unknown Speaker: I still remember that sign.
00:46:45Lucille Qualls: There's in 1952 I found where the Sapulpa Chieftains had defeated the Bristow Pirates. So, history, you know, keeps going on, and that Mose LeForce had resigned as coach of Bristow High School, and that's bringing us up almost to modern day. So, if there is there anything else that anybody, Helen?
00:47:09Helen: One time Jack was on [indecipherable], do you remember at Oklahoma City and they got a special train up. I don't have it all to 2000 people, from Bristow! [Inaudible]
00:47:27Unknown Speaker: We had that game stolen from us. Just literally stolen from us. Made a 97 yard touchdown that they called back.
00:47:41Unknown Speaker: Oh, I think Rich was about ready [inaudible].
00:47:50Unknown Speaker: That's right. That game was really stolen from us.
00:47:53Unknown Speaker: How many people went to see the game? [Inaudible]
00:47:57Unknown Speaker: The mommies, the new generation, you know, go to see their children. It's very sad to see the children bringing you know [indecipherable].
00:48:20Unknown Speaker: These kids had everybody!
00:48:21Unknown Speaker: Oh, that was so exciting [inaudible].
00:48:23Unknown Speaker: No, that was before [inaudible].
00:48:24Unknown Speaker: Hafer was coaching.
00:48:27Unknown Speaker: In these class reunions, Hafer comes back here. He lives in Edmond. He's just as fine as he can be, and he's gonna write a book.
00:48:35Helen: Yeah, and he was a member of the Methodist Church, he and his wife, they had one son, Eddie [indecipherable] (ph).
00:48:44Unknown Speaker: This is the name of our field.
00:48:45Unknown Speaker: Yes, Hafer Field.
00:48:47Unknown Speaker: And he has had a special honor at Edmond. They have named the field down there for him because he's done so much work with young boys after he retired.
00:48:56Unknown Speaker: But you knew about [indecipherable].
00:49:02Unknown Speaker: Oh, yeah. And you remember old fashioned chivalries He married while he was coach here and we put 'em all in a wheel barrow and took them down Main Street. We used to do that a lot.
00:49:19Lucille Qualls: So, you can see that Bristow was and is and ever will be, a colorful town. And I have thoroughly enjoyed looking into the history of Bristow, and it's too big a subject to cover in one afternoon, so we're going to have to cut it off, but I want to thank Reba and Helen for reminiscing and all of you. Yes?
00:49:30Lucille Qualls: wanted to find out about is [inaudible].
00:50:11Unknown Speaker: What was that building originally?
00:50:20Unknown Speaker: Ms. Collins introduced her.
00:50:22Unknown Speaker: Well, by the way, Velma Collins won the [indecipherable] Cup at OU for being the outstanding, same time Carl Albert did. They were classmates and sweehearts
00:50:32Unknown Speaker: Carl leaned over to her and said, I'm glad they got you because you're shorter than I.
00:50:39Unknown Speaker: What was the building used for [indecipherable].
00:50:50Unknown Speaker: NYA (ph) National Youth.
00:50:55Unknown Speaker: Oh, is that what it was built for? And then they used it for a national amory. [Inaudible]
00:50:56Unknown Speaker: I, perhaps, was here where OG&E was originally.
00:50:59Unknown Speaker: Where did they come up with a name like Massena for that lake?
00:51:01Unknown Speaker: Well, that was Governor Murray's cousin or brother or somebody. [Inaudible]
00:51:25Unknown Speaker: We didn't always have a lake. I think we always had [indecipherable].
00:51:48Lucille Qualls: Well, I invite you all to look at these annuals, the pictures. I'm sure you all saw these pictures when they came out in the paper, but it might refresh your memory. And I do thank all of you for filling me in on a lot of these things that I could not get. But I would like to add a personal note in conclusion, on Bristow, in retrospect. We were transferred here from Centralia, Illinois in 1952 and our three daughters graduated from Bristow High School. We've had 26 years of happy memories here. We had no intention of retiring here, when we came here. We thought we would, we'd always planned to go to Missouri to retire, but after 26 years, we just couldn't think of any place else to live. And I'm not as eloquent as those writers back in 1906, but I would like to say that Bristow is a great place. Thank you!
00:52:54Unknown Speaker: As a member of the program committee, I think you did an outstanding program.
00:53:57Lucille Qualls: Well, thank you.
