Jessie Duke Richardson, The Muskogee Years

This is a picture the School of Fine Arts built by Jessie Duke Richardson. It stood across the street from the old West High School. Today, it houses the Harvest Ministries Church. Beckham Park now occupies the block where the school stood.

Jessie Duke was born July 7, 1878 in Memphis, Tennessee. She married John Edgar Richardson about 1897. Two years later, she gave birth to her only child, a son called "Jack." They lived in Memphis at the turn of the century. (Her husband shortly quit his grocery store bookkeeping in order to move to Fort Smith, Arkansas to become a public auditor.)

By April of 1910, Jessie is already teaching music in her home. Probably that summer, the family moved to Muskogee. Jessie and her family lived on West Denver Street through 1917. About 1917 or early 1918, her husband passed away, forcing the mother and son to move to 1218 West Okmulgee.

Jessie expanded her teaching in 1915. That spring she advertised that the "Duke-Richardson School of Music and Expression" would be beginning the following fall. Still operating out of her home, she promised to teach public speaking, expression and music education.

Jessie said she was a simple "piano musician" when the 1920 census enumerator inquired about her occupation. Teaching piano lessons must have been how Jessie made most of her income.

President Calvin Coolidge led the nation in celebrating the first week in May, 1924, as the country's "National Music Week." In Muskogee, students from Jessie's School of Fine Arts performed 20-minute recitals daily during the noon hour at West High School to mark the occasion.

Jessie began teaching drama that same year. She also taught Shakespeare and forensic oratory. In addition, she taught dance according to classical Greek principles. Finally, she added voice in private instruction or ensemble classes.

Jessie's students during the early 1930's included Misses Anna Lynn Cook, Olivell Graves (nee Moore), and Gloria Gulagar. Olivell described Jessie as "having a wonderful, charming personality." Jessie taught these girls "esthetic dancing" and "special readings."

Olivell attended the School of Fine Arts at the insistence of her mother. Jessie taught her how to express herself and how to talk to people. Olivell learned how to say "That would be so __" and "That would be, oh, just delicious." Jessie's manner inspired her students to conduct themselves properly.

Jessie stood about five feet, four inches tall. She was always immaculately dressed and wore her dark hair in tight curls. She "stayed at the Severs Hotel a good bit of the time. So many times the gentlemen in Muskogee would go and have lunch with her at the Severs. She was always lovely. [She] had on her diamonds and beautiful clothes that came from New York."

Jessie reportedly coached performers between 1928 and 1932 in Hollywood and the studios of New York's Long Island. In 1930, she lived in Manhattan because she studied advanced piano under the Spanish virtuoso, Alberta Jonas.

She returned to Muskogee about 1932 in all probability because her contracts for coaching dried up. Times were difficult because fewer Muskogee students returned to her studio. Such was the impact of the Great Depression on everyone's pocketbook.

Her financial circumstances improved measurably when she married James D. Simms on June 1, 1936. With her marriage, Jessie Duke Richardson ceased teaching music and elocution. The School of Fine Arts closed forever.

The final chapter of Jessie's story will appear next week.

Sawokla, Miss Alice Robertson's Home

In 1910, Miss Alice Robertson built her famed home, Sawokla, on Agency Hill west of downtown Muskogee. It looked out over the Arkansas River toward the old Tullahassee Mission. Her farm abutted the park on Agency Hill. All visitors found themselves welcomed with warm wit and conversation.

Oklahoma's future congressional representative was able to build Sawokla after obtaining the postmaster's job for Muskogee in 1905. This steady income, and money from the sale of other real estate, enabled Miss Alice to build her home.

Her house included one hundred linear feet of porches wrapping around three sides. This suggests her home covered about 1200 square feet in area. Since it was a two-story structure, her actual available floor space was double that area.

She named her home after the Sawokli Indians. The Sawokli were a small tribe from the Barbour County, Alabama, area. In 1832, there were only two chiefs and fifty-six families in the tribe.

The Sawokli were one of the thirty-one "white" Creek towns. White Creeks wore white beads that were symbols for peace, friendship, happiness, etc. The tribal name means "Raccoon Town."

The tribe migrated with the other Creeks and settled in the Concharty Mountain area. The last members of this tribe are buried on the old N. B. Moore ranch near the former Midland Valley railway tracks. Moore was Miss Alice's brother-in-law.

After leaving office, Miss Alice would drive her team up to Mrs. Lucy Ballou's residence in Muskogee and call out "Mrs. Bert, I'm here." Lucy's husband was Albert Ballou. Mrs. Bert and Miss Alice then rode out to Sawokla where they settled into comfortable chairs for a Sunday afternoon discussion. Miss Alice always served buttermilk and cornbread as refreshments because she never cooked on Sundays.

Miss Alice's beloved home burned down in August of 1925. Lucy Ballou's daughter, Bettye Ashwood, reported the fire started when the gardener placed a kerosene lantern too near window curtains.

At first, Miss Alice thought the location where the fire began indicated revenge. In her grief, she feared her home's loss was part of political repercussions of her failed bid for re-election less than a year earlier. She regretted feeling that way five years later.

Regardless of the cause, the fire destroyed many of Miss Alice's keepsakes and heirlooms. Destroyed treasures included the trousseaus belonging to both her mother and to her grandmother. A hand towel once belonging to Daniel Webster's mother also burned up.

The embers were still glowing when Miss Alice surveyed the ruins. Firefighters and neighbors were able to drag outside much of the furniture from the first floor before the fire caused the collapse of the roof and upper floor. Fortunately, someone saved her mother's portrait.

Salvaged furniture surrounded her and the surviving walls. Facing the future with strength, Miss Alice said, "I shall never live in Sawokla again. It belongs to the memories of the past." Despite statewide offers to assist her in rebuilding her home, Miss Alice never did.

Bettye Ashwood and Charles Wallis, state historical archaeologist, provided assistance for this article.

Preserving a Newspaper Clipping

Almost all families have a newspaper clipping they want to preserve. Sometimes it is an obituary. Alternatively, it might be an article about a Golden Wedding Anniversary or about a sports activity. Regardless of what the article is about, here are some thoughts on how to preserve a clipping.

If the clipping has not turned yellow, the best step is to take it to a photocopier. The copy made on a regular sheet of paper will last longer than the newsprint on which the article was first printed. Be sure to record on the copy the name of the newspaper, the date and the page if these are known.

Be sure to photocopy both sides when you are duplicating the article. This is especially important if the date and source of the original article is not recorded on the original article. Sometimes the details on the backside of a clipping help in identifying when and where the article was first published.

By photocopying the newsprint, one transfers the message to a paper lower in acid. The acid in the paper usually determines how long the clipping will last. Less acid in the paper means the document will last longer.

Newsprint is a very inexpensive form of paper. Because of its manufacturing process, it has more acid in the paper than regular paper. The acid will slowly turn the clipping a light yellowish brown. Later the paper will turn to a darker brown before it starts to crumble.

There is one disadvantage to photocopying a newspaper article. Sometimes it is not possible to reproduce a newspaper photograph in the copying process. In cases like this, the option is to reduce the level of acid in the clipping.

Deacidification is what the process is called. There are sprays and solutions for this process. It is possible for a person with little training to use these. However, they really work best in a lab under expert supervision. This is because there has been a change in the composition of ink. Experts know how to test the clipping to learn which deacidifers will work and which will ruin the clipping.

Any deacidification effort is non-reversible. Once a change is made, it will not be possible to return to the original condition of the newspaper clipping.

If you are determined to keep the original clipping, isolation is the next best step. This keeps a clipping from touching other records, documents, photographs, etc.

For example, a common place to store an obituary is in a Bible. Over the years, the acid in the newsprint will migrate to the adjacent pages in the Bible. Soon a yellow spot will appear on the Bible pages on either side of the clipping. The yellow spots occur because the acid in the clipping migrated to the adjacent pages. The fibers in the Bible pages are now weakened. The same migration of acid will occur in a bank lock box, in a vertical file or in an envelope.

To isolate a clipping, place it in a folded sheet of paper. If you can, use acid-free paper. However, any paper that is lower in acid content will be better than doing nothing. Cut the paper to fit inside if you want to keep the clipping in a book. After it begins to age, the folded isolation sheet may be replaced.

Mementoes remind us of a former place and time. Dear family and friends leap to mind when we glance at a newspaper clipping.

An Early Muskogee Contractor

Oliver Davis Revell was the son of Oliver and Winnie Davis Revell. His birth occurred August 6th, 1863 near Camden, South Carolina. At the end of the Civil War, his widowed mother moved to Asheville, North Carolina, in order to live near her brother. Young Oliver grew to manhood in this community. After losing his mother at age sixteen, he lived on his own resources.

He quickly began mastering the skills of a carpenter. Construction sites welcomed him because he was a hard worker. Frugal to a fault, he saved every dollar he could. Finally, Oliver purchased a lot and constructed a small house to rent out. This was his beginning as a contractor. The house payment was only ten dollars a month. He was nineteen years old.

Revell worked as a contractor the rest of his life. One of his early houses survives in Asheville. In 1897, he built a Queen Anne style home. That house was renovated as a bed-and-breakfast inn recently.

Part of his success grew from Revell's willingness to sell small homes he built on his own lots on credit. Until then, contractors were generally getting full payment at purchase.

About 1902, Revell became aware of the booming economy occurring in Indian Territory. Muskogee's reputation especially attracted him. The Carolina Building was the first of four office buildings Oliver built in Muskogee. By the fall of 1904, it stood on the northwest corner of North Third and West Okmulgee. It contained a grocery store, a meat market, a plumbing office, a bookstore and a printing office in a three-story brick building. Unfortunately, it burned to the ground.

Revell rebuilt on the same corner. He named the new structure the Equity Building. It had an elevator to service the public in reaching the upper floors of this six-story building. It was twice as high as the old Carolina Building.

Oliver built this structure in partnership with Jacob Spangenburg. Jacob was born in Pennsylvania in 1850. Like Oliver, he too followed enterprising opportunities, first to Alabama and then to Indian Territory.

Revell built the Metropolitan Building on the northwest corner of North Fourth and West Okmulgee. This structure towered four stories higher than the Carolina Building. Because of the Carolina Building fire, the Metropolitan had a reinforced concrete in a fireproof design. J. L. Wagner joined Oliver as a partner in building the Metropolitan Building.

The New Jersey Building was a less imposing structure. It stood only two stories tall on the south side of West Okmulgee Street. For many years, a furniture business occupied its premises.

Oliver also dabbled in contracting in surrounding communities. The only non-Muskogee structure known today was the Revell Building in Porum. When Porum's future was on the verge of exploding, the two-story Revell Building dominated the downtown district.

The Revell touch turned again to the building of residences in 1911. He built it at North Fifteenth and West Broadway. Today, the building no longer stands. That may be just as well. The city directories list him repeatedly residing in Muskogee's finer hotels.

Today all of Oliver Davis Revell's buildings are gone. The Equity, the Metropolitan and the New Jersey are parking lots near City Hall. The residence and the Porum building are likewise no longer standing. However, Oliver Revell's buildings helped define Muskogee's skyline while they existed.