Ben Bellis, Plumber and Dreamer

Albert Benjamin Bellis was born in 1858 in St. Louis, MO. He was the son of Samuel B. Bellis, a real estate agent from New Jersey and a Scottish mother. The family moved to a large farm in Iron County, MO in the 1860's.

It seems that big city lights lured Ben back to St. Louis. There he learned the plumbing trade. Following a period of training, he decided to strike out on own during the late 1880's. When he arrived in Muskogee, the construction in town caught his attention and he decided to stay. He soon became a popular tradesman because he had a knack of being able to fix just about anything.

He was also musically inclined. He was a member of Muskogee's first band in 1890 in which he played a clarinet. Both of Ben's sons had musical talent.

He was not limited to working solely in Muskogee. The same year Bellis joined the band, he traveled to the Seminole Nation where he had the contract for installing plumbing in new schoolhouses then under construction. Other school projects he worked on included the Baptist Indian University (now called Bacone) and the Spaulding Institute on the east side of town. (There is an earlier blog entry on the Spaulding Institute.)

Plumbing jobs led Bellis into the construction of windmills. In these, he built the tower, assembled the mill, connected the pump and built the tank for farmers out in the country. His natural talents of repairing things lead him into the installation of gas lines and electrical wiring, too.

Bellis steadily built up his product inventory. Before long, he sold bathtubs, commodes, light fixtures, wiring and pipe, pumps, heaters, hydrants and gasoline and steam engines. In the process, Ben became the town wholesaler.

This, in turn, enabled him to branch out into contracting. In addition to offering a full line of plumbing work, Bellis could plan, supply and install modern (1904) electrical plants for homes and businesses. Electrical plants included designing everything from the generators to the light fixtures.

Businesses were bigger projects for him. Some of the businesses Bellis plumbed were the Maddin Block and the Citizen's Bank building. The photograph below is of the Maddin Building. It is located on the northeast corner of Main and Court Streets, next to the Viaduct Overpass.



He also worked on residences. Two such structures were the J. K. Edmonds' home at 503 Denison and the E. R. Rulison's home at 1423 W. Boston. Both homes no longer stand one hundred years later.

There is, however, one of Ben's efforts that is worth recalling. Ben Bellis was a "dreamer." Before statehood, he built an airplane. But for fate, his name rather than that of the Wright Brothers may today be heralded. This effort to build an airplane is believed to be an Oklahoma first.

There were several design flaws in Bellis' airplane. Weight of the craft was probably the worst. Ben constructed his airplane using cast iron pipe and joints. Everything about the plane was homemade except for the engine. There were no manufacturing manuals and scant understanding of aerodynamic lift in those years. Ben was trying to understand what caused a plane to rise in the air.

After repeated attempts to take off, Ben abandoned his effort to fly. The wreckage of the airplane's frame lay for years on a vacant lot on South Second Street near the MO&G railroad building. Ben's dream remained just that. But, oh, what a dream!