Muskogee's First Urban Renewal Project

Muskogee's first urban renewal followed the disastrous fire of February 23, 1899. This fire destroyed most of the downtown commercial district. The fire left burning embers and some stone and brick walls of a few businesses. For a wide swath of the town, rebuilding would begin from scratch.

After taking stock of the damage, businessmen began making plans to rebuild. At the same time, the city council undertook an administrative role in supervising that rebirth. One topic the council members addressed clearly was the need for improved traffic flow throughout Muskogee. The council members understood the need for symmetry in promoting the town future development.

A look at a map of today's streets shows an orderly pattern. The council decision to reorient Muskogee streets corrected the haphazard pattern that existed previously.

Sometimes the impact of the council decision is overlooked. First, their decision covered more than just the area devastated by the fire. It reached throughout the whole town including the sparsely populated residential area. Furthermore, the council's decision is perpetuated down to the present day. Today's subdivision architects are mindful that city engineers consider the developers' plans for roads and utilities.

Within three months following the fire, Muskogee's city council hired a Topeka, Kansas, civil engineer named Howard V. Hinckley. Hinckley's job was to resurvey Muskogee streets. He purchased stakes and immediately started to work laying out new right-of-ways.

Street realignment caused the destruction or removal of some structures, both businesses and homes. This is because they were found to be jutting into the path after a new street right-of-way. How many structures were moved or destroyed is unknown. However, there are accounts of two cases. One fact stands out. In both cases, the clearing of a right-of-way occurred two or three years later.

Here is one typical case from 1902. "Bread Mary" was an Irish woman. She lived near the intersection of Okmulgee and Cherokee in a house marked for destruction. This elderly woman made her living by selling homemade loaves of bread. To help her out, some wealthier residents agreed to contribute money for the construction of a small house to replace the one she was losing.

The Elks undertook both large and small charity cases. In another case of street realignment, the members of the Elk's lodge promoted the pooling of money in 1903 for building a replacement home for the Samuel Yates family. Residents and business owners raised over six hundred dollars, mostly in $5 and $10 donations. Some of the donors were Miss Alice Robertson, Judge John R. Thomas, future US Senator Robert L. Owen and jailor Gus Lubbes.

Muskogee's first urban renewal project succeeded. Orderly streets promoted a sense of prosperity.

Muskogee's First Band

Muskogee residents spent the first eighteen years, after 1872, without a local band. The only exceptions when Muskogee had a band were the times when traveling troupes stopped over for a couple of days before departing for new destinations. This began to change in December 1889, and January 1890.

After Professor C. H. Menefee arrived in town from Kansas City, he started promoting the idea of a Muskogee band because he was a music teacher and band instructor without a band. His proposal to establish a band took root among some of the 1,200 inhabitants of Muskogee.

By mid-January, a group of willing men agreed to form Muskogee's first band. Initially, the band was called the Muskogee Silver Cornet Band. The first members of the band were James Swift, piccolo; Ben Bellis, clarinet; Dr. A. E. Bonnell, cornet; J. W. Sanders, cornet; J. S. O'Brien, cornet; Joe Trent, cornet; J. D. Fox, cornet; William Augustus "Gus" Lubbes, cornet; William A. Maddin, cornet; Charles A. Thomas, tuba; James Tague, snare drum; E. R. Rulison, bass drum; and E. E. Burke, cymbals.

Another list of the first members included Monty Standiford, Charlie Thomas, Monta Chaplan and Beverly Berry. Mr. Meredith of Tahlequah reportedly also played in the band. Statie Bassler recalled in a WPA interview in 1938 that the band also included a Mr. Best, violin; William Bozeman, cornet; and Frank Lockes, bass viola. Statie played the piano. These had to be later members because the first band was a brass band with drums.

Maddin ordered the band instruments from Lyon and Healy of Chicago. There is the hint that Madden paid for the instruments up front and then let the band members repay him, perhaps over time. This generosity may have resulted in the band's name changing to Maddin's Mechanics Band. William Maddin led the band after Professor Menefee left.

For the most part, the initial band members were craftsmen and tradesmen. O'Brien may have been the town's first jeweler. Bellis was a plumber, while Sanders was a carpenter. Lubbes was the town jailor. Maddin, Rulison and Bonnell represented the merchant and professional class. The later was the town dentist.

In the beginning, there were no uniforms. The local newspaper later floated the idea for the town pitching in for the purchase of uniforms. An early photograph shows the band in uniform, but it is not known how they acquired them.

The band played its first performance on the porch of Pendleton's restaurant in late March. This was a free concert as well as a practice session. The band played its first formal concert at the federal courthouse on April 18, 1890. The courthouse was on the southwest corner of Court & Lake (now Second) Streets. There was an admission fee used to recover band expenses, perhaps for band uniforms.

The band held summer concerts in the open-air floor of the Hotel Adams' tower. The second floor of the tower looked out over Agency (later Broadway) Avenue to the south. The main tracks of the Katy Railroad line, and the numerous sidetracks, were east of the hotel.

During the next few years, the band played for private parties as well as for religious, political and promotional occasions. Once, the band was asked to play when a store had a sale. The band was a marked improvement in the social life of the Muskogee community. Its creation marked another step in promoting the town's development as the premier community in Indian Territory.

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!

Charley Willey, Muskogee Water Provider

Charley Willey was the son of a New England couple. His father was Rev. Worchester Willey, a missionary among the Cherokee Indians from New Hampshire. His father moved to Indian Territory in 1844 after becoming a teacher and ordained Congregational minister.

His mother was Mary Frye of Andover, Massachusetts. She and his father married in 1844. She was a "beautiful and earnest girl" who grew to possess "uniform calmness."

Charley was born in Indian Territory in Jan 1850, his mother dying within the year. Maybe growing up without his mother caused Charley to cling to his origins. For whatever reason, he was described in 1922 as having an "English" heritage. Maybe the author meant a "New England" heritage.

Mrs. E. P. Howland of Portland, Maine, wrote about the family experiences during the Civil War in "A Tale of Home and War." Part of the tale covers the death of Charley's stepmother who died in January 1862.

Charley Willey married Mennie Barnes about 1868 in the Cherokee Nation. Miss Barnes was a quarter Cherokee. He later enrolled as a Cherokee Intermarried White under the Dawes Commission because of his marriage.

It is hard to judge Charley's height from his photograph. He was barrel-chested and stout. With a face concealed by a wooly black beard and tasseled hair, one's first impression is of a wild man. Research into his life leaves one with a more balanced view. He likely received a better than average education.

In addition, he was never afraid to work either. When Muskogee was a young community, not really yet a town, Charley became an enterprising businessman. After buying a number of wooden barrels, he agreed to deliver fresh water to businesses and residences. His price was only fifteen cents a barrel.

He may have hauled water from Katy Pond on the north side of town. This was, after all, the closest water source. However, it was not a reliable source. During dry spells, Charley surely hauled water from the Arkansas River.

One day, Muskogee residents were treated to a humorous sight. Charley's team spooked and he lost control. At as full a gallop as the team could pull the heavy wagon, Charley raced down Main Street with water sloshing out of his loaded barrels. His episode was the topic of gossip for a while thereafter.

Charley did not have a franchise on water delivery. Muskogee residents caught rain runoff in barrels and used cisterns dug in the ground to store a water supply. As the community grew in size, though, Muskogee began getting water by pipe.

Willey switched to hog raising at this point. Bennett wrote that Willy [sic] "was the first importer of thoroughbred hogs in the vicinity, his favorite being Berkshires of his native country." Well, Bennett was half-right in his pivotal 1922 history of Muskogee: Berkshire hogs were good for breeding.

Charley outlived his wife who died in 1909. However, he did not survive her by many years. Both are buried in Ft. Gibson's Citizens Cemetery. The couple raised three children to adulthood.

Miss Alice's 1920 Campaign

Miss Alice Robertson was a Republican. She had long been interested in politic. Until the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution on August 18, 1920, women could not vote. A month before the ratification, however, she took a trip to visit Senator Warren Harding. Senator Harding was the leading Republican candidate for the presidency that year. Frequently called Miss Alice, she was likely seeking his approval and support in the campaign. Miss Alice's efforts worked.

Miss Alice was a restaurateur. She operated the Sawokla Cafeteria on Fourth Street just north of Broadway. Patrons served themselves and left no tips. A piano player often treated diners during their meals. At the cafeteria, she treated workers as friends.

Miss Alice talked about her restaurant in her Sawokla Cafeteria advertisements she placed in the Muskogee Daily Phoenix almost daily. That is, they never ran on a Sunday because Miss Alice did not believe in working on Sundays.

Pithily, she talked about her business and her customers in these ads. Her china, she said, came from the pottery's second-rate merchandise because the pottery sent its best to the soldiers and sailors during World War I. However, her service to her customers was never second-rate.

Miss Alice's campaigning for office in 1920 caused a change in her advertising. First, she switched to the Muskogee Times-Democrat newspaper. Despite its name, the Times-Democrat favored Republican issues.

In the transition to the new publisher, Miss Alice also changed her theme. She began talking about her views on the League of Nations and the World Court in The Hague, for example. She also described how American fighting men came back from European service wide-awake to the world.

Perhaps railing against not being able to vote before, Miss Alice predicted that women would "do away with rotten politics." Legislation that enriched the wealthy without a fair distribution wasn't for her. Nor were many other injustices for that matter.

Politics, however, was local for the most part in 1920. In addition, sometimes it was direct. One attack was signed simply "Mrs. Democrat." Here is Miss Alice's reply.

"Are you sure you are 'Mrs. Democrat' because in Oklahoma it is not customary for 'Mrs. Democrat' to be afraid or ashamed to use her own name." The tit-for-tat makes fascinating reading during the present campaign season. The long restaurant advertisements covered a lot of topics.

In the end, there was an election landslide. Nationally and locally, party affiliation generally determined the winner. As a result, Miss Alice became Oklahoma's first female member of Congress.