Muskogee History and Genealogy

Muskogee's Congenial Fire Chief

2010-04-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

John Lloyd Templeton was not the first professional fire chief in Muskogee. However, he was among the most beloved.

In 1905, there had been yet another fire in Muskogee that reminded everyone of the Great Fire of 1899. Though Muskogee could not make all of the changes at once to modernize the rebuilt town, it was making strides as fast as possible.

That year, Muskogee was looking for a leader to upgrade the town fire department. A committee of the city council recommended the move along with adding a new fire station on the east side of town. Mayor F. B. Fite accepted the report and instructed the committee to write other towns for their recommendations of candidates for the job.

The Chicago Fire Chief was one of the contacts Muskogee sought advice from in its search. Chicago recommended John Lloyd Templeton. Templeton had served as fire chief in Council Bluff, Iowa. A change in the town's political leadership caused his dismissal. (There was no Civil Service then.) When he received the offer from Muskogee, Council Bluff was a town of 25,000 while Muskogee had less than 15,000 people. Buildings in Council Bluff were already standing eight stories tall. Muskogee's tallest buildings were three stories shorter at the time.

Muskogee's City Council offered Templeton the job and he accepted. It helped that Muskogee already had a larger department of full-time firemen than did Council Bluff. He became Muskogee's first, full-time professional fire chief.

He served as the town's fire chief for most of the next decade. Everyone continued to call him "Chief" after a retirement brought on by medical reasons.

The Vin Fiz airplane flew into Muskogee on October 16th, 1911. Pilot Calbraith Rodgers was making America's first coast-to-coast flight. Multiple crashes and increment weather made the timing of his arrival uncertain.

Chief Templeton devised a plan for spreading the word of the Vin Fiz's arrival. He planned to ring the town's 800-pound fire alarm bell as a signal. Templeton kept this idea secret.

Rodgers' landing shortly after nine o'clock in the morning received a great turnout. Everyone in Muskogee enjoyed the trick fire alarm while being relieved at the same time that there was no fire.

During the First World War, the always young-at-heart former fire chief began his involvement with the Boy Scouts of America, a nascent organization less than a decade old. Templeton often went hiking down forested paths with the younger scouts. The boys always enjoyed his cheerfulness.

Maurice Bebb was just beginning his flower shop when "Chief" Templeton dropped in one morning. He was searching for some small flowers to hand out. The two quickly became friends and thereafter the tall, sprightly gentleman and the young businessman were co-conspirators.

"Hello, Sunshine" was Templeton's greeting for women about town. The luckier ones received small flowers from the Bebb shop to brighten up their day. Receptionists and sales clerks were frequently cheered by his gifts.

Late in life, Templeton became active in the theater. No, not as an actor. He went to the Ritz Theater every Saturday to supervise the Mickey Mouse Club programs. The children just loved him.

Even good stories have endings. Pneumonia killed eighty-year-old John Lloyd Templeton in 1936. A large turnout at the funeral reminded the town of its loss. He rests in Greenhill Cemetery.

Early Day Marshals In Indian Territory

2010-04-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

Thomas E. Lacy was a Deputy United States Marshal. He testified in 1874 that he lived in Muskogee two years earlier. Deputy Marshal David L. Winton hired him on October 18, 1872. Marshal Winton wanted help in arresting one Williard S. Robinson.

At the time Winton asked Lacy to ride with him, Lacy was attending court in Fort Smith. This was several years before Isaac Parker began his famous tenure on the bench.

Winton and Lacy were in their early 30's. Lacy was born in Wisconsin of Scot-Irish parents. The two lawmen left the federal courthouse and first rode to Lacy's home in Muskogee.

At this time, deputy marshals were allowed to earn ten cents a mile for every mile they traveled. This was the same rate paid for delivering the mail. For example, Winton and Lacy received $8.50 just for riding to Muskogee. A year and a half later, an inquiry asked questions about the money paid for the lawmen's mileage on this trip. Questions were also asked about the marshals' services.

In the early 1870's, deputy marshals submitted their claims for expenses without close scrutiny. The court clerk accepted the testimony of the marshal in most cases. If a question arose, the clerk asked the marshal personally for an explanation. An adequate answer prompted the clerk to approve the claim. After all, there was no way of monitoring how far a marshal rode in chasing a criminal.

While riding in Indian Territory, marshals were hearing about crimes not yet reported to the federal court. Sometimes the marshals arrested the criminal without a warrant in hand. Upon turning the crook over to the jailer in Fort Smith, the marshal had a warrant drawn up belatedly.

Trying to do their duty and to save the court additional expense, the marshals were operating outside of the law when they arrested someone without a warrant. To ride to Fort Smith just to obtain a warrant seemed counter-productive to the deputy marshals. Apparently, the federal judge agreed.

While in Muskogee, Winton hired a man named Smith to ride with the posse. He needed another guard because he expected to be making several arrests on this trip.

Winton made inquiries in Muskogee and learned that Robinson had been seen north of town. The lawmen found Robinson near the Katy railroad bridge across the Arkansas River and took him into custody without any problem.

After arresting Robinson, the lawmen rode almost to the Kansas state line. In the northern part of the Cherokee Nation, they arrested William Phillips. On the way back to Fort Smith, the posse arrested a man named Tibbits, Morris Tucker and Grace Musgrove.

Lacy testified that he claimed service for twenty-eight days on this trip. He said he actually was away for 38 days. Winton had warrants for Robinson, Phillips and Tibbits. But, Lacy said, there were no warrants for Tucker and Musgrove.

Lacy's testimony shows that judges and the courts relied heavily on the character of the American lawman in seeing that justice was carried out in the days following the Civil War.

Indian Territory's First Fire Engine

2010-04-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

The all volunteer fire department personnel felt frustrated. Despite their best efforts months earlier, Muskogee's downtown business district burnt to the ground in the Great Fire of February, 1899. Their collective effort, even when aided by a bucket brigade, had shown only limited success.

During the fire, a manual pumper and a hose cart saw belated action that morning. Firemen unrolled the hose from reels on the hose cart. There was over five hundred feet to be stretched down the hill to the Katy Pond. By the time the firemen had the hose line ready, many of Muskogee's buildings were beyond saving.

That frosty morning, two volunteer firemen quickly worked up a sweat at the pump wagon. Their heaving up and down on the pump handles brought little water up from the railroad pond. Most of the pump cart's effort went for drawing the pond water up the 20 to 30 feet of higher elevation where the buildings were burning.

By the time the water reached the fire hose nozzle, there was little pressure left for fighting fires. As a consequence, the water squirted out the nozzle a mere three feet. Though it was better than nothing, the fire department's best effort was insufficient for even slowing down the raging inferno engulfing building after building.

A month and a half after the rebuilding began, members of the fire department turned their thoughts to improving their fire fighting capabilities. It was clear from their efforts in February that manual pumping would not work for Muskogee's location on a hill. They needed a mechanical pumper.

Following discussions among themselves, the firemen decided that a steam fire engine was called for in the future. Muskogee's fire department was then not a part of the city's government. It was little more than a club with civic responsibilities.

The firemen established a committee to investigate the cost and availability of a fire engine the group could purchase. They found the price for a good steam powered pumping fire engine was beyond their means. The firemen then turned to the city for help.

It took several months for the city council to explore the subject and to agree on the purchase of a fire engine. In late September, the council came to an agreement. They then instructed Mayor Patrick J. Byrne to order a new engine from the La France Fire Engine Company of Elmira, New York.

The advertisement shows a picture of the fire engine the company sold in 1899. The cost was between $4-5,000. Pretty soon everyone began calling the town's fire engine, the "Pat Byrne" in the mayor's honor. It was the first fire engine in the Indian Territory.

Two horses pulled the Pat Byrne fire engine. One fireman rode in the front driving the team. Another fireman rode in the back ready to operate the pump.

In August, 1900, the Katy stock yards north of town caught fire. The fire engine and hose cart responded to the call. The volunteer firemen laid several hundred feet of hose and manned the hose and steam pumper with success.

The "Pat Byrne" fire engine marked the turning point in the territory. From the moment it became available, residents and merchants began limiting the damage caused by fires.

Muskogee's First Hanging

2010-03-31T17:20:00.001-07:00

In 1898, the United States Prison stood on the west side of North Denison Street (approximately North Third Street today) in Muskogee. The scaffold was inside the wooden fence that surrounded the jail yard and cell block. On July 1st, there was a double hanging in the prison yard in Muskogee.

Henry Whitfield went by the alias of Charles Perkins. Or maybe it was the other way around. His name is uncertain. Yet, his cold blooded murder of a farmer hints at a violent past.

Perkins had gone to the home of Nancy Adkins who lived south of Wagoner with her mother. On December 2nd, 1897, George Miller was also there.

The conflict between the two men vying for Nancy's affections became heated. Finally, Miller told Perkins that he was not treating Nancy right. He then told Perkins to leave.

After leaving the house, Perkins waited in the front yard until Miller came out of the Adkins home.

Perkins stopped Miller in his tracks by telling him "Now, I said I would kill you and I am going to do it." Miller was unable to prevent Perkins from drawing his weapon and was shot twice in the body.

William H. Twine represented Perkins in the US Court. Perkins claimed that he was about 55 years old. He said his Tennessee relatives and friends had abandoned him and that he did not care to live.

The second felon hung that July day was K. B. Brooks. Judge John R. Thomas sentenced him to hang for an atrocious assault of a young girl in the vicinity of Hudson, Indian Territory. Solomon Combs, living in the northeast corner of the Cherokee Nation, hired Brooks to help with the farming. On the 28th of October, 1897, Combs left for Coffeyville, Kansas on business.

Combs left behind three daughters between the ages of five and sixteen years of age. Brooks stole into the cabin that night where the three girls were sleeping. Lulu, the oldest, thought he was kinfolk and called out to her sister to light a lamp.

Brooks tried to assault Lulu. While she was fighting back, the two younger girls ran outside and hid behind a tree. Brooks then knocked Lulu unconscious and ran outside to find the hiding girls. The frightened girls fled to a neighboring cabin occupied by the John Hicks family.

Unable to find the younger girls, Brooks returned to the house where he found a dazed Lulu stumbling in the yard. He then struck her three more times, reportedly almost killing her.

He then fled to a farm about three miles away. The next morning the farm owner spotted blood on Brooks' hands and spread the word. By that time, neighbors of the Combs family were up in arms. Brooks' capture followed shortly thereafter.

Whitfield and Brooks were both sentenced to death by hanging. Judge Thomas set their date of execution as July 1st, 1898.

On the appointed day, US Marshal Leo Bennett read the death warrant for both convicts at 9:00. The sentenced men walked to the gallows and then up the steps to the platform. Perkins admitted his guilt, but claimed he acted in self defense.

Brooks gave a long monologue, but never admitted his guilt. He said he was resigned to his fate. A Baptist minister prayed with him. Then both convicts were hung at 9:30. This was the first hanging performed in Muskogee.

Cyrus Brown Was Hung in Muskogee

2010-03-24T16:41:00.001-07:00

The Courts Act of 1889 changed how the United States District Courts handled criminal cases arising in Indian Territory. As a result of this legislation, the first district courts were established in the territory. This was the first effort for removing jurisdiction over criminal cases occurring in Indian Territory from the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

The Fort Smith court had jurisdiction over Indian Territory starting in 1817. However, many capital cases were being overturned upon appeal to the US Supreme Court. New federal legislation passed Congress in 1895 removing the last control over territorial cases exerted by the Fort Smith court.

The transfer of authority occurred on September 1, 1896. This date marked the beginning when it first became possible to hang someone in Indian Territory for a sentence levied by a local federal court.

It took less than a year for the first death sentence that likely would lead to a Muskogee hanging. Cyrus A. Brown was accused of murdering a fisherman named Daniel Cuthbert about October 10th, 1896. Brown was sick and without shelter when he stumbled into Cuthbert's camp. Cuthbert lived on a houseboat tied up to the Arkansas River embankment near Webbers Falls.

Cuthbert, an elderly man, gave Brown shelter from the elements. Brown repaid the kindness by killing Cuthbert in order to obtain the boat and fishing tackle. After murdering his benefactor, Brown weighed Cuthbert down with rocks and tossed him into the Arkansas River.

US Deputy Marshal Rutherford arrested Brown and Johnson (or Johnston) Morgan within weeks of the murder. Morgan's role in the episode is unknown. He was released from custody a month after his arrest.

The trial occurred in Muskogee on July 16th and 17^th, 1897. Even the Dallas Morning News predicted the death sentence. The Dallas reporter said "This is the first conviction for murder since full jurisdiction was given to the territory court."

Three days later Judge John R. Thomas, sitting in the US District Court in Muskogee for the Northern District of Indian Territory, sentenced Cyrus Brown to death by hanging. Brown was destined to be the first man hung by the federal court in the territory. Judge Thomas set the date as February 25th, 1897 between sunrise and sunset.

But Brown was not going to the gallows willingly. He appealed his case. Just weeks before his date with the hangman's noose, Justice Brewer of the US Supreme Court overturned Brown's conviction. Brown remained in the Muskogee jail awaiting a retrial.

The US Supreme Court reversed itself in October, 1898 by dismissing its previous decision overturning Brown's conviction. However, there was another trial in Muskogee since the previous sentence date had passed. Judge John R. Thomas again sentenced Cyrus A. Brown to hang following the new trial.

The felon smoked a cigar and shunned last rites. On August 25th, 1899, Cyrus Brown walked up the gallows stairs. His last words were "I see one ____ ____ fellow out among the spectators I would like to get even with before I leave here."

The gallows door dropped from under his feet at 8:45. An examiner pronounced him dead shortly before the nine o'clock hour began. He missed being the first man hung in Muskogee by over a year.

Muskogee's First Union Lockout

2010-03-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

The Great Fire of 1899 brought about many changes in Muskogee. These changes were the product of the local businessmen committing substantial sums to rebuilding their businesses. The fire turned out to be one of the major turning points in the town's history.

Surveying the smoldering ruins, businessmen decided to rebuild using modern construction techniques. First and foremost, businessmen wanted fireproof construction. That meant building with brick and mortar.

The massive reconstruction of buildings in Muskogee had no single overseer. The unanimity of the businessmen's opinion made one unnecessary. As soon as the designs were finished, contractors began hiring trained workers.

Tradesmen migrated to Muskogee to take advantage of the increasing number of construction jobs. Craftsmen coming from larger American cities also brought with them the customs and practices of unionism.

Pretty soon, chapters of different unions had members in Muskogee. There were many different chapters in 1903. These included the United Brotherhood of Carpenters' and Joiners' Union, #1072, the Muskogee Typographical Union, #184, the Sheet Metal Workers' Union, #282, United Association of Plumbers and Steam Fitters, the Hod Carriers' Union #83, and the Muskogee Bricklayers and Masons Union, #5. Even cooks and barbers soon had their own unions in Muskogee.

Mr. A. R. Welton, in 1904, wrote to the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers of America that "we succeeded in getting all the contractors here to sign our [wage] scale without any trouble. At present things are running harmoniously." Peace between contractors and laborers would change within a year.

Thomas Leach was a member of the American Federation of Labor (the "AFL" in AFL-CIO). He wrote that "Union men in building crafts work the eight hour day, the unorganized work ten hour days for less wages." Unions were protesting contractors hiring non-union labor at construction sites. Unions were also agitating that unskilled labor be paid more.

By 1905, Muskogee workers were among the most unionized in the American Southwest. It was estimated that there were as many as two thousand union members in town.

The business owners and contractors formed a Master Builders' Association when they reached the breaking point. According to J. W. Adams, the unions then formed a Structural Building Trades Council in opposition. The builders association finally called for a lockout on the night of April 16, 1905. The lockout blocked union construction workers from returning to work the next day.

The Master Builders' Association also threatened to bring in a thousand new workers from out of town. W. I. Maxwell was a carpenter and a member of a local union. He wrote to discourage new workers from coming. He said, "Muskogee was a congested town for workers of many trades. Local contractors preferred hiring local workers. New workers coming to the booming town should expect high expenses for rooms, boarding and all living expenses in general."

Maxwell continued by totaling up the accomplishments of unions. He said "better wages and shorter hours mean a higher social life and a higher civilization." At the same time, he continued, "Trade unions have infused into their members a new spirit of independence and self-respect."

Muskogee construction sites lost a thousand unionized workers overnight to the lockout. Within days, however, over half of these were back at work. The problem for unions was the large number of workers who were willing to work.

Webbers Falls Museum Getting Grant

2010-03-03T12:39:00.001-08:00

The Webbers Falls Museum announces the bequest of a grant from the Cherokee Nation. Linda Miller, museum board member and treasurer, says that the grant is for $10,000. The money is coming from the Community Organization Training and Technical Assistance (COTTA) program.

COTTA assists communities in the fourteen county tribal jurisdictional area. Its mission is to improve community services provided by local organizations, especially improving the diversification of local resources. The design of COTTA is to facilitate partnerships between the Cherokee Nation and the communities.

The Webbers Falls Museum will use the funds for purchasing equipment and software to record the recollections of southern Muskogee County residents. The equipment includes a video camera, editing software, a tripod and light fixtures for illuminating subjects.

Michael Peters, drama teacher in the Tahlequah High School, will work with the museum in creating videos for use in schools. These videos will teach students about life in early Webbers Falls.

One video story that the museum will hopefully tell is about "The Cataract." This was one of Webbers Falls' early newspapers. In naming his newspaper "The Cataract," the new editor drew upon a deep knowledge of the English language. In addition to being a name for an eye ailment, cataract also means "a waterfall, properly a large one falling over a precipice."

The Cataract's political philosophy was neither a Republican, nor a Democrat leaning newspaper. Such unaffiliated newspapers were called "Independent" rags.

Webbers Falls had a population of something just short of 500 residents in 1897 when June McCarrell first laid eyes on the town. His newspaper was only fifteen inches by twenty-two inches in size. The hand-operated press measured only slightly more than thirty inches wide.

The farming community and civic leaders avidly welcomed the four-page newspaper at first. The one dollar annual subscription was competitive with the weekly newspapers of that day. The inside pages were likely pre-printed advertisements for patent medicines and general national and international news.

June McCarrell, the editor, was born in Alabama just before our nation's celebration of its centennial in 1876. June, who went by the nickname of Juney, was the son of Dr. Frank McCarrell of Jackson Co.

McCarrell began publishing "The Cataract" on Thursdays. However, this was the same day weekly newspapers were published in the larger town twenty-five miles to the north. The next year he began publishing on Fridays.

The move to Fridays did not significantly improve the newspaper's financial circumstances. Unable to compete on price, and unable to increase circulation, McCarrell tried one last time by moving publication of his independent newspaper to Saturdays.

In 1900 McCarrell was rooming in a widow's household in Webbers Falls, unable to afford his own home. The thin market for a newspaper in the town proved unprofitable.

By January of 1901, there is a new newspaper and new editor trying his luck in Webbers Falls. A decade later, June McCarrell is found in St. Joseph, Missouri, working as an odd job printer.

1909 Muskogee Fire

2010-02-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

It began simply enough. There was a break in a natural gas pipeline between Inola and Claremore. The break caused a sharp drop in the gas pressure that January day. Unfortunately, thirty thousand customers suffered in Muskogee, Wagoner and Inola.

It was a cold Wednesday morning when the cook started getting ready for hungry customers in the Saratoga Restaurant. When he tried to start a gasoline engine, there was an explosion in a fuel storage tank. Another account claims the fire started when grease caught fire on the stove. Either account is possible.

The flames spread to combustible furniture and to the wooden floor and ceiling. The alarm quickly sounded the call for the fire department. The fire hose and pumper wagon was horse pulled as it arrived on the scene. The firemen found low water pressure hampering their efforts to stop the fire early. After two hours of pumping, the pump on the fire wagon broke, too.

The low water pressure occurred because of Muskogee's growth. More Muskogee residents had running water than the standpipe reservoir on Tower Hill could provide. It would be another two years before a new, larger water reservoir would be built atop Agency Hill.

Soon the fire was spreading out of control. Smoke began rising throughout the whole of the German building where the restaurant was located. This office building stood on the southwest corner of Third Street and Broadway. The downstairs stores included a bakery, the Indian Curio Store and the Keystone Tailors shop. Upstairs were at least two apartments and offices for lawyers and real estate brokers.

Mrs. Georgia Browne was living in one of the apartments on the third floor. Upon being awaken, she hastily put on a robe and ran bare footed to alert another roomer living in an apartment down the hall. She suffered from smoke inhalation by the time a fireman carried her down a ladder screaming in hysteria. She lost a $2,000 pearl necklace in the fire.

The fire in the German building quickly leaped across a narrow alley to the Carolina building just to the south. The Saratoga Restaurant was adjacent to the alley. The stores on the ground floor of the Carolina building included a millinery shop, a coffee company, a meat market and a pool hall.

The second floor of the Carolina building housed offices for a dentist, four doctors and several real estate brokerage firms. Three women resided in apartments on the third floor. Desperation forced several of the ladies to consider jumping out windows to avoid the spreading flames. Fortunately, firemen were able to get ladders up in time to save them from leaping.

The Carolina and German buildings were completely destroyed. Only stretches of damaged brick walls remained standing. Besides smoke inhalation, George Cramer was the only other person hurt by the fire. He suffered injuries while cutting down electrical wires running to adjacent buildings.

Half of the buildings in the block bounded by Broadway and Okmulgee Avenues and Third and Fourth Streets were lost to the fire. Those on the west side survived because firemen pulled down some wooden shanties to prevent the fire from spreading.

The fire of January 13, 1909 was a reminder that just building brick buildings was not enough. This fire occurred almost exactly ten years following the great fire that destroyed the heart of Muskogee.

Following the fire of 1899, the city rebuilt with a determination that fires would never destroy Muskogee again. Ordinances were quickly passed to require brick and concrete construction downtown. Yet, the 1909 fire came close to getting out of hand. Had the fire spread to adjacent blocks, there would have been little the city could have done to prevent an even greater disaster from occurring because of the low water pressure.

Bob Bell's Bluff

2010-02-17T17:58:00.001-08:00

My interview with Robert V. Bell of Tulsa began normally. As usual, I set up my tape recorder to record our conversation. Unbeknownst to me, a mechanical failure prevented the recording during the middle of our conversation. The following story was not taped that afternoon. Fortunately, Bob also told the same story to Daniel Haston. The following story is based on our joint recollections.

Bob Bell said he came to Muskogee in 1942 because he was newly assigned to work at the Muskogee Army Air Field, now called Davis Field. Bob said he arrived while construction was still underway.

He was a member of the Military Police at the air field for about two years. Most of his responsibilities involved seeing that civilians had photographs and fingerprints made when they went to work on the base.

The ringing phone that afternoon gave no hint of the coming events. Putting the receiver to his ear, Sergeant Bell heard a man exclaim, "Hurry!! He's killing people in the Engineering shack!!"

The sound of the speaker's voice, and the message, galvanized Bob as no other call did. He immediately grabbed a shotgun and some shells and ran to his Jeep. Upon reaching the engineering building, Sgt. Bell picked up his jammed shotgun as he stepped out of the Jeep.

He didn't hesitate. He raced to the front door with the useless semi-automatic weapon. Believing life and death hung in the balance, Sgt. Bell entered the base office without reloading his weapon.

The scene Bob found was of two men lying on the floor. One body lay slightly to his right. The body between him and the gunman showed blood pooling on the wooden floor.

Sgt. Bell recognized the shooter immediately. It was a man that he knew worked on the base. The gunman still held a revolver in his right hand pointed nowhere in particular.

"Johnny, PUT THE GUN DOWN. DON'T MAKE ME SHOOT YOU!!," Bob yelled. The shooter seemed to realize for the first time that a shotgun was pointed directly at him. "Ugh?," Johnny said.

"Put the gun on the floor. I don't want to shoot you."

"What?" replied Johnny.

"You know me. Now don't make me shoot you. We've been friends."

After what seemed like an eternity, the shooter slowly bent down and placed his pistol on the floor. Stepping over the dead man between them, Sgt. Bell handcuffed the assailant.

Finally beginning to relax, Sgt. Bell realized that the first man on the floor he passed when entering was no longer lying where he fell. Apparently, the man had not been seriously wounded. Wisely playing possum, he caused the gunman to believe he was dead. Bob's arrival allowed the man the opportunity to leap to his feet and flee the scene.

Efforts to find news accounts of the shooting incident were unsuccessful. Bob Bell said the shooting arose from a disagreement over courting a woman. Bob was certain that he stood face to face with a gunman while holding an unserviceable weapon. "My bluffing worked," he said. Until the end of his life, Bob Bell still felt amazement for pulling off the bluff of his life.

Taft's Early Days

2010-02-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

Muskogee County grew its second "All Black Town" in 1904. It was the product of effort of the Midland Valley Railroad to create a shipping point on along the railroad's new tracks. The railroad's Midland Townsite Company purchased three forty-acre sections from an enrolled Creek Freedman named York Jackson.

The company named the town "Taft" after the current Secretary of War, William Howard Taft. Taft became the twenty-seventh President of the United States five years later.

The townsite was just a mile west of the Twine community. Twine was on its way to becoming the urban center for the area. In 1902 the town gained a post office.

The railroad promotion encouraged the migration of new settlers from out of state. As a consequence, Taft exploded in population. The town had over 350 residents by 1910. Residents and merchants quickly abandoned Twine in favor of the upstart community.

Complaints began almost as soon as the post office started operating. Over several years about the time of statehood, postmasters were harassed, and, in one case, fled. Fire of undetermined origins burned the post office to the ground in 1906. Soon thereafter postal conflict abated.

That was not to be the end of trouble in town. Taft residents apparently rioted over the creation of the separate but equal doctrine for railroad travel in the state. Shortly after the passage of this act by Oklahoma's first legislature, the depot burned to the ground.

The Midland Valley Railroad demanded that $1,500 be paid before the depot was rebuilt. Town residents raised the money, but the railroad denied ever receiving it.

The news from Taft became sedate for a few years. Then greed got the better part of several residents. Following a blast that killed Herbert and Cosstella Sells, the perpetrator was found to be the step-father, Zeb Mackey. He was seeking the oil rights owned by the two pre-teen children so he conspired to have the kids murdered.

The goal was to gain control of the money gushing from the ground at Glenn Pool oil field. Three men of the dynamiting party were briefly outwitted by two Muskogee real estate men and a Bartlesville oil man. Their efforts resulted in numerous convictions in 1912.

Despite these early troubles, Taft continued to prosper. First one, and then a second cotton gin, operated in town. A telephone switchboard went into operation about the time electrical lights replaced the kerosene lanterns along the town's streets.

The usual group of enterprising merchants set up shop in town. A cafe, a couple of grocery stores, an automobile garage, a general merchandize store and a drug store opened in Taft. A bank operated from 1906 until the last year before the Great Depression began.

The economic malaise of the Great Depression did not cause the demise of Taft. The town had the good fortune of being the site where the State of Oklahoma located the Industrial Institute for the Deaf, Blind and Orphans of the Colored Race.

Times were changing the forms of employment. Following World War Two, farming equipment reduced the manpower needed in agriculture. The cotton that used to be handpicked was soon plucked by machine.

There is more to Taft's story. The Three Rivers Museum exhibit of the "All Black Towns of Oklahoma" contains some great photographic images. The exhibit will remain open through the end of February.

Summit, One of Oklahoma's All Black Towns

2010-02-03T17:50:00.001-08:00

Muskogee County is the home of two communities in the "All Black Towns of Oklahoma" exhibit at the Three Rivers Museum during the month of February. The exhibit consists of fifteen separate panels. They were created by the staff at the Oklahoma Historical Society. "All Black Towns" means communities formed and operated after the Civil War by recently freed African American.

Each panel contains text and images telling the stories about the birth, prosperity and, in some cases, the demise of each of Oklahoma's black towns. Surviving towns include Boley, Brooksville, Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lima, Red Bird, Rentiesville, Summit, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee and Vernon.

Summit is one of the two All Black Towns located in Muskogee County. It is among the communities still being operated as originally planned.

It is uncertain when Summit became a center of settlement for African Americans. It was in the Summit vicinity that the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad planned to establish a depot and railroad division headquarters in 1872. Major John Foreman prevented those plans from fully developing when he poured a barrel of salt into a well.

The MKT railroad tracks passed the community on the west side. The railroad left an old wooden box car on a siding in January, 1887. Two men used it to establish a telegraph station at Summit. They lived and slept in the box car, too.

At one time there was a collection of livestock holding pens and a platform for shipping purposes. A fire on August 2, 1902 destroyed most of the pens. The railroad primarily used the platform and pens for shipping farm production during the summer harvests.

The United States Post Office established service for the community in 1896. Mark L. Minter was the first postmaster. He took office on May 18 of that year.

The paving of Jefferson Highway during the 1910's opened up transportation for Summit residents. This initially improved commercial prospects for the town. In the long term, however, townsmen found greater employment in Muskogee.

Jumping ahead thirty years, the town school received a Works Progress Administration grant in 1940. The $13,782 grant funded the construction of an addition and improvements. The grant authorized the employment of twenty-six men to work on the Summit school project.

As the economic opportunities drew employment to Muskogee, Summit's population began to dry up. A wolf hunt conducted there in 1948 illustrates how rural the area was becoming.

Summit is beginning to improve after a long decline. The town is now being led by Mayor Greg Smith. He is working to bring more businesses into town. At the same time, he continues working to improve services offered by the city. He is building on the success ten years ago that created Summit’s new civic center.

Bootie's Restaurant is a major business enterprise in Summit today. It is located at 6303 Oktaha Road. This is the Old Oktaha Road that a segment of US 69 bypasses. I found the owner to be congenial and cheerful last spring. The menu provides a full list of meals for all tastes. The owners constantly work to improve their building.

The All Black Town of Taft will be the subject next week. In the meantime, celebrate Black History Month with a visit to the Three Rivers Museum.

Pomeroy's Arrival in Muskogee

2010-01-27T17:57:00.000-08:00

Fortunately for Muskogee, Marcus Mills Pomeroy was a lifelong writer and editor. Born in 1833 in Elmira, New York, he was back in his home state in 1868 after spending more than a decade in Wisconsin. It was in the mid-west that he made a name for himself as an anti-Lincoln Copperhead Democrat.

Returning to his home state enabled him to start editing and writing for the "New York Democrat" newspaper controlled by the Boss Tweed syndicate in New York City. After a couple of years, Pomeroy broke with the political leader over allegations of Tweed's corruption.

Pomeroy then published a weekly newspaper called the "Pomeroy Democrat." It was during this time that he took a railroad publicity excursion. On the trip, he passed through the new train station in Indian Territory called "Muskogee Station." His recollections were anonymously quoted three years later in the travelogue entitled "The Great South."

Mark Pomeroy, who went by the nickname of "Brick," was a guest of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. He was one of a number of other members of the party who boarded a sleeping car in Sedalia, Missouri on Thursday February 8, 1872 for the ride to the end of the MKT tracks in Indian Territory. This promotional packet was for advertising the railroad.

The MKT train left Sedalia about two o'clock Thursday morning. Pomeroy and the other reporters on the trip spent parts of Thursday and Friday sightseeing in Missouri and Kansas towns. The MKT Palace car, called "Young America," arrived at the Muskogee Station at 11:00 Friday night.

On Saturday morning, members of the excursion party found themselves at the last station on the MKT line. In fact, the town was only about six weeks old.

Pomeroy said the town was situated on the Indian prairie with a far distant horizon faintly visible in the west. He described many of the dwellings in the young town as being much like a Bedouin collection of tents.

The reporters probably remained in the new town only a day or so. There was little to see. Pomeroy makes no mention of a building. Railroad companies typically dropped a boxcar on a siding to become a town's first depot and post office. Reporters likely found this to also be the case in Muskogee.

The iron rails proceeded on southward. In fact, the surveyors were finishing staking the two hundred foot wide right-of-way toward the Red River on the Texas border. The grading crew was already at the Canadian River. The rail-laying crew was marching south at the rate of a mile a day.

While Pomeroy makes no mention of it, the MKT certainly allowed the reporters to ride the work train to the end of the rails. It was here they saw the actual construction of the railroad. Then the reporters rode the work train back to "town."

Pomeroy reboarded the "Young America" for his return trip. Back in Sedalia, he penned his first descriptions. Now we know that Marcus Mills Pomeroy was the first reporter who visited Muskogee. We also now know exactly when he came and why.

Old Muskogee County Stories

2010-01-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

Newspaper reporters emphasized humor in their articles during Muskogee's early days. Here are a few humorous snippets I believe you will enjoy.

The Nye Show Company set up on an empty lot near the South Fourth Street residence of United States Marshal Leo Bennett. This was unfortunate for one escapee because he entered the marshal's residence during his flight. The show company's black bear was on the loose! (1906)

T. L. Pegram owned a dry goods store down town. He also owned a cat. Pegram's cat ate the chickens owned by E. R. Durfeys who lived nearby. Finally spotting the attacker, Durfeys shot Pegram's cat. The newspaper reported that the city marshal, the city water department, the city sewer inspector and the electric light company are all involved in the row. (1908)

Deputy US Marshal Pritchard was trying to prove a point in court one day. He thought five witnesses ought to be enough. He thereupon called five farmers to the witness stand. Each was asked to sample some illegal liquor as a test of the intoxicating properties of the contraband. That started the five witnesses on a bender which ultimately lead to the destruction of hotel furniture. Deputy Marshal Pritchard received the bill. (1906)

Muskogee was a prominent town in 1903. Its growth often attracted financiers from back east. Recent investors were very surprised by the young Muskogee men who claimed prominent titles. One easterner was put in the know when a "colonel" said his title only cost $5.

Robert Bowie lived in Webbers Falls. Like most men in their youth, he came to the court clerk's office in Muskogee to take out a marriage license. The sparkle in his eyes was Miss Minnie Nash. The next week the license was mailed back to the court clerk. Bowie wrote the following across the license, "She married another before I got there, therefore I can not use this." (1906)

Fishing in a puddle in the middle of North Main Street is typical of the way residents have called attention to problems needing work. Homer Baughman joined Campbell Russell in this pantheon of keen observers. Homer mailed the newspaper a collection of mature cockle burrs he found on a parking lot on West Broadway. (1909)

A circus manager went seeking an example of an "oldest inhabitant" in the Flint Hills east of Tahlequah. Upon finally locating the house, the old man refuses to join the circus. The oldster said that "he cannot leave his father who was at the moment putting his grandfather to bed upstairs." (1906)

Patrolman George Ledbetter rushed to the Creek Wagon Yard on reports of a death. Thinking that a murder had occurred, he asked the yard attendant upon arrival where the murderer was. "There ain't no murder. It's a dying horse and I jest wanted to know what to do with him." (1905)

Here is how another member of Muskogee's finest dealt with a real crime. Homer B. Spaulding, for whom the park downtown is named, was incensed one day when he called the police department. Patrolman Grant Huddleston was assigned the duty of finding the culprit that stole a pair of Spaulding's long john's formerly hanging on the family clothesline in the back yard. Officer Huddleston knew he was dealing with a complaint from one of Muskogee's most respected residents when he declared that he would find the culprit "if he had to undress every man in town!" (1908)

Generational Changes Since WWII

2010-01-13T16:57:00.001-08:00

One way of thinking about the past is thinking in terms of generations. We all know what a generation is. It is when the next child or grandchild is born. Quantifying a generation's duration is more difficult.

Genealogists, and some sociologists, have grappled with measuring the length of a generation. Generally speaking, they agree that one lasts from ages fifteen to forty-five years for a woman. However, the frequency of births occurring when a person is fifteen, or forty-five, has been low. Because most births occur when a woman is between twenty-five and thirty-three years of age, many researchers formulate their calculations on three or four generations per one hundred years.

I was thinking about this in regards to Barbara Higbee's death in 2002. She was interested in Muskogee's photographic history. From yard sales and resale booths, Barbara collected over a thousand images depicting early Muskogee sights. Many area residents recall her presenting slide shows based upon her collection.

Four years before her death, Barbara allowed the Three Rivers Museum to scan and preserve digital copies of about one hundred and sixty images from her collection. In looking at the Higbee collection in the museum, I have come to realize that a lot has changed in the passage of time. Generational change.

There are some images that are dated to the half decade following the end of World War Two. This 1945 to 1950 period falls fully two generations ago. As I was examining these photographs, I began to notice things that I no longer see. Here are some of my impressions.

There was a parade marching down West Broadway in 1948. It drew a large crowd of viewers. Two boys were watching the floats pass by. It was not the decorated floats that caught my attention. Nor was it the boys. It was the bicycles parked just behind the boys. They must have just arrived moments before the photographer snapped the picture.

We rarely see boys on bicycles riding across town anymore. It used to be normal for boys to have the freedom to range far and wide across town. I don't see that happening very often any more. Bicycle riders today mostly tend to be people who think of bike riding as a "sport."

Parade turnout was higher during these years. Perhaps it was the patriotic hangover. People dressed up to go out in public. Men and women were still wearing wide-brimmed hats. The khaki pants once worn as part of a uniform were being worn now as civilian attire with decreasing frequency.

There is something else that comes to mind when I looked at photographs dated between 1946 and 1948. Many of the automobiles driving on Muskogee streets had a divider down the middle of the front windshield. This was because the two pieces of glass were flat. Today's automobile enthusiasts would love to acquire the cars still on the roadways during this period.

Theaters, especially the Ritz, posted movie posters on trashcans on local sidewalks. Western movies portrayed good guys against outlaws. Right and wrong were clearly divided in the plotline.

What do you miss seeing from the days following the end of World War Two? You may email me at muskogeehistory AT gmail.com. I'll be looking to hear from you.

Sudhoelter the Architect

2010-01-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

The Lyric Theater appears in a 1907 insurance map. Charles Henry Sudhoelter, Jr., served as the architect for the theater construction project. The theater stood on the southeast corner of Fourth and West Broadway. But, more about the theater later.

The architect was the son of Henry and Emily Sudhoelter, both immigrants from Wurtenburg, Germany. Charles was born shortly after the end of his father's service in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Charles' professional career began with him working in his father's carpentry business in St. Louis, Missouri. But he preferred designing to hammering. So he moved to Kansas City. There he worked as a draughtsman for Truitt and Esmond Building and Loan Company between 1889 and 1891.

He then moved back to St. Louis. In 1892 he built a row house in the Columbia Brewery District.It still stands at 1831-33 North Twentieth Street.

By 1903, Charles was living in the booming town of Muskogee and working as an architect.About this time, he earned the contract to design the Oklahoma Territory's exhibit for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This show is also known as the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The exposition was a celebration of the Jeffersonian acquisition in 1803. The Oklahoma Territory exhibit still exists in El Reno, Oklahoma.

His next big project was a church being built on the southwest corner of Seventh and Boston Street. The image is a architectural rendering of the "Second" Methodist Church. This church shortly thereafter became the first home for the Saint Paul United Methodist Church.

Sudhoelter received the commission for building the Lyric Theater in 1907. This vaudevillian show palace had a capacity for 850. The 53 feet fronting West Okmulgee cost Fred Scheruber $15,000. Though there was no provision for heating the theater initially, it was wired for electrical lights throughout.

The Muskogee theater was designed to resemble a Lyric Theater already standing in Joplin, Missouri. It was two stories tall with a pressed brick front.

Students did not enter the first building of the Oklahoma Baptist University until the fall of 1915. Yet this structure was designed about 1910 by Sudhoelter. It was built in Shawnee.

This project was one of a series of school buildings he designed for Oklahoma. Among his other school buildings were the first East Central Normal School building, later the Science Hall, in Ada and the building for the Southwestern State Normal School in Weatherford.

This native of St. Louis returned to his home state in 1912. He chose to settle in Joplin. His success in Oklahoma provided a solid foundation for his future. Another cornerstone occurred after this move. After being married to his profession for over a decade, he finally took a wife in Missouri.

By the time Charles H. Sudhoelter died in 1937, his commissions included many Joplin structures. Some of them were a mortuary building for the Lanpher Funeral Home, the First Baptist Church sanctuary, the Market Square Building, the Robertson Apartments, and the Browning Buick Building.

His architectural legacy is also preserved in the Stone County Courthouse located in Joplin. He continued to work until the last two years of his life.

Muskogee's New Year, 1878

2009-12-31T11:20:00.000-08:00

Early contemporary accounts of Muskogee events are scarce. Here are a few from an early newspaper around the time of New Year's Day.

Just like the weather of today, it was cold and freezing as New Year's Day of 1878 approached. Temperatures dropped well below freezing at night. Snow fell several days before the year's change. New Year Day saw a high of 37 degrees. That night the temperature reached a low of 23 degrees. So reported Sergeant George H. Crane of the U. S. Army's Signal Service stationed at Fort Gibson post.

There were no Black Friday sales in Muskogee following Christmas. Merchants in the small town may have offered sales on a few items after Christmas passed, but they placed no advertisements suggesting they offered large discounts. The only New Year's sales notice was for a watch, clock and silverware store in Denison, Texas.

The parties and dinners that celebrated Christmas apparently did not welcome in New Year's Day. The residents spent their efforts the week before and then treated the year's change over as another day. It was as if the celebrations of the week earlier had consumed the energies for partying in Muskogee.

There was only one party reported. Some small children in Tahlequah enjoyed attending a party on New Year's Day. Mr. Samuel Sixkiller's residence was the scene where "the little folk were pleasantly entertained." It is not clear that ushering in the New Year was the purpose.

The New Year of 1878 was a harbinger of change for Muskogee. The "Indian Journal" newspaper burnt to the ground on Christmas Day, 1876, in a fire that destroyed two other businesses. Because of financial support offered afterwards, the newspaper re-established itself in Eufaula. After almost nine months of publishing in that southern town, Marion P. Roberts announced that he was moving his press back to the larger town of Muskogee. News of the impending move was just beginning to spread as Muskogee townsmen celebrated New Year's Day.

Another announcement began circulating in the days before the beginning of the next year. Doctor R. I. Pearson of Fort Scott, Kansas said he would be traveling into the Indian Territory. His itinerary included stops at many of the communities in the northern half of the territory. He planned to visit Muskogee during January.

Dr. Pearson's arrival brought a surgeon dentist into the area. Dr. R. B. Howard of Fort Gibson recommended him. Dr. Pearson arrived by train. He took up residence in the Mitchell House, Muskogee's finest hotel located near the railroad depot. The hotel keeper saw patients arriving in pain and departing with fewer teeth.

Muskogee was continuing to attract residents and businessmen. Some of the new entrepreneurs were apparently operating without adhering to the letter of the law when dealing with Native Americans. In early January, the Office of Indian Affairs re-issued their instructions. The government admonished traders to follow all established rules and regulations when conducting their business.

This reminder came on the heels of tribal delegations from the Indian Territory visiting in Washington over the holidays. Members of each delegation sent their calling cards back to their hometown editor. The forerunner of the modern business card was commonly used in the nation's capital. In the Indian Territory, however, they were a novelty.

End of the Line, Part 3

2009-12-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

First, a full size railroad was built to operate between Warner and Webbers Falls. It was named the Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad Company. This railroad ran slightly less than ten and a half miles between the two towns.

Last week, the story was about Marion J. Maples and the beginning of motorcar service on the same tracks. For the first half of 1914, Maples operated his transportation service that provided no seats for passengers. At this point he moved to Warner, a town one third the size of Webbers Falls. We pick up the story again when Maples ceased operating his motorcar service.

Events took an interesting turn in the fall of 1914. Nicholas W. King also saw an opportunity to use the Webbers Falls tracks just like Maples had a year earlier. Though King was working as a carpenter at the time, he possessed a mechanical inclination. He purchased a gasoline powered automobile and modified the wheels to run on the rails like the previous train and motorcar.

In this business venture, King also operated on the rail line without license just as Maples had before him. But King set a schedule for his runs back and forth between the two towns. His schedule allowed Webbers Falls passengers to arrive in Warner in time to catch either the north or the south bound Midland Valley railroad trains.

Unlike Maples, King decided to not carry any freight. This simplified maintenance. At the same time it kept King's investment low.

His service was for passengers only. He also established a flat fare of fifty cents per passenger regardless of how many boarded his car for the next run. King's car, like Maples' flatbed passenger car before it, had no top to protect the passengers and driver.

King said he was going to purchase a canvas top for his car. He worried about the thirty-three minute run between towns was too fast. After all, he was traveling almost twenty miles per hour!

Like Maples' earlier effort, King's automobile was not built to hold up to long term, regular use. King's automobile runs became popular before mechanical problems caused interruptions in service.

Marion Maples stirred into action because he felt King was taking advantage of his own idea. He threatened to block King's use of the railroad track. Since both were operating outside of any legal agreement with the railroad, both stood on weak grounds.

The Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad Company assumed control of the tracks. Then the railroad company abandoned operation between Webbers Falls and Warner. Over ninety years ago, the rails were torn out and went to a scrap dealer. Even the cross ties were dug up and sold. This ended the shortline railroad in southern Muskogee County.

Within a few years Nicholas King moved on to another venture. He is operating a garage in Fort Gibson in 1920. He was obviously using the practical experience gained running an automobile on a railroad track. Only now the automobiles he worked on stuck to the potholed roads of eastern Oklahoma.

End of the Line, Part 2

2009-12-16T18:01:00.001-08:00

The Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad had abandoned operating trains between Warner and Webbers Falls. With the iron rails still in place, Marion J. Maples saw a business opportunity in 1913.

Maples was a hotel owner in Webbers Falls. This former Justice of the Peace also operated both a hack line (a horse and buggy taxi) and a ferry across the Arkansas River.

He had seen the railroad company move freight and passengers back and forth between the two towns. The problem was that there was not enough business to support the expense of operating a full size engine and cars.

In the later part of the year, Maples purchased a railroad inspection car in Chicago. Inspection cars were called "motorcars." They were designed to operate under their own power. When the motorcar arrived, Maples found he had to install a new four-cylinder engine. He also purchased a second-hand flat car for carrying freight.

Maples' motorcar was basically a flat-bed freight car with short walls on the sides. It had room for seventeen passengers, but never had seats installed. All riders simply sat on the flat surface like the shipping boxes on the freight car. So, too, did Maples and his son who took turns operating the motorcar. The operator and passengers alike turned their backs to the elements during inclement weather.

Maples calculated that his contract with the US government to carry the mail between Warner and Webbers Falls paid the expenses for operating the motorcar. To make a profit, he figured he had to earn $1.50 each trip. If one passenger was traveling, he paid the full dollar and a half. Tickets for two travelers were 75 cents apiece. Three or more rode the motorcar for fifty cents each.

Freight loads were never the super heavy shipments that larger lines hauled. The small engine on the motorcar simply could not pull the weight. Maples charged a freight rate of thirty-five cents per hundred pounds. There was more freight shipping than passengers' fares on the line.

Maples' powered motorcar business was good. However, it was not strong enough to cause the Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad line to return to running its own train over the tracks.

The steady motorcar business was progressing normally when one day the motorcar ran through an open switch. Maples was the "engineer" at the time. He suffered a broken leg.

As a consequence, the Maples line went on sick leave and the regular three a day runs between terminuses came to a halt. People missed the service enough to urge Marion to get back into the saddle. The motorcar resumed operation shortly thereafter.

Then a serious accident occurred to the motorcar. In the fall of 1914 when electioneering was in high gear, a Midland Valley Railroad train backed into the motorcar while it was stationary in Warner.

Aboard the motorcar were a number of political candidates. Among the candidates was Robert Toomer, the clerk of the Muskogee County Supreme Court. He suffered a broken arm.

With his legal knowledge, Toomer knew who to sue: the bigger railroad. He claimed nearly $3,000 in damages and losses. After his death from other causes, his estate won a judgment and received $1,200.

In the mean time, freight and passenger hauling on the Maples motorcar slackened. The little four cylinder engine on the motorcar reached a point where replacement or serious repair was called for.

Maples seemed to also be losing enthusiasm for the venture. Then Maples committed the ultimate sin in the eyes of Webbers Falls residents. He moved to Warner!

This story concludes next week with more twists and turns.

End of the Line, Part 1

2009-12-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

There once was a railroad line running between Warner and Webbers Falls. This photograph shows part of the Webbers Falls depot. The Webbers Falls Museum supplied it. Shown in front is a railroad employee.

The railroad was the Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad Company. It was a branch line off of the Midland Valley Railroad that ran between Muskogee and Checotah. The Webbers Falls line connected to the Midland Valley at its Warner yard.

There were Muskogee investors in the joint stock company that built the railroad. Fred E. Turner served as president of the railroad. He was the son of old time merchant Clarence W. Turner. Oscar Lee Hayes, another Muskogee merchant, served as vice-president. Other investors lived in Oklahoma City where the annual stockholders' meetings were held.

Midland Valley Railroad Company was a much bigger company. Investors in the Webbers Falls line hoped that the larger railroad would purchase their shortline road. In the end, the investors' dreams of selling out for a quick profit vanished.

The branch rail line extended almost ten and a half miles between Warner and Webbers Falls. Operation of the railroad began with popular fanfare. Its inaugural run occurred on Wednesday, October 4, 1911. The Webbers Falls depot pictured above was completed two weeks later.

This heartening event came six months after a major fire in Webbers Falls. The first run greatly cheered the businessmen's hopes for town expansion and lower shipping costs.

Muskogee's businessmen helped celebrate the event. They got off of the Midland Valley train and boarded the Webbers Falls passenger car in Warner. The train made a special stop outside of Webbers Falls to pick up "Grandpa" John H. Eiffert. Ninety-seven year old Grandpa Eiffert got to ride the excursion train the last mile into town. He served as the grand marshal.

Residents from Warner and the surrounding communities came to Webbers Falls for the celebration. The local merchants had bunting and flags flying. The new Phoenix Hotel replaced the one burned in the March 11 fire. All of the visitors enjoyed viewing the newly rebuilt businesses.

Music provided by the Muskogee band followed the barbecue lunch. Ex-Governor C. N. Haskell, himself a railroad promoter, spoke approvingly of the efforts exerted by the Webbers Falls railroad backers. Another speaker made the prediction that Webbers Falls' population would double to 2,000 in eighteen months.

Horse races began shortly afterward. Other events had to be cancelled because of rain that began falling in mid-afternoon.

The railroad operated a main engine and a donkey engine. The latter was used to switch the freight and passenger cars into position. There were at least two cars for freight and passengers. Photographs show a small tank car, too.

The state Board of Equalization valued the railroad at $3,300 per mile for tax purposes in 1913. The railroad company ceased operating the train that year when tonnage and passenger fares failed to cover operating expenses.

It was about eighteen months after the inaugural train run. Webbers Falls had not doubled in size.

The last president of the railroad line was Joseph H. Stolper. He was a Russian who immigrated to the United States in 1890. He was a naturalized citizen and physician.

During the fall of 1917, the company officers decided at last to liquidate the operation. The company left many creditors unpaid when the line was abandoned. Investors got nothing for their risk.

The rolling stock and track was sold to the Muskogee Junk and Supply Company for $36,000. The engine and maybe more equipment were then sold to France where it was needed for their war effort.

It is reported that the Webbers Falls railroad line operated "now and then, mostly then." Next week's article will tell the story of what happened when the Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad was not operating trains over the tracks between Webbers Falls and Warner in 1914.

Elizabeth Jane Fulton Hester

2009-12-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Jane Fulton was the daughter of missionaries. Her parents had moved to Georgia to work with the Cherokees before the removal. Elizabeth was born in January of 1839 and was home schooled. The lessons she learned from her father and mother led to her gathering the children of slaves together. She taught them the rudiments of reading and writing while still a young girl.

Then she went off to a college for two years. She served as an instructor during the second year. Shortly thereafter, she decided to seek a future as a missionary. It was the same time that her Uncle Aaron Harlan wanted to become a merchant in Indian Territory.

The two left Georgia by stage coach for Huntsville, Alabama. There they boarded the Memphis and Charleston Railroad train that took them to the Mississippi River. Then they took a steamboat up the Arkansas River to Fort Smith.

They loaded the store goods they purchased into wagons pulled by oxen. Then they followed a wilderness road into Indian Territory. They arrived in Tishomingo in the Choctaw Nation in 1858.

Miss Fulton immediately began teaching Indian children by traveling to different log school houses in the area. On Sundays she held Sunday School classes open to all.

Aaron Harlan decided to sell out to George Benjamin Hester about a year later. About the same time, George asked for Miss Fulton's hand in marriage.

The beginning of the Civil War forced the new couple to move to Boggy Depot in 1861 because of her husband's decision to join the Confederate army. Throughout the war Mrs. Hester regularly ministered to wounded and sick soldiers. Her medical caring ended her teaching efforts except for her Sunday School work.

Following the end of the war, G. B. Hester reopened his business on the road served by the Fort Smith stage line. The two-story building stood just east of the public well. Mrs. Hester soon returned to her church and teaching duties.

G. B. Hester died in 1897, just two weeks short of his sixty-fifth birthday. The couple had already lost six children. Only a daughter, Daisy, survived and became the wife of Robert L. Owen. At statehood, Owen became one of Oklahoma's first US Senators.

Mrs. G. B. Hester continued her church work. Beginning in 1899, she served for 12 years as President of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Soc. of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In this endeavor, she traveled at her own expense to meetings all across the state.

She moved to the bustling city of Muskogee in 1901 to live near her daughter. Mrs. Hester's interest in social work soon focused on the Salvation Army's efforts. She began visiting the county jail on Sundays. Eventually, she visited jails all across eastern Oklahoma and in Fort Smith.

It was while working with the Salvation Army in 1908 that she encountered F. W. Rubel, the "Alabama Hoodoo," of last week's article. She said on another occasion that 90 percent of the prisoners she saw blamed whisky for their downfall.

Mrs. Hester's interest in the welfare of Confederate veterans never diminished after the end of the war. After arriving in Muskogee, she joined the General Nathan Bedford Forrest Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The chapter still serves current veterans in many ways.

Mrs. Hester continued to have an interest in social welfare. She was a member of Oklahoma delegation that attended a national conference in May of 1915. The Southern Sociological Congress sponsored "The Conservation of Health" conference in Houston.

The Oklahoma Speaker of the House asked Mrs. Hester to speak about women's issues in the new chamber in February of 1917. She was the first woman to speak to in new state capitol building.

Elizabeth Jane Hester died at her home on August 2, 1929 at age ninety. Many people came to her funeral in the sanctuary at St. Paul's Methodist Church to pay their respects for her seventy years of service to Oklahomans. Hester Hall on the University of Oklahoma campus is named in her honor. Like Miss Alice Robertson, Mrs. Hester was a giant in caring for others.

Muskogee's Alabama Hoodoo

2009-11-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

The tradition still lives on in some parts of America where a person can seek the telling of his fortune and receive non-traditional remedies or cures from a man called the "Alabama Hoodoo." A hundred years ago, one lived in Muskogee. It seems he took great pride in the label. His name was F. W. Rubel.

It is not clear where Rubel came from, when he arrived or what his ultimate fate was. If it was not for his run-ins with the law, we might not know as much as we do because Muskogee's Alabama Hoodoo left few records behind.

The Alabama Hoodoo got into a fight with James Richardson in 1907 and killed him. The judge sentenced Rubel to prison, but the fortune teller pulled a sleight of hand and gained a mistrial.

A bail of $5,000 was impossibly high at the time thereby forcing the magician to sit behind bars in the county jail for months and months awaiting a new trial. Eventually, two men stepped forward to guarantee his bail by putting up land worth $25,000. The Alabama Hoodoo walked out into the sunlight and returned to his haunts on South Second Street to await his re-trial in the fall of 1908.

Mrs. G. B. Hester spent her Sundays visiting prisoners in Arkansas and Oklahoma. It was part of her work with the Salvation Army. In thirty years of effort, she had come to realize that some of the incarcerated could be helped. And, also, that some could not.

During his stay in jail, Mrs. Hester visited the Alabama Hoodoo along with the rest of Muskogee's inmates. After being bailed out, the Hoodoo approached Mrs. Hester on the street one day. Here he professed to having once been a Christian. Now he claimed to have regained his faith because of her. He was reformed he said.

Years of effort with the Salvation Army left Mrs. Hester wise to the ways of people. She asked Rubel if his ability to see the future had failed him. "Couldn't he have foretold his own fate for killing another man?" she wanted to know. "Couldn't he have foreseen that he was going to shoot someone in time to prevent his own actions?"

Not taken aback, the Alabama Hoodoo claimed his killing of Richardson had been in self-defense. He again claimed repentance as the two parted.

A year later Muskogee's fortune teller was on South Second Street again. This time he got into a brawl with Zeke Moore, a wealthy African-American oil man. The fight occurred in a joint. Their blows pummeled each other for ten minutes before two police officers arrived to break up the fight.

The oil business must have toughened Moore. He came out of the fight little worse off. Muskogee's seer, on the other hand, had to be taken to the doctor. The Hoodoo had a number of gashes that needed sewing up.

The word "hoodoo" is a variant of voodoo. It first appeared in America in 1885. Four years later the term was used to mean "a person or thing whose presence caused bad luck."

Muskogee's Alabama Hoodoo could only see the future for others while being a hoodoo to himself.

Artist Dies In Muskogee

2009-11-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

Although it took most of his life, Richard Lonsdale Brown finally ended up in Muskogee. He was born in Evansville, Indiana on August 25, 1892. At a young age, his family moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he grew up.

Nearing adulthood, Richard attended the Charleston Institute. His family, knowing of his interest in painting, enrolled him in the school's "manual training" program. This once-modern educational philosophy taught students industrial skills. Naturally, Richard learned how to paint houses in the program.

Richard was stubborn in his determination to become a landscape artist. He left West Virginia and headed for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After studying painting for a brief period, he headed for New York City with nothing more than two dollars in his pocket and a collection of completed artwork.

He approached first one art dealer and then another trying to sell one of his sketches. Not one of the learned dealers wanted anything from the eighteen year old. His nights were spent in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue absorbing masterpieces one after another.

Finally, in a state of deep hunger, both for approval and for food, he approached the studio of George deForest Brush. Richard had admired Brush's work in the Metropolitan. He wanted to hear whether someone with proven ability thought he had any future as an artist himself.

Brush answered the door and was not for even a moment put off by the sight of a scruffy looking boy with his portfolio under his arm. The master artist looked through the watercolors carefully. At last he laid the sketches down and answered Richard's question of whether he had the talent to become an artist. "Why my boy," he replied, "you are one now."

From that moment forward, Richard's future in art opened up. Brush took him to his studio in New Hampshire where he painted mountainous landscapes under the watchful eyes of his new teacher. The following fall, the pupil and master returned to New York City.

About this time there were only five African American art students in the city that produced work worthy of note. Richard's name was in the list. Soon people began purchasing his works.

Richard continued to improve his painting. Art show judges also saw something they liked in his watercolors. The National Academy of Design show in May of 1913 agreed that Richard's entry earned the bronze medal in the city-wide contest.

Some of Richard's admirers were members of the newly established NAACP. Before long, his progress became subject of the association's magazine started by W. E. B. du Bois. It is largely from the news clips found in "The Crisis" that the fate of the budding artist is recorded.

Richard Brown possessed a vision of art that was bigger than New York City. With the same independence that propelled him to America's largest city, he left within the year for new educational opportunities. He first moved to Boston in order to examine the art work there. Then, he turned to house painting in order to survive. "The Crisis" reported him painting the Shaw House there.

Sometime about the winter of 1916-17, Richard moved to Muskogee. The 1917 city directory lists him as an artist at "The Craft Shop." His directory also says he lives with William E. Brown on South Twenty-third Street.

W. E. Brown owned "The Craft Shop" at 123 South Third Street. He was a dealer in marble, tile, mantles and grates for the construction trade. Richard worked at the shop, but probably not as an "artist." He likely was painting houses again.

Richard registered for the first American war draft in June of 1917. He then dies penniless of pneumonia at William Brown's home in the fall or early winter according to reports in "The Crisis." The location of this artist's grave is unknown.

Greeks in Muskogee

2009-11-11T16:00:00.001-08:00

The American census records for Oklahoma report that few emigrated from Greece before 1900. Greeks began settling in Muskogee primarily in the first decade of the last century. Many more Greeks would settle in Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas about the same time.

The process of assimilation began almost immediately upon arrival. Many took English forenames shortly after arriving at the port of Mobile. Many Muskogee Greeks were single when they arrived. This allowed most to take American girls for wives. Only a couple of immigrants sent back to Greece for sweethearts.

The earliest Greek immigrants began working in the food industry. In so doing, they showed the way to make a living for many of their fellow countrymen. Many took jobs as cooks, waiters, lunchroom and candy store proprietors, café workers and fruit stand managers or workers.

One immigrant was Gus George Cousparis. He was born in 1890 and arrived in Muskogee at age sixteen from Agiou, Greece. He arrived in the United States at the port of Mobile, Alabama. He, and two friends who arrived with him, quickly migrated to a booming Muskogee in 1907.

Like the Greeks who arrived before him, Gus went into the food industry. His first job was working as a salesman, or counter help, at a candy store. The store likely was the "Palace of Sweets" located at 229 W. Broadway. Cris Kooris owned the Palace.

Gus lived in a room of the El Dorado Hotel 107 ½ North Cherokee Street. There were four young men aged 18 to 20 years old living in the same hotel and working for Cris Kooris. Three blocks south of the hotel was another business owned by this entrepreneur. It was named the "Candy Kitchen." This was likely the location where the cooking occurred.

George Kooris, Cris' brother, ran a lodging home in town. All of his Greek roomers were restaurant cooks or waiters as well. They were all in the same age bracket of 18 to 20 years old as Gus was.

Gus Cousparis began working in a small diner before long. He prospered enough to begin living in a single room in a hotel by 1915. At the same time he was operating George's Quick Lunch at 210 Wall Street.

This is confusing because there was another business with an almost identical name. George Fotenopulas owned George's Famous Lunch at 211 North Third Street. Maybe there was a partnership, or maybe Gus bought Fotenopulas' first diner.

Gus Cousparis continued to work in the food industry in Muskogee until the end of World War II. Most of the time he operated a food counter in buildings on the lower end of West Okmulgee.

He retired from the restaurant business in 1946 and entered the vending machine business. Gus operated these machines for thirty years, the same length of time he spent serving food in diners.

Gus never lost his love for his native country. At the time of his death, he was a member of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association. It promotes Greek heritage in the United States. He also remained true to his faith by attending a Greek Orthodox Church in Tulsa.

Gus Cousparis' life illustrate of how a Greek man made a living in Oklahoma. It also reminds us of yet another nation that contributed to the local melting pot.

Ray Tice -- Flying Daredevil

2009-11-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

It was a wild night. At one o'clock in the morning, Muskogee residents were awakened by the loud roaring of an unmuffled engine. Upon arising to look out their windows, they saw a blurry image and a red light in the sky. Those with home telephones called the police department to ask what was going on. Residents were not accustomed to loud noises at night and they wanted to go back to sleep.

Earlier the previous afternoon, the Air Tour arrived at Hatbox Field. The tour was a promotional effort that supported the development of aviation in Oklahoma. Thirty-six airplanes with sixty-six pilots and passengers came to spread the word.

One of the pilots was from the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa. Ray Tice was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1895. Automobiles fascinated him in his youth. He learned everything he could about motors and soon became an auto mechanic. This interest evolved into a love of flying.

On the eve of the Great Depression, Muskogee was improving Hatbox Field with drainage tile after enlarging it to its present size. Spartan's airplane was a Stearman C-3 biplane, capable of carrying 3 people. It had weak instrument lights and a bright red taillight.

Ray Tice took off with couple of girls for a demonstration flight in the Spartan biplane. The girls had no idea that flying at night was any less safe than flying during the daytime. They did not think it was unusual that only automobile headlights lit the runway for takeoff.

Once in the air, Tice buzzed the Muskogee residential area. It was about one o'clock in morning. When that proved unchallenging, he flew into the downtown district.

Tice was extremely lucky that Thursday night. Flying at a very low altitude, he made many passes between Muskogee skyscrapers. At one point he was observed to pass below the top of the Severs Hotel. He was almost low enough to strike the flag pole out front.

Because the police received so many calls from concerned residents, they called Officer Pete Hale then stationed at Hatbox Field. His duty was to keep sightseers away from the touring aircraft. Hale's new instruction was to arrest the pilot upon landing.

Tice managed to land without any complications. He again used only automobile headlights to point out the landing strip. This was very hazardous during the early days of flying. One of the girl passengers reported fainting upon landing.

No charges were filed against Ray Tice the next morning. After all, it had been hard to verify exactly how low he flew. He was reluctantly released. However, the leaders of the Air Tour were very upset by Tice's stunt. As punishment, they forbid him from flying any further on the tour.

The Air Tour departed Hatbox Field about 9:30 Friday morning. The tour planes headed for Okmulgee and Norman on their way to Oklahoma City. Tice's night flying was the constant topic of discussions among the many pilots.

Night flying was tried by the military as early as WWI, but Hatbox did not have field lights in 1929. Lights were only added to Hatbox Field in 1931.

Fort Gibson News in 1920

2009-10-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Issues of the Fort Gibson New Era newspaper for October of 1920 report life outside of Muskogee. They often carried news items about ill or recovering children and adults. Sick little boys and returning members of congregations often received mention on the same page.

Maybe that is why the Bayer aspirin advertisement caught my eye. The big line drawing of a tablet with Bayer spelled up and down and across was as contemporary eighty-nine years ago as it is today. A tin box of a dozen tablets reportedly cost only a few cents. The price is still not much different in Wal-Mart.

The influenza continued killing people even when the climax of the disease was past. One victim was Wagoner Herbert Merle Evans. Wagoner was his first name; he lived in Duncan, Oklahoma. He was brought to Fort Gibson for burial in the National Cemetery. Mr. Evans received a serious wound while serving in a machine-gun company during the First World War. He survived that only to die in Oklahoma at the end of the Great Flu Epidemic. He was laid to rest next to his brother who did not survive military service in France.

George Washington Terry was the newly appointed head of the Fort Gibson Fire Department that fall. He called his "boys" out to become familiar with handling fire hoses. The drill did not include fire, or even rescue practices. No, these young men used their water hoses to spray city streets to keep down the dust.

Construction was an ongoing topic of local news in rural newspapers. Otto White's painting his two story home with white paint received top billing. The fact that Otto had added a "Corinthian porch" in front of the family dining room was also mentioned. Neighbors in their wagons, or astride a horse, no doubt made a point to passing by to check out its appearance.

The monthly Women Christian Temperance Union meeting generated a report that over $5,000 had been raised across the state. The money was dedicated for the support of Prohibition.

Property sales also made the "Local News" columns. This was especially so when property with a history changed hands. Such was the case when the newspaper owner purchased the "Washington Irving" lot on Garrison Hill. Long-time residents said it had been the writer's residence where he wrote his famous account of his western travels entitled "A Tour of the Prairies."

The Farmers National Bank had a prominent advertisement on the front page. The ad said "The man who borrows gets the habit." This admonition appears in the newspaper as prices were falling for agricultural commodities. The end of World War One brought on the cancellation of many government orders, causing a brief recession.

The town of Fort Gibson, like Muskogee, had the embryo of a water system. It, too, had a water tank for supplying water for personal consumption. And, like in Muskogee, the water tank filled with sediment. That fall, workmen drained the tank and shoveled out two wagon loads of mud and the bodies of a few birds. The hope was for cleaner water in the future despite the fact there was no water filtering available.

Jerry Starr, a former slave, passed away at 98 in a cabin near the Methodist Church. He was survived by a wife named Prophet who was 95 years old. The family paid for an ad the following week in a "Card of Thanks" expressing appreciation for all of the condolences they received. Their father, affectionately known as "Uncle Jerry," was well liked in the community.

Such was the news in Fort Gibson in 1920.