Demolition of history gave birth to Skirvin Hotel
As discussion continues about Sandridge Energy’s decision to demolish six buildings downtown, including Oklahoma City’s oldest structure, the India Temple building built in 1902, I came across this story from 100 years ago published in The Oklahoman, May 1, 1910.
It is timely or timeless, for it shows the change, destruction and construction of buildings, that continue to keep Oklahoma City a vital and modern city. Also, it tells us that our pioneers recognized the importance old buildings had to their history and their attempts to preserve them and reuse them when possible.
The early day preservationists recognized, in this case, that most of the buildings had changed beyond remembrance, but they made the attempt to save the one that remained. Without such forethought, the Skirvin Hotel, now one of Oklahoma City’s beloved landmarks, might not have been located where it is and might not look like it does today.
“LANDMARK DEMOLISHED MAKING ROOM FOR THE NEW SKIRVIN HOUSE”
“On the land where, but a few years ago, men vied for public favor in distributing groceries; the thirsty footsore traveler quenched his burning throat, and where a railroad then a struggling corporation, fought with the strength of a bull for a site to build a station, there will be erected within a year a magnificient modern ten-story hotel.
The work of excavating on the new Skirvin House, First street and Broadway, preceded by the removal of the old buildings, one of them a landmark, brings to the old-timers visions of the days gone by. Last week while attempting to remove, without demolishing one of the old structures, it fell apart. As old age overtakes man, so time did its work and the old Richardson real estate office is no more.
The history of the land at First and Broadway is closely allied with the settlement of the city, for there the first business section was started. The land where the Rock Island depot stands was owned by I.C. Cuppy, who staked out two lots. Soon after the opening (the Land Run opening) the Choctaw Railroad, now the Rock Island, bought two of Mr. Cuppy’s lots and one of his buildings, a two-story frame house.
For many months this was the only station house, as they were then called. Adjoining it was the old Richardson house, used and operated by real estate men and familiarly known as the “office.” The frame house, one of the first to be built in Oklahoma City, was the work of W.S. Richardson and a cousin. It was completed some time in 1889 and after serving faithfully for twenty-one years it went to pieces on April 25, 1910.
G.W. Turley staked the first lot on the well known corner and for many years lived there. To the north adjoining him was Kelley Shelton with his “Liquor Emporium,” and many a night the still air resounded with the laughter of the pioneers of Oklahoma.
Only a few years after the opening, the Choctaw railroad tore down the house originally owned by Cuppy and erected a station of its own, which is still standing. Thus one of the original group was lost. Turley’s residence was never wholly demolished, but so many and so frequent were the additions that it could not be called the orginal.
The place occupied by Shelton was partly torn down and remodeled until it bore no resemblance to the original, but the “Office” built by Richardson and his cousin was one of group that retained recognition. Before its removal last week, a number of people looked at the simple frame and many who saw it crumble to pieces, coupled the incident with memories of the past.
Within a few years nearly all of the old land marks will be gone and the early days will be remembered only by tale of mouth and pen. Among a number of the ’89ers there is talk of forming a society to preserve the structures so inseparably connected with the early history of Oklahoma City.”
Our current city planners and developers have to strike a balance between the truly historical and that which has been changed until it bears “no resemblance to the original” and save what they can.
– Mary Phillips
Jesse James’ brother Frank lived here
In the Dec 13, 2009, story by Oklahoman reporter Ken Raymond, titled “HUNTERS TRAIL JESSE JAMES’ GOLD“, he tells of the treasure hunters and searches for the loot supposedly hidden by the James gang.
He also mentions that Jesse’s brother Frank settled down near Fletcher, OK, to have easy access in his search for their ill-gotten gains.
A search of The Oklahoman’s archives finds a story from The Oklahoman, July 25, 1909, that reported:
“Frank James, formerly member of the famous James brothers, who committed numerous depredations in Missouri and terrorized citizens throughout the middle west, is certainly a man of his word. Soon after Jesse James was killed and Frank James surrendered to the governor of Missouri, the chief executive promised him his pardon, providing he, Frank, would live a “quiet and peaceful life.” Frank promised to follow out the governor’s instructions, which he has done.”
James and his wife moved to a farm near Fletcher in southwestern Oklahoma in 1906. There, they raised corn and chickens on 100 acres of land.
The 1909 article continues:
“Mr. and Mrs. James attend church and social gatherings in Fletcher, and Mr. James is ranked as one of the foremost men in that part of Oklahoma.
A great many people stop at Fletcher to visit the once noted outlaw. They are always tendered a cordial welcome and asked to remain as long as they like, providing they do not get too inquisitive in regard to Mr. James past life. Mr. James seldom refers to his reckless Missouri days and he is very sensitive towards publicity. One of the principal reasons why he moved to the farm was to evade so much newspaper notoriety and the ever curious public.”
In 1911, Frank James’ mother, Zerelda Samuel, died on a train near Oklahoma City en route from Fletcher to Kansas City to visit her grandson. Shortly after her death, Frank and his wife moved from Oklahoma, eventually returning to his farm at Excelsior Springs, Mo.
This story from The Oklahoman on Feb. 19, 1915, the day after Frank James died in Missouri, gives a slightly different picture of the man.
Frank James, who died at Excelsior Springs, Mo., lived on a farm one and a half miles north of Fletcher, from the fall of 1906 until his mother died in Oklahoma City three years ago. The farm here is still in James’ name. Following the death of his mother , who was a Mrs. Samuels, he returned to his farm here and remained through the following winter, since which time the farm has been tenanted.
The farm is in what is known as the Little Pasture, and was sold to James for $3,500. While on the farm he did most of his own farm work, and his wife lived her with him. While his mother was en route from Fletcher to Missouri she died on the Frisco train as it was entering Oklahoma City. She was accompanied by Mrs. Frank James.
James, during his residence near here, mingled but little with the public, and so far as known never referred to his outlaw career.
E.W. Dilling, cashier of the Fletcher State bank, and one of the few local citizens with whom James was inclined to talk, say that James was a good bank patron, courteous at all times, and anxious to be of material aid to those less fortunately situated so far as financial conditions were concerned.
Although James lived for several years within one and a half miles of Fletcher he seldom came to town, and seemed to shun the gaze of the curious.
Perhaps this quote from an Aug. 14, 1932, story from The Oklahoman about treasure hunters looking for lost fortunes in Keechi Hills in southwest Oklahoma offers an explanation for James settling in Oklahoma:
“Skeptics may hoot at the idea that the James gang ever had at one time more money than they could haul around with them, but skeptics can’t disprove the fact that Frank James acquired the farm north of Fletcher, Okla., and continued to own it till his death. “Why would Frank James in his old age, buy a farm in the new country of Oklahoma, or anywhere else, except his dear Clay or Jackson county, Mo., unless to look for buried bandit loot?” is the question that treasure hunters in the Keechi hills ask of those inclined to doubt.”
–Mary Phillips
The first Capitol picnic
Imagine, if you will, the area where the state Capitol now stands as empty prairie and how bright stars would have been without the lights of the city today. This would have been the scene on a crisp, November night in 1910.
This photo taken circa 1915-16 of the construction of the state Capitol shows the area as it was, farm land and prairie. - THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE
Before the graders could grade and the builders could build, the surveyors had to perform their calculations to determine the exact location in the world of the Capitol building.
Two stories from The Oklahoman, Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 of 1910 described the actions of the surveyors as they engaged in ”Fixing the State Capital Meridian.”
The Saturday, Nov. 12, article is prefaced as though for a play:
Scene: The Capitol site
Time: Friday evening
Props: “Two delicate surveyor’s transit instruments, the best of the kind in the world, flickering lantern, fitful gleams of a gypsy fire, great bags of apples, surveyors stakes in a pile, small flash lights and above all an appetizing aroma of coffee from the bubbling pot on the fire.”
Cast– members of the capitol commission, corps of engineers and at least one newspaper reporter.
“There you are–what was it all about? An important event in the history of Oklahoma City’s acquisition of the state capitol– the establishment of the capitol site by astronomical calculation based on the whirling of Polaris, the north star, on its heavenly orbit.”
“The calculation was made by Mr. D’Yarmett in the presence of the capitol commissioners to provide an absolute basis for the surveyor’s lines on the capitol site. No human agency can rub out this important imaginary line– and should all other plats and maps and records be destroyed the expert engineer with the exact longitude of the capitol site, obtained last night, could reproduce the maps. The observation of Polaris to determine “True North” is handed down to science by the sailors of Phoenicia–in its perfected form it played its part in the building of a great state house by a great state.
“The observation was begun by a corps of engineers at 8:45 o’clock Friday night when the star
A surveyor at work on the Capitol grounds in 1936. - The Oklahoman Archive
peeped from the mists of the northern sky. It was finished in the wee hours of this morning but the sensitive instruments were left on their tripods until early today when the calculation from their reading will be made and announcement given out by the capitol commission. The jarring of street cars or automobiles in carring the instruments to the city might have produced serious error. Hence the all night vigil– the blazing fire for warmth to the watchers and the glowing coals to cook the appetizing midnight meal for the the engineers and commissioners– the first picnic on the capitol site.”
The Oklahoman Sunday, Nov. 13 announced:
“The capitol of the state of Oklahoma will be located on longitude 97 degrees, 25 minutes.
“… the observation was the clulmination, the finishing touch, to the tremendous work of laying out and platting the state capitol site. The establishment of the meridian, or “the azimuth of the base line of the capitol addition,” forever fixes ” a bench mark” from which the entire site could be replatted, should all other records be effaced…”
– Mary Phillips
Will H. Clark – a forgotten visionary
If you have ever driven on Grand Boulevard or walked through the gardens at Will Rogers Park; if you have ever picnicked at Lincoln Park, enjoyed the wildness of Trosper Park or played at Woodson Park, you owe a great deal to Will H. Clark.
An article from The Oklahoman published Dec 19, 1937, told it like this:
“A roll of drums, please, for Oklahoma City’s forgotten man.
His name is Will H. Clark. There is is no park, no boulevard, no street, no avenue, no school named in his honor. His name, forgotten by the city when it honored its great, means little. But certainly he is of Oklahoma City’s great.
Pause to think of Will H. Clark for a moment as you drive on Grand boulevard, the highway that encircles the city. Stop to think of him when you swim, picnic, play or attend entertainments at Lincoln, Southwest (now Woodson) or Will Rogers park. Revere his memory when you hear of the city’s revenue from oil under Trosper park. Recall his name as you gaze at undeveloped Canyon Topping park (now Canyon park and Topping Park north of NW 50th Street) and visualize the playground for tomorrow’s children.
Will H. Clark saw ahead of his time. He saw into yesterday’s tomorrows, which have passed, and he saw even into today’s tomorrows which have not come.
Joseph B. Thoburn, historian and writer, called attention to Clark when he read of nominations for the honor as Oklahoma City’s most useful citizen of 1937.
They didn’t give such honor in Clark’s day, and very little honor came his way, except that as a member and secretary of the city park board. He served on that board from 1907 to 1915 (1911 according to other stories). It was then he dreamed the dreams which gave Oklahoma City a system of parks which today is recognized as one of the most satisfactory in the nation.
As a member of that board, Clark visualized the boulevard connected with large parks at each corner of the city. On June 1, 1909, voters of the city authorized a $400,000 bond issue for that purpose.
It cost the city $400,000. In August, 1929, the city received its first check for royalties from oil wells on one of the parks created, Southeast or Trosper park. By June 30, 1937, the city had received royalties totaling $1,163,728.85 (worth over $17 million in 2009 dollars) from the 34 wells on that park.
“In his foresighted vision he planned more wisely than the rest of us knew, even though we voted to approve his plan,” Thoburn said. “Aye, and ponder for a moment on the query of what those four parks would have cost if their purchased had been postponed unitil now!”
It would be a big item, certainly. Lincoln park, northeast of the city, has 620 acres. Trosper park on the southeast has 655 acres. There are 160 acres in Southwest park and 160 acres in Will Rogers park, northwest of the city.
“He was of the little prized majority who never succeeded in amassing great material wealth,” Thoburn observed.
Will H. Clark was born in Wisconsin in 1856 and came to Oklahoma City in 1890. He clerked for his father, Col. John G. Clark, one of the first territorial judges; he served as superintendent of Fairlawn cemetery; engaged in real estate; and was an amateur expert on landscaping before he and his wife moved to California in 1920, according to a story in The Oklahoman April 8, 1942.
“A long-neglectful city finally got around Tuesday (April 7, 1942) to honoring the memory of an ’89er known as the father of the city park system.”
The city council had approved a 3.55-acre playground for land east of Crippled Children’s hospital. But another story in 1946, less than 5 years later, has the city selling the park for the new Veterans Hospital.
Will H. Clark did leave a legacy to Oklahoma City.
In the Men of Vision series published in The Oklahoman in 1964, it says about Clark, “Today, 55 years later, the city’s urban highway system (our Interstate system) surprising coincides with the boulevard’s route. Pioneer Clark looked far into the future to envision the Oklahoma City of today.”
- Mary Phillips
“The meaning of Easter”
This is a reprint of an article by Edith C. Johnson, an editorial writer for The Oklahoman, that was first published 95 years ago on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1915:
“Today is Easter — the most significant and appealing festival in the calendar of the year — with the single exception of Christmas.
Easter is our most perfect symbol of hope renewed and our promise of life eternal. Rightly interpreted, it becomes the sign-manual of creative energy bursting the bonds of a thousand limitations. It is the token of new courage with which to face life’s struggle–strong in the belief of an ultimate supremacy. To contemplate the eternal verities for which it stands is to widen our horizon and broaden our purposes and hopes.
Science teaches us that one spring is like another–but science is forgotten in the message of inspiration the recurring springtime brings to a world that is weary with toil and endless disappointments, that is wasting its blood in futile warfare, that is struggling with iron oppressions and that is crushed to earth under the heel of selfishness and cold indifference.
Easter beckons on the human race. Symbolizing the renewal of man’s shining ideals, it revives human faith after the winter of our discontent, and spurs us on to the accomplishment of unbelievable tasks, through a courage that finds its source in the life-giving stream of our spiritual nature.
There is a sublime general in Easter, celebrated by the return of spring with its melting snows and streams, its budding leaves, and its bursting blossoms that once more turn their petals to the sun. Man may fall, but nature always stands proudly erect– for the seed drops to earth, only to blossom forth in greater glory. Man may transgress or evade the law. Inviolable nature keeps it. Man may sullenly turn away from light and truth. All nature turns her face towards the sun.
Thus do we read in the buds and blossoms and leaves of grass the victories of life. The beauties of nature heal and restore us. The incommunicable trees, flowers, the earth and the waters, all growing things and the heavens, bid us live with them and enter into the fullness of life. They proclaim that love shall overcome hate; that justice shall rise above injustice; that right will triumph over might and that dominion and power shall ultimately belong to the righteous and pure in heart.–E.C.J.”
May you find beauty in the Oklahoma spring landscape on this early Easter morning.
Mary Phillips
