Santa draws a crowd in 1930
Imagine an event that would bring out nearly half the population of Oklahoma City.
Eighty one years ago, Oklahoma City enjoyed a Christmas parade that was attended by between 65,000 and 100,000 people.
The 1930 federal U.S. Census estimated the city’s population at 185,389.
This description, from the Oklahoma City Times, Dec. 5, 1930, sets the scene:
“Santa Claus was in town, and so was everybody else Friday afternoon to watch the gorgeous spectacle move south on Broadway. Cheers and shouts went up from the throngs on the sidewalks, and many a tiny child in the custody of his mother, waved a happy ‘Hello Santa’ as the parade passed.”
And from The Oklahoman, Dec. 6, 1930, it was reported: “Lindbergh day, Al Smith day, (Gov.) Walton inaugural day, all were eclipsed by the throng, which gathered to attest that Old Santa is Oklahoma City’s greatest hero.”
“What he had to offer in the way of a spectacle was by no mean’s disappointing.”
School was let out so the children could attend, and work came to nearly a standstill as state employees came from the Capitol, office workers watched from windows and even the federal court recessed so the jury could watch.
At a mile and a half long and starting at 10th and Broadway and winding through the downtown shopping district, the parade took more than an hour to pass.
WKY Radio was stationed atop The Oklahoman building at Fourth and Broadway describing the passing displays.
The parade numbered nearly 60 units, including floats, seven bands, three calliopes, city officials and, of course, Santa Claus.
Santa had come to town and brought with him his sleigh and 10 live reindeer.
As we all know, Santa usually travels with eight tiny reindeer, except when Rudolph joins the team.
In 1930, it was still nine years away before he would need Rudolph and his shiny nose, so Santa must have brought the two extra reindeer to help pull the sleigh along the streets.
Times have changed, but Oklahoma Citians now flock to the Holiday River Parade and enjoy the events of Downtown in December.
The Christmas lights are on at Automobile Alley, a part of Broadway that hosted the parade in 1930.
While downtown is nearly impassable with all the street closings because of reconstruction and repair, the Bricktown area offers the city Christmas tree, lights along the canal and snow tubing at the RedHawks Field at Bricktown. And, the newly renovated Myriad Gardens is decked out in style with lots of lights, ice skating and Santa, too.
So, visit downtown if you can. If not, close your eyes and picture the sight of Santa and his reindeer making their way downtown with excited children and delighted adults crowded along the streets.
Merry Christmas!
City’s 100-year-old Hadden Hall now features new apartments
Hadden Hall recently underwent renovation to become downtown apartments, but the 100-year-old structure started life as an apartment hotel.
The three-story brick building at 215 NW 10 provided apartments for city visitors who wanted something homier than a hotel.
A new sign on the building recognizes Hadden Hall’s inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and notes it is a circa 1910 building.
The circa 1910 was used probably because the applicants had no better luck than I did finding an exact date for when construction got started on the building.
The earliest listing I found was in The Oklahoman’s classified advertisements on Dec. 6, 1911:
“FOR RENT — Nicely furnished rooms with private bath, at Hadden Hall.”
Further research found notices from newlyweds in the newspaper’s society columns that they would be “at home” at Hadden Hall.
The research also introduced me to a remarkable woman who may have been the building’s longest resident, Miss Helen Ferris of Apartment 106.
Ferris, an English teacher from Illinois, joined the faculty of Central High School when it opened in 1910 and probably moved into Hadden Hall in 1912. The city directory for 1911-12 lists Ferris at 215 W 10th.
She was the first woman to be named vice principal of the high school in 1918, but continued to teach a fine literature class.
Ferris was respected and loved by the thousands of students she taught — her former students nominated her for Oklahoma City’s Most Useful Citizen of 1936, and she was selected for the honor.
In 1937, Edith Johnson, columnist for The Oklahoman, wrote of her: “Miss Ferris is not only one of the greatest women of Oklahoma City but one of the greatest women of this state. Nor does her greatness as a woman, as a teacher, as a friend and as a counselor depend upon either an era or an event. At any time or in any circumstance the contribution of Miss Ferris has made to the people of this city and state would be a priceless gift to humanity. Inspired teaching is the need of every generation, and inspired guidance likewise.
“She will live in the lives of her pupils who are what they are in no small measure because of what Miss Ferris taught them, because of the influence she had on their minds and their hearts, the direction she gave to their ambitions, the principles which they have followed in all accomplishment.
“Although Miss Ferris, together with so many women of her profession, has no children of her own body and blood, she is a mother to unnumbered sons and daughters.”
Ferris retired as vice principal in 1940, and in 1941 retired as an English teacher.
From 1941 until her death in 1951, she rarely left her apartment because of a medical condition, but with nearly 3,000 former students a year visiting her, and with her books, needlework, telephone and letters, she was never lonely.
She had another first — her funeral was the first one held in Central’s auditorium.
If you should pass Central High School or Hadden Hall, remember Helen Ferris and the teachers who have meant much to you.
Dinosaur bones discovered in 1917
Dinosaurs living at Sheridan and Robinson! That’s what a story said in The Oklahoman on Sept. 23, 1917.
“Hundreds of thousands of years ago Oklahoma had a semitropical climate. Back in those gladsome old days there were no men nor women; the inhabitants of what is now one of the greatest states in the union belonged to the reptilian family. Probably where the Colcord building now stands was the abiding place of Mr. and Mrs. Dinosaur and their interesting brood.
“Interest in the state’s earliest residents was aroused the other day when the leg bone of a prehistoric animal was dug up at the new waterworks site.”
The bone was found “imbedded in solid rock 25 feet under the river bed.”
L. Howell Lewis, a local scientist, upon examining the bone, determined it was 17 inches long, and the vertebra where it was attached was 4 inches wide. His conclusion: “These fossils once belonged to the bony structure of a great carnivorous dinosaur known as the allisoraus.”
He also concluded that this particular “allisoraus,” which is now spelled allosaurus, weighed about 20,000 pounds and was 30 feet long.
While searching for more evidence of dinosaurs in the city, an earlier item from The Oklahoman on March 7, 1917, reported these finds:
“While the contributions to science brought to light in the work at the new waterworks project have so far not startled the world, the foundation for a small museum has been laid.
“In a test hole 19 feet deep in the sand, workmen last week unearthed the sacrum bone of a buffalo. Trees which were uprooted above the spot were estimated to be over 100 years old, so the bone must have been buried under the sand layers for several centuries.
“The skull of a man was found at another spot buried several feet deep in red shale. The type was that of a primitive species. At another place a knife three feet long of crude workmanship was dug up. All the finds are being kept by John R. Boardman.”
What happened to the bones and knife, I do not know, but the waterworks plant, now known as Lake Overholser Dam, is nearing its century mark and is still a part of Oklahoma City’s water supply.
Emerson School has endured for 100 years
Summer can’t be over!
It’s still too hot and August has just begun.
When I was growing up, back to school always meant summer was over and cooler temperatures were soon to come.
School didn’t start until after Labor Day (and Oklahoma City is starting Monday).
I don’t remember it ever being too hot to learn or play at recess and I know we didn’t have air conditioning at my school, Traub Elementary School in Midwest City.
Now most mornings, I pass Emerson School on the corner of NW 7th and Walker.
I love to see the old school. It looks just like what a school should look like.
Emerson School at 714 NW 7th. - Oklahoman Archive Photo
One built to last the ages, while educating students and preparing them for the world.
I love the stone lion holding a tablet on the roof. It looks like he’s watching over his students while keeping an eye on Oklahoma City.
There has been an Emerson School on this corner since 1895. The building has changed.
The first one burned and in 1907 brick building was built. It has been extensively remodeled over the years and little, if any remains of the original buildings.
The students have changed too, from elementary to high school students, but the location and mission to teach has remained the same.
1905 photograph looking towards downtown Oklahoma City, taken from Emerson School roof. - Oklahoman Archive Photo
In 1905, Emerson was one of the highest points in Oklahoma City (it sits on a hill and is three stories high). An unknown photographer turned his camera southeast towards downtown and took a picture of history.
It shows mostly houses, a downtown business district of buildings that look to be no higher than five or six stories, churches and industrial buildings with smoke stacks sharing their dark smoke.
In 1997, one hundred and one years later, Oklahoman photographer Jim Argo, took a photo from the roof of Emerson looking south towards downtown.
Looking southeast towards downtown, this photograph was taken in 1997 from the roof of Emerson school. - Oklahoman Archive Photo
Side by side they show the progress of Oklahoma City over the years and now with the ongoing construction of the Devon Tower, downtown’s skyline is changing once again.
Emerson, named for poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, has been there all these years sitting on its hill, preparing students to go out into the world and we hope it will continue for another hundred years.
Imagine what the skyline might look like then!
Birthday house gets hot gift
It’s not often a house sends an invitation to come and celebrate a milestone in its life, but The Archivist received one recently.
The house located at 415 NW 21 recently celebrated its 90th birthday. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
The house, residing at 415 NW 21, recently celebrated its 90th birthday, and owner and loving caretaker Linda Adams threw a birthday party. And as a special gift, she burned the mortgage.
Linda Adams stands in front of her home on NW 21 in Heritage Hills holding a copy of the mortgage in advance of a party she hosted recently to celebrate the home being fully paid off. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
The house, built in 1921, not surprisingly, comes with a bit of history.
Built by famed early day builder Dr. G.A. Nichols, who helped develop Heritage Hills, Nichols Hills and Nicoma Park, the house was a gift to his daughter on the event of her marriage. The deed read, “For the sum of one dollar and love and affection… ,” and with that, Nichols presented the house to Keene C. and Mary Elizabeth (Nichols) Burwell.
As most houses do, it has changed hands several times in its 90 years.
The longest owner was J. Henry Johnson, an early day insurance agent and rose grower.
Many prize-winning roses came from the gardens of the home, so much so for many years the Rose Society presented the “J. Henry Johnson perpetual award.”
In June 1943, 150 members of the Rose Society were expected to visit the Johnson rose gardens, according to a story in The Oklahoman Archives.
Unfortunately the rose gardens have not survived, but a lovely and inviting backyard have taken their place.
The house was also visited by thousands of people in 1994 as one of the stops on the annual Heritage Hills House Tour.
The mortgage burning is a major event to celebrate in the house’s history and especially for the owner.
National Register of Historic Places plaque on house at 415 NW 21 indicating it was built in 1921. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
A search of The Oklahoman Archives and the Internet for “mortgage burning celebrations” did not find many events. Most of the stories were for churches and organizations celebrating freedom from debt.
It has never been easy for most homeowners to reach payoff and become debt-free and is even harder now days.
Several of the home’s neighbors can claim 90 years, too, as Nichols was building houses on NW 21 and NW 22. So, should you happen to be in the neighborhood, give a tip of your hat to the birthday house and wish it well as it marches on debt-free to its centennial and beyond.
Christmas downtown, old and new memories
Christmas really is for children.
Christmas always makes me nostalgic and brings back special childhood memories.
One of my favorite Christmas memories is of my parents taking me and my sister downtown to see the Christmas lights and decorations.
Lights on the buildings, swags of decorations strung up across the streets.
Sometimes some of the stores would have mechanical displays and you could stand and watch for free! I know that most of the time I had my mouth open in awe. It was a magical time for a little girl.
This brings me to Christmas present. Having gone downtown to visit a friend recuperating in the hospital, I got turned around.
I had seen the lights hanging from the old Anthony’s building at NW 6 and Broadway, now a bank and office building, and thought they were pretty. Little did I know that when I turned around at Broadway and NW 10 and drove south on Broadway what a wonderful sight it was.
Buildings on both sides of Broadway were covered in lights.
Looking down Broadway brought back those old memories of childhood awe. The lights were magical.
Photographs don’t really do justice to the efforts of the Automobile Alley residents.
If you get a chance this year, drive south on Broadway and enjoy the lights.
If you want more, you can turn east at Reno (you can’t turn west because of construction) and enjoy the Christmas trees and lights of Bricktown. If you’re really brave or adventuresome, drive into downtown. Some streets are closed or rerouted, but many of the buildings and offices have decorated for the holidays, and the trees are wrapped with Christmas lights.
Church building for sale
Another grand old downtown building is on the market.
On the northeast corner of NW 10 and Robinson, the First Christian Church building sits as it has since 1911.
A solid building, the cornerstone was laid Sunday, May 28, 1911. The building was “to be built of gray pressed brick and white stone on reinforced concrete and steel frame” according to The Sunday Oklahoman of the day.
On Aug. 7, 1921, 10 years after the construction of the building, The Oklahoman published a story about the church.
“Twenty-one years of persistent work on the part of the members of the First Christian Church are represented in the $350,000 building they now own at Tenth Street and Robinson Avenue.
“Organization dates back to April 23, 1889, and the names of Otto C. Durlan, George Newery, R.W. Wells and C.H. Kellar stand out prominently in the history.
“Their efforts made possible the organization of the members in a new city, where countless obstacles presented themselves. On a vacant lot near Broadway on Main Street, the first service was held. There was no building, no minister. The Holy Communion could not be observed because of a lack of the emblems.
“But every Sunday since that time, without one break in the long chain of years, this church has held its services.”
The church building has had its share of hard times. When First Christian moved to its new location on NW 36 and its futuristic-style “Church of Tomorrow,” the old building went vacant.
Plans were announced in 1982 to convert the building into offices. Nothing happened.
Then a Dec. 6, 1992, article from The Oklahoman shared information from Richard Hogue, pastor of Citychurch, who discussed his church’s purchase of the First Christian Church building at 1104 N Robinson.
“The restoration message pastor Richard Hogue has preached since he returned to Oklahoma City two years ago takes on added meaning today as his congregation begins meeting downtown in an 82-year-old church building that was vacant almost 30 years.
“The congregation is in the process of remodeling the lower 10,000 square feet of the 58,000-square-foot building.
“Hogue said the congregation’s goal is to restore the entire church building over a five-year period.”
The April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building damaged many buildings downtown, and the First Christian Church building sustained about $700,000 of damage. The insurance money and a low-interest loan helped Citychurch restore the building.
In 2006, Hogue bought a defunct golf club with the intention of remodeling it into MetroChurch, his former church. He told a reporter at the time that he would conduct morning services north and evening services at Citychurch.
Now, Citychurch has listed for sale its downtown building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
An Internet search shows the asking price for the building is $1,850,345.
Evolution of a building: 106-year-old building has survived all of downtown Oklahoma City’s transitions intact
The Lee Office Building, pre-1910. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives.
If you’ve been around a few years, you know that downtown Oklahoma City has changed a great deal.
The 1960s and ’70s were years of transition when many older buildings were torn down to make room for new buildings that reflected the architectural ideal of the time.
At Main and Robinson, time sort of stands still: A building built in 1904 still stands after surviving several remodels. It still serves its tenants well.
In February 1903, when The Oklahoman sent a writer to report on a new building being considered for construction on the northeast corner of Main and Robinson — “a five-story business and office building
The Lee Building circa 1940. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
on this site, which is considered the heart of the business district, would not lack for tenants” — he probably had no clue that 106 years after the building was built, it would still be there.
On Aug. 18, 1903, The Oklahoman announced: “The plans have been completed for what will be the handsomest building in Oklahoma City’s business district — the Lee office building, to be erected on the northeast corner of Main and Robinson, site of the old Lion store building, which was destroyed by fire last spring.
“Architect D. Turbyfill yesterday exhibited to a representative of this paper the completed plans for this beautiful building, which will be a mammoth six-story and basement structure, dimensions 50 by 140 feet, constructed of St. Louis grey brick, trimmed with Carthage white stone and corniced with terra cotta. The entire ground floor frontage will be of plate glass. The ground floor will be divided into eight business rooms, all of which leased in advance.
“The grand entrance to the structure will be located about the center of the building on the Robinson
The Lee Building with its 1953 facade. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
Street side. It will be very handsome, will open into a lobby and commodious hall floored with tiling and wainscoted with marble.
“At the rear of the hall will be an electric elevator with a landing on each floor.
“The five floors above the first will be divided into office rooms, 22 on each floor, making a total of 120 office rooms, a grand building exclusive of the basement.
“Throughout the building will be furnished with steam heat and electric lights, while a toilet room will be provided on each floor.
“The building, when completed, will be entirely fireproof.”
Construction began in June 1904, and the building built by Oscar G. Lee had five stories and a basement when completed. In February 1905, businesses were announcing their locations in the new Lee Office Building.
Liberty National Bank moved in and bought the building in 1918, renaming it after itself. The bank remained in the building until 1952.
The building was sold in July 1952 and again in January 1953. The new owners gave it a new facade and a new name: Oil and Gas Building.
The building was sold again, and in an article in The Oklahoman of March 30, 1980, Neal Horton of the
The red brick building in the lower right corner is the Oil and Gas Building as it looks today. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
Horton Co., one of the new owners, said that while the new owners had hoped to restore the building to its original look, so much had been lost during the 1953 remodel that they decided to make a change, saying, “The new facade will give the stable feeling of the original brick structure, while allowing us to create a pleasant first-floor retail space.”
If you go downtown today, you can judge if the owners succeeded. And if you use a little imagination, 1904 won’t be far away.
Remembering Oklahoma City’s first canal
The tablet describing the location of the canal. - Photo by Mary Phillips, The Oklahoman
A short trip downtown on a hot Sunday afternoon confirmed that the preservation of the memory of a bit of Oklahoma City history was still in place.
A story from The Oklahoman on Feb. 9, 1938, tells the story about Oklahoma City’s first canal. It tells of a grand idea and a grand failure.
The story was being retold, because a historical marker, a small bronze tablet, was being placed to mark the location of the old canal by the ’89er organization. The canal itself was well on its way to disappearing altogether.
The tablet read: “This tablet marks the location of the canal built in 1889 by the Oklahoma Ditch and Power Co. Charles Price, Pres. and C.P. Walker, Secy. The canal head was four miles west. The power plant was located at Broadway and Canal streets. It furnished power to operate an electric light plant for a brief period.”
I doubted, given the address, that 72 years later it would still be there. Oklahoma City, south of the present Crosstown Expressway, is changing due to the rerouting of Interstate 35.
The door of the Oklahoma Operating Company with the tablet on the right. - Photo by Mary Phillips, The Oklahoman.
The address was 819 SW 3 St., formerly known as Noble Street. It was here the Oklahoma Operating Company in 1930 built their new office/plant building. The company was the owner of several laundries in town. The story said that the tablet was located on the wall to the right of the door to the office.
The building is now deserted and for sale, but the tablet was right where the story said it would be.
As I stood and looked around, I doubted that those stalwart pioneers would recognize the area. Buildings have been built, and the North Canadian River itself is nowhere to be seen as it was moved south, straightened for flood control and now renamed The Oklahoma River. But because of those ’89ers, a small group of Land Run participants, who wanted those who followed to remember the past, a memorial exists today for those who will seek it out.
Map showing the route of the 1890 Oklahoma City Industrial Canal. - From The Okahoman Archives
Stories abound in The Oklahoman about how the investors were so sure the canal would work that one of them, Charles “Gristmill” Jones built a gristmill to ground flour, and other investors built a power plant to produce electricity.
On Christmas Eve 1890, when water was sent down the canal and it worked for a short time, Oklahoma Citians were so excited. But blame for the failure that followed was put on gophers that damaged the banks and quicksand that clogged the turbines. In less than two years, the canal was abandoned and began its disappearing act.
So, if you are ever downtown visiting Oklahoma City’s successful canal, give a thought to the one that didn’t work.
– Mary Phillips
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
