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    Ardmore
    Ardmore
    Ardmore
    Ebook180 pages1 hour

    Ardmore

    By Charlsie Foust Allen

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    About this ebook

    Although part of the Chickasaw Nation, virgin soil lured pioneers into Indian Territory, and by 1900, intruders outnumbered Native Americans 10 to 1, building communities throughout Native American lands. In 1887, on a grassy prairie where buffalo had roamed, men gathered where the Santa Fe Railroad planned to build a station. By 1898, Ardmore was a thriving city with businesses, churches, electricity, and telephones. Under a new federal law in late 1898, Ardmore became an incorporated city. Several disasters including a massive explosion and two major fires almost destroyed the town, but the people who built Ardmore came from sturdy stock. After each disaster, they rebuilt, and Ardmore continued to prosper.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 21, 2009
    ISBN9781439621165
    Ardmore
    Author

    Charlsie Foust Allen

    Another facet of Ardmore's legacy is the historical pride that is enriched by the Greater Southwest Historical Museum, the Main Street Authority office, and a myriad of local historians including Sally Gray and Butch Bridges. Of special value to the history of Ardmore is the vast Mac McGalliard collection of pictures and artifacts housed at Ardmore Public Library. Charlsie Foust Allen has been an educator in Ardmore for over 20 years, has served on the editorial board for the Daily Ardmoreite, and has published two other accounts of Ardmore history.

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      Book preview

      Ardmore - Charlsie Foust Allen

      book.

      INTRODUCTION

      Ardmore had been a city for 20 years before Oklahoma finally became a state. When the first inhabitants arrived on the prairie where the town would be born, buffalo bones still lay among the tall clumps of native grass. The 700 Ranch had been established by Alva Roff, an intermarried citizen, about 1880 in what is now southeast Ardmore. Located in the largest county of the Chickasaw Nation, the ranch was controlled by Roff, then Bill Washington, followed by Dan Fitch and Richard McLish—all citizens or intermarried Chickasaw citizens. The cowboys who worked for the 700 Ranch were the first residents of the area.

      More than a year before the population arrived en masse, the town that would be born here had already been named. When the Santa Fe Railroad Company changed direction of its line from west toward New Mexico to the north toward Indian Country, the financiers met together and on a map marked and named seven towns that would be created after the railroad crossed the Red River into Chickasaw Indian lands: Marietta, Overbrook, Ardmore, Berwyn, Wynnewood, Paoli, and Wayne. All these cities were established as station stops on the Santa Fe as it moved northward and were named after cities on the Pennsylvania line just to the west of Philadelphia.

      Entrepreneur Samuel Zuckerman applied to the Chickasaw Nation for a permit to sell merchandise at the Ardmore station, and the permit was issued on June 13, 1887. Earlier that same year, the Frensley brothers, Bob and Frank, had received a permit and established a business at Dresden, near present-day Gene Autry, but they moved south as the railroad laid track toward the Ardmore station. These early merchants were the first to arrive, and they continued doing business in Ardmore for many years. They were there when the first train pulled to a stop on July 28, 1887, next to the spot where the Ardmore station would be built. That date has been recognized and is celebrated as Ardmore’s birthday.

      Every businessman who moved into Ardmore built his store, warehouse, and home on land that did not and could not belong to him. All land in the Chickasaw Nation belonged to the Chickasaw citizens in commonality. Any citizen could claim a ranch or farm site and a home site, and they could lease the property; but they could not sell the land. Most of the businessmen were glad to pay a lease of $5 to $15 a year in order to build their homes and stores. After a few years, however, the businessmen realized their investments might be in danger should the Chickasaw Nation intervene and reclaim the land upon which their buildings sat.

      The intruder population continued to grow. Intruders were those white and black noncitizens who moved into tribal lands all over Indian Country. At first, these intruders followed tribal laws and secured sponsorship of a citizen who then registered the noncitizens’ location and collected a permit fee of about 25¢, which helped fund the nation’s treasury.

      As the number of intruders continued to grow, many of them failed to find a citizen sponsor, and even more discontinued paying the permit fee. The flood of intruders was so heavy in Pickens County that the rest of the Chickasaw Nation often referred to it as the Free State of Pickens. It is estimated that before statehood, intruders outnumbered citizens more than 10 to 1 in Pickens County.

      It is not surprising, then, that the intruders felt a need to protect their interests. Noncitizens congregated in small communities around the railroad stations, but they had no legal standing. They could not enter into contracts or even get married. In order to obtain a marriage license, a couple had to travel south across the Red River into Gainesville, Texas. Communities could not elect city government or collect taxes to establish law enforcement and fire protection. The people living at the Ardmore station were mostly intruders into the Chickasaw Nation without any legal standing. The Ardmore Board of Trade was a voluntary organization that attempted to help the merchants of Ardmore; but beyond collecting a small fee for membership, the Ardmore Board of Trade had little power other than suggesting certain actions. It did, however, hire a night watchman to guard the town at night.

      Even though farms and communities of people were few and far between in the early days, circuit preachers rode the trails and organized brush arbor camp meetings. Churches also entered Pickens County. They came first as missionaries to the tribal citizens throughout Indian Country. The first church in Ardmore was built by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They organized in 1888 with 12 members and evolved into the First Methodist Church of today. Also in 1888, the Baptists established a church that divided and then reunited to become the First Baptist Church of today. What was to become the First Christian Church also began in 1888. By 1898, the First Presbyterian Church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, First Church of Christ, and Temple Emeth were serving the spiritual and social needs of Ardmore’s growing population. By the mid-1900s, Ardmore had 52 active churches.

      As early as October 1890, an incorporation petition was filed in the Third Judicial Division of Indian Territory for Ardmore, but it was denied; and the effort was not attempted again until 1895 when a second petition was also denied. Both of these petitions were filed in the judicial system of Indian Territory, which did not favor actions that would weaken the tribal governments. The third endeavor to incorporate Ardmore was successful probably because the petition was filed under a different authority. The Statutes of Arkansas had provided the only legal redress for United States citizens living in Indian Country since the mid-1800s. Judge Hosea Townsend used the Statutes of Arkansas to declare Ardmore an incorporated city on April 16, 1898.

      As an incorporated city, Ardmore blossomed. A city election was held on July 5, 1898. The welfare of the new city superseded politics: of the 30 men who ran for public office, not one declared a political affiliation. By September, 46 ordinances had been passed, including the establishment of city government, fire department, city engineer, street commissioner, and post of city scavenger. It was the scavenger’s job to clean up the streets and alleys, some of which were piled 10 feet high with trash. The seventh ordinance required males between the ages of 18 and 45 to clean streets five days a year with a few exceptions, which according to Dr. Paul N. Frame’s research for A History of Ardmore, Oklahoma, From the Earliest Beginnings to 1907 included invalids, ministers of the gospel, teachers while teaching, and firemen. Citizens passed bond issues to install

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