This is CW, Deb West, taking you on a tour of
historic downtown Muskogee. This is tour
number four, Main Street. This tour begins at
Main and Elgin and continues to Main and
Denison. We're using as our authority for this
tour the map of 18 and 90, which was
drawn by C.E. Quigger, an early-time Muskogeean
who came here with the Dolls Commission and
was our first congressman. This map, which of
course we're just showing Main Street here
and adjacent territory, includes all of pretty
well Muskogee in 18 and 90. Of course the
buildings in 18 and 90 were mostly wooden. They
had a fire in 18 and 87, but they didn't
build back with brick buildings as much as they
should, and of course they had a fire
in 18 and 99, which destroyed practically all
of this territory and had to be rebuilt.
Of course the south part of this area was
mostly livery stables and bar wagon yards,
and the north part was the main business,
mercantile business. We're dropping south
of Elgin to show you the location of a wagon
yard which is behind the third building on
the east side of the street. Here we have what
remains of that wagon yard. Wagon yards
were used during those days pretty well as a
motel would be used today. Persons passing
through or persons needing to stay overnight
because of court or for some other reason
stayed in the wagon yard, sleeping in their
wagon or in the loft and Hay loft of the wagon
yard. There were often cooking facilities or a
person would bring a few facilities himself
and would use a wagon yard pretty well, as we
say more or less, as a motel would be used
today. There was also a wagon yard north of
Elgin in approximately this location. There
was a livery stable on the west side of the
street, approximately the location of Cathy
Air Conditioning Warehouse. It's very likely
there was also a livery stable on the other
side. In fact, the map shows one on that side.
Only in addition to the map, we use the city
directories and interviews with old timers
and our memories so far as 1940 on for the last
50 some odd years. In the background
behind where the wagon yard was, on the south
side, on the north side of Elgin, was the
Oklahoma gas and electric generating plant.
This south of the overpass, the Lomax overpass,
was the Croissant Gin at 7th at Cincinnati and
Main. This is a picture of the gin taken
from Cincinnati and looking south. Notice the
wagon waiting for ginning at the right
of the picture. This picture was loaned to me
by John Croissant, the son of the owner
of the gin, G.W. Croissant. Here we have a
picture of Mr. Croissant, a very progressive
man, not only a ginner but quite a
horticulturist, and he is displaying some of
his garden vegetables
in this shot. Here we have wagons waiting to be
ginned. They extended often all the
way from South Main clear on up to North Main.
There were some gins also at North Main, and
so they often had to wait overnight to be
ginned because there were so many of them.
Beginning at South Main and Cincinnati and
proceeding north, not long after Cincinnati,
between Cincinnati and Boston, was the Brother
in Red, Office of the Brother in Red, which
was a magazine put out by the Methodists.
Notice it meant that the magazine was directed
to their brothers, the Indians, and it was
distributed all over Indian territory. Mr.
Theo F. Brewer was the editor of that magazine.
Next to the Office of the Brother in Red was
one of the first post offices. My opinion is it
was probably about the third or fourth
location of the post office, but we'll have
more on that a little bit later. The number
of stores all up and down, this is the first
store that we have any record of, first business.
It was taken from a book in 1880 entitled, Our
Indian Summer in the Far West. This is
a scene in 1881 showing the stores on South
Main, which was just about all that they had
back in those days, the few on up further. And
another shot of the same buildings in
1888 during the winter, which was really a
winter scene of the same buildings. On the
west side of the street, approximately across
from the Federal Building, was the location
of the Convention Hall, which was built for the
Southern Mississippi Congress, which was
held right after the statehood program in early
November. It was held immediately after
that program. It had representatives from all
over the United States. A.C. Trumbo and
his son-in-law and his father-in-law, A.W.
Patterson, built the Convention Hall. The
convention was held upstairs and it was used
later for theatricals and various speakings
of famous people. And the Baptist Church used
it as a meeting place between the buildings
of their first church building and their second
one. Downstairs were stalls for vendors, mostly
produce, but by the time we came here in 1940,
it had deteriorated considerably and was mostly
a group of beer joints. At the approximate
location of Mrs. T.J. Elliott's clothing store,
Dr. F.B. Fyte built the first and had the first
hospital in Indian Territory. Dr. Fyte
was a prominent physician in the early days and
his descendants have continued to be important
in the life of Muskogee. The hospital was named
St. Mary's Hospital, but later was
changed to the Martha Robb Hospital honoring
Mrs. A.W. Robb. At the approximate location
of the Thunderbird Chemical, John Doyle
operated a livery stable. He also operated one with
his brother-in-law, Mr. New, and had a
furniture store and an undertaking parlor. His home
was on South Second and it is involved in the
next tour, tour number five of Second
Street. Lever stables rented rigs for two
different people and also sole feed. At the
location of the Federal Building at Main and
Ocmulgee was the Phoenix Building, which housed
a grocery store and evidently a wholesale
grocery store also, because it was a very
large building, which you will see in the
panoramic picture that we'll show you later.
At the corner of Main and Ocmulgee was the
present location of the Hoops Hardware and
on to the corner was the location of the first
store established in Muskogee by A.W. Robb.
We do not have a picture of his store in its
entirety, but we do have a picture of the
home that he built, which was the first home in
Muskogee. His daughter was also the first
white child born in Muskogee. He sold this
business to Mr. Sanger, who later sold it
to Captain F.B. Severs, and F.B. Severs was the
one who built the Severs Hotel. Here we
have a picture of the front of that building,
and Mr. Locke, who is leaning against the
right post, was the father of Mrs. Carthorn,
who loaned me this picture.
West Ocmulgee taken from the Cady Tracks. This
is originally the building which housed
the Hooker Hendricks Hardware. There were three
buildings in a row there facing Ocmulgee.
The one on the corner was the Huber Hotel,
which was built after they tore down the original
store by Mr. Robb and Mr. Severs. Then we had
the Muskogee Power and Light Building,
which is the business office of the Electric
Company, and the Hooker Hendricks Hardware,
which is the only building remaining of those
three buildings.
Here we have a live shot looking west on
Ocmulgee from Main Street, and the same scene taken
shortly after the turn of the century, because
we notice it's still muddy streets and no
cars, all wagons and buggies.
Across the street on the northeast corner of
this intersection was the site of the Estes
Building. Before it was built, Mr. Scott
operated a grocery store there. He also
operated one
in Fort Gibson. This was the site of the first
courthouse that Muskogee had after statehood.
The Mr. Estes Drug Store was downstairs.
Camel Russell, a rather interesting person in
those days, who later founded Warner, played
a prank to pretend to fish in the streets of
this location of Main and Ocmulgee. He
later became the Corporation Commissioner of
Oklahoma and was the first distinguished
citizen of Oklahoma City.
Here we have a scene looking north from
Ocmulgee on Main Street. It's about the same scene.
If you notice in the distance is the English
Block. You'll see the dome later when we get
a closer view of it. That was the scene again
soon after the turn of the century. The English
Building was built in 1899. Notice Bullygood
Saddle Shop on the northwest corner of the
intersection of Main and Ocmulgee. It was
established in 1902. We understand it previously
was located at the location of Noblin Wholesale.
Before it was established, it was in that
location back in 1,890, was a central meat
market operated 1st by Mr. Futterman, later
by Mr. O.C. Walker, and his son-in-law
continues to operate it to this day. It's now located
on Ocmulgee. Bullygood Saddle Shop was first
operated by A.O. Clay and later by Ples Wedel,
Rudy Taro, and Scott Matthews. That horse, I
understand, was able to withstand all owners.
As we progressed north on the west side of the
street, about the middle of the block
was the drug store of Mr. Rudisole, who
incidentally built a home out at Boston and
14th. He was
the first man to have Solypop in Muskogee. Next
to him to the north was downstairs was
the barbershop, and upstairs was Dr. Leo
Bennett, who was first a doctor in Eufaula but came
here as the Indian agent, later U.S. Marshal,
also established the Indian Journal and the
Muskogee Phoenix, Daily Phoenix. Back on the
east side of the street was the location originally
off the crest, but in the 1880s or so, or 70s,
Turner Burn had a hardware store. Here
we have some auctions coming through. Either
they were freighters or persons traveling
through the country going further west
probably, and auctions were accepted means of transportation
back in those days. Mr. Burn was the first
mayor of Muskogee after incorporation, and
you'll hear a lot more about C.E. Turner later.
At the corner of approximately where the Goodyear
display room is, there was a balding mercantile.
We do not have a front picture of this balding
mercantile, but this one was taken from the
rear. Notice the Phoenix building right over
Mr. Spalding's head. Mr. Spalding was a very
prominent person. Spalding Park was named
for him. Spalding International Institute was
named for him, and he was really a town booster.
On the corner of where Goodyear is now was the
Patterson Mercantile. Mr. Patterson first
had a store over at the Creek Agency, which is
near Fern Mountain. He was one of the first
merchants to move to Muskogee, and he operated
that store from about 1872 until Mr. Robb
sold his store, and he came over to be Mr.
Patterson's manager and continued to operate
it after Mr. Patterson's death until his death.
Notice the store.
In the next view, you'll see that we sort of
tell something about how they referred
to various commodities at the time. Here you
have what's left of provisions. He sold provisions,
especially to people passing through, and that
was a term that they used very much.
Of course, a person like that had wagons and
buggies and plows and things of that sort
as well as groceries, even though they were not
necessarily a hardware store.
In 1899, downtown Muskogee was destroyed,
practically all of Main Street, everything
on Main Street and everything on Cherokee, and
that is a picture after the fire. This
is an area shot from Broadway and the tracks,
giving the location of some of the grounds
around the old Katy Depot that most people
remember, early old-timers especially.
This is a picture of the Katy Depot in the
1870s, in all probability the original one.
It was followed by the Adams House. It was
called the Adams House because John Adams,
a member of the Townside Commission, operated
it. It had an architecture very similar to
many of the depots and hotels of those days.
There is one very similar to it in Louisville,
Kentucky, in Roanoke, Virginia, in Montezuma,
New Mexico. The Santa Fe built the one in
Montezuma, Mexico for tourist purposes.
The grounds around it were well landscaped.
Now, this picture was taken after 1900 because
the Adams House burned in the fire of 1,899.
Recently I was making a talk at the National
Association of Retired Employees, and the
treasurer of it, Mr. Wally, I have forgotten
his last name, told me that his father did that
landscaping and in later days he as a
young boy helped him. This is a picture of the
Katy Depot after it was built and the
fire of 1899. Most of the people of old-timers
remember it, even on up into the 50s and 60s.
It not only was a depot, but it was a hotel.
The railroad men that laid over from their
runs would stay all night there, or maybe two
nights in some cases, and it had a very
good restaurant. A person told me that they
used to eat Sunday dinner there, and it was
a very nice place to eat.
Here we have a panoramic shot taken from across
the tracks on Cherokee off downtown Muskogee,
starting about at the railroad with the depot
and continuing on to the south. Here you have
Patterson Mercantile. Here you have the
Spalding Mercantile. The building taken up was the
Phoenix building, which was where the Phoenix
grocery store was, and the wholesale probably.
That was Muskogee, downtown Muskogee in 1906,
just before statehood.
Here we have a shot looking west on Broadway
from the Katy Tracks, as it is today.
And, one soon after the turn of the century,
with the same shot looking west from the Katy
Tracks on Broadway.
Welcome to Muskogee sign was a very famous sign.
People passing through on the railroad
could see that sign. It read the same on both
sides. The letters were seven feet high, and
the sign was 55 feet high.
Then I learned that Eufaula had a similar sign,
not that big, but they had a welcome
to Eufaula sign, too. These towns copied each other.
Here we have a night sign, a night shot of the
sign taken from the tracks. Notice the
Melton Hotel, which is currently called the
Muskogee Hotel, took another shot up closer
to it, almost at Broadway and Maine.
That sign was erected in 1905 and came down, we
don't know why, but it came down probably
right after World War I.
Here we have a shot of the Severs Block. Notice
how it looks now, and then you'll see some
pictures of it as it looked in earlier days.
This was the scene of much of the cotton
Grading and auctioning for this whole area, and in
fact was one of the most important centers of
cotton in the United States.
This portion of it was built for the First
National Bank in 1890 by Captain F.B. Severs,
who was a member of the board of directors and
one of the organizers. Later they extended
it on to 2nd Street and a little further on
Maine also.
Here you have a picture of Captain Severs, who
built the Severs Hotel and was a very
important person in all of eastern Oklahoma. He
was originally from Okmulgee.
They left this site in about 1901 or 1902 and
went to the location that it just moved
from over to the Severs Building.
It is on the National Register of Historic
Sites, and this gives you some of the background
of it and the history. I have a very good
replica of the building, a picture there.
That's the way the original bank building
looked. Notice, as I say, they extended it
both directions a little bit to make it a
little bit different. It was destroyed in
the fire of 1911, and that's the reason of all
the refurbishing.
This plaque is midway of the building on the
Broadway side and is a very nice plaque. You
might like to look at it sometimes.
On the site of the parking lot of the First
National Bank at Main and Broadway, standing
on to 2nd was originally the English Block,
which was built after the fire and was one
of the outstanding buildings of the town at
that time. A.Z. English, the son-in-law of
Captain F.B. Severs, built this block. He also
operated a rather extensive insurance
business. Insurance became very important after
the fire of 1899. Everybody wanted it.
There were all sorts of establishments in it,
at least one bank, different dry goods
stores. One of the outstanding merchants was
William F. Mills, who, if you notice, went
from a suitcase business to one of the fine
stores of Indian Territory. He got a lot of
publicity, and he was quite a publicity person,
and he got a lot of publicity from bringing
a carload of boots and shoes into Muskogee. He
later had stores in Eufaula and Wevers
Falls, Canadian. He was the father of Mrs.
Casey Love.
Next we have an early Muskogee picture of a
street scene. We don't know exactly where
it was, but it must have been quite a little
parade. Notice they all lined up in an irregular
line for a parade, and evidently most of the
residents were present. Here we are at Broadway
and Main looking south on a live shot. And we
have a night picture of the same location
looking south on Main Street at Broadway. Now
we're looking north on Main Street at
Broadway at a picture of the business before
the fire. You have the Turner Hardware. It's
rather noticeable. All those buildings burned
in the fire of 1899.
Back at the corner looking at the Muskogee
Hotel, this building was built about 1912,
and here we have some of the old Turner Hotel,
Turner Hardware. Muskogee Hardware was operated
there in my memory. This building, the Turner
Hotel, extended over all of that, went from
the corner. A part of it was torn down to build
the Melton Hotel, which later became
the Muskogee Hotel, and then some of the other
parts have been torn down later. But that
was the Turner Hardware back in the early days,
one of the largest establishments between
Kansas City and Dallas.
Now we're proceeding north about this location
was the location of the White Owl, which was
a hamburger joint on a little vehicle on wheels
that you served, stood outside and were served
and was very much in use in the early days. The
Madden Hardware was established by Mr.
Madden. It was later, and he had a hardware
store, a very large one if you notice, and
he later merged with the Muskogee, with the
Turner Hardware, which later became the Muskogee
Hardware. The Y built, bought that when they
were organized here in Muskogee and converted
it to their purposes. It was used, they put a
swim pool in it, and after they discontinued
the trainmen staying in the Katie Hotel, they
stayed in the upper story of the Y, which
was located here and was the present site of
the Royal Casket Company. This is at Main
and Court.
Here we have a picture taken from the top of
the Madden Building looking south on Main
Street. If you can read it close enough, there
is an established down there, Misfit Clothing.
H.E. Ketcham had one of the largest lumberyard
chains in this whole country. He had as many
as 13 yards at one time. He was one of the
outstanding lumbermen of all eastern Oklahoma.
This building is presently used as the sort of
a warehouse, and their business is operated
from Kaywood on Shawnee.
At about this location, Sim Slaughter's father
had a livery stable. He came here from Kentucky
and called it the Kentucky Livery Stable. He
died very soon after he came here, so Sim
continued to operate that as a 17-year-old boy
on until quite up in his years, and later
had the Oklahoma Rig Company. Originally a lot
of his work was the axe handles and so
on. Here we have Morgan Therapeutic, which was
previously Main Welding Supply, and when
Mr. Morgan took the business over, it had been
a filling station with a drive-in at
the corner. Also, a Blacksmith shop had been at
this location. This is the end of the tour
number four and ends at Main and Denison, and
we hope to see you later in other tours.