Lima, Oklahoma

Nestled in a nearly hidden, green, and lush valley resides Lima, Oklahoma. This Seminole County town site was founded perhaps 1904 as a all Black community. Its name is thought to have come from the lime quarries of the region. The area thrived with a school, businesses, and several churches.  Although labeled a ghost town, there are occupants and a nearby new community of New Lima provides a large public school system.

 

The remains of the once large (300+ students and as many as 12 faculty members) school offering a variety of curricular offerings, including Latin to students.  In 1921 the Rosenwald Fund helped the community build Rosenwald Hall, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NR 84003427) in 1984.

A large sign tells a little of the fascinating story of Lima, one of the "All Black Towns of Oklahoma". Much of the information is included on this webpage.

The empty pad was site of Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church. The Mount Zion Methodist Church was constructed in 1915 and was still standing in the early twenty-first century.

"The American Methodist" Published in Stroud, Oklahoma

 

The Rev. J.H. Hubbard  served as editor and publisher of this weekly publication that began in 1905 and may not have survived past 1906 (most holdings are only of the 1906 issues).  The editor, who also worked for the local newspaper entity, published under the 'Methodist Mission Press Publishing' or the "Mission Press Publishing' title.

The masthead identified as editor the Rev. J.H. Hubbard (editor and proprietor). Assistant editors were Rev. A.M. Virden (Edmond), Rev. R.A. Barnes (Oklahoma City), and Rev. J.A. Ferguson (Garber).  The Clegg and Oden work Oklahoma Methodism in the Twentieth Century lists a "John H. Hubbard" as a Methodist Episcopal minister who transferred into Oklahoma from another Methodist Conference in 1904 and who died in 1954. Virden was also a M.E.C. minister who transferred into the Oklahoma area in 1904 and who died in 1927. Barnes was Roscoe A. and was a M.E.C. minister who transferred into the area in 1904 and out again in 1908. Ferguson was a M.E.C. minister who transferred into Oklahoma in 1895 and died in 1917.

Rather unique to the time and group was a statement of their premises or "Our Platform" as they termed it.

"1. Genuine repentance and faith toward God

 2. Regeneration that transforms men,

 3. The Witness of the Spirit for every child of God.

 4. Entire Sanctification - the happy privilege of every believer."

For searchable issues visit the Oklahoma Gateway.

Some History of the Methodist Church in Stroud, Oklahoma

Stroud, Oklahoma was settled  in 1892 and by February of the next year a Methodist group was forming. At that time individuals began formalizing meetings and services. These included a "Methodist minister" named Dell Nichols, a Rev. from Guthrie named Walter Bilby, and soon after a  Rev. J.C. Parker (who entered the Territory by transfer in 1892 and died in 1933 as a Methodist Episcopal Church minister). From this information is probable the first congregation in Stroud was a Methodist Episcopal Church (sometimes called the Northern branch to differ it from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The two had diverged in the 1840's over slavery).

About 1900 a church building was under construction on West Fifth in Stroud. Locals had hoped to ring the bell there for New Year's that year but construction problems prevented that.

The Clegg and Oden history of the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church lists the pastors for Stroud for both denominations.

Methodist Episcopal Church Pastors, Stroud, Oklahoma

1907 -S.K. Jewell

1908- N.E. Wood

1909- G.W. Green

1910-11 -E.F.S. Darby

1912-13 - G.T. Andrews

1914- - D.T. Morton

1915 - Harry Royce

1916 - H.E. Brill

1918 - J.T. Riley

1920 - FEDERATED [A system introduced to allow churches to unite and an early movement prior to the 1939 union of the two denominations as the Methodist Church]

1922 - A.W. Faucett

1923-24 - H Ivan Byrd

1925 - F.W. Galyon

1926-29 - F. Singer

1930 - L.L. Brown

1931-32 - H.F. Draper

1933-34 - T. Parker Hilbourne

1936-39 - Paul E. Osman

Information concerning the location and services of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (M.E.C.,S) is less available. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, South Pastors

1907 - George W. Lewis

1908 - S.M. Sartin

1909 - H. K. Monroe

1910 - W.D. Sasser

1911 - W.T. Ready

1912-13 - U.G. Reynolds

1914 - A.M. Dupree

1916 - J.R. Hardin

1917 - G.E. Ryan

1919 - R.J. LaPrade

1920-21 - J.C. Crowson

1926 - C.N. Smith

ON ROUTE 66: UFO'S along the Mother Road

As author of SOONER SAUCERS: OKLAHOMA UFOS 1947-1969 I explored the reports of strange things in the skies over Oklahoma.  As a relocated, I have been looking for tales associated with Route 66.

For many years a private, static display of found art sculpture has garnered a lot of interest for people traveling the route to glimpse a little Americana and experience some of the feel of the historic past the road represents.   Now, the UFO sign points to a private yard that is a little overgrown and neglected but that black and white sign proclaiming "UFO" still causes interest.

So, for the curious or unaware there have been reports of UFO's in and around the Stroud area of Oklahoma and Route 66.

Here is one: 

In 1956, 5-10 miles south of Stroud, on January 19, at 1651z (daylight) an F84f pilot observed four objects moving east for about 3-5 seconds. 

He observed that the four objects were the size of a bushel basket at arm's length and that were a brilliant emerald green. There were 3 smaller objects white and silver trailing. He tried to establish a fix on radar but was unsuccessful and he noted he had never seen any meteor as bright or as green as the object he saw.  Additionally, they followed a straight and level flight heading east. Meteors often follow a descending arc or a straight falling type of trajectory as they plummet to earth.

So what was the extremely fast, level and multi-colored set of objects the pilot had observed? The explanation

provided by the Air Force and Project Blue Book was that he had observed a rare daylight meteor, a true transient celestial body,  but one that was a perfectly natural occurrence.

I will leave you to decide if that was an adequate explanation....

 In August of 1965 - the summer called the summer of the saucer by some - there were reports from Minnesota to Mexico of things zipping by in the skies. The Air Force tried to limit it to a "Great Plains" event caused by "temperature inversions" and mistaken sightings of the planet Jupiter. The Oklahoma City Planetarium staff on hearing that last one had to take exception indicating that the planet Jupiter was not even visible on this side of the globe at the times reported. The Air Force would then backtrack and say they were applying that explanation for events in Wyoming and Nebraska but did not seem to understand the same facts would apply for those locations. So, they ditched the whole planet and stars explanations and wowed the locals with highly technical explanations of widespread temperature inversions that would result in hundreds of sightings of groups of objects moving across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Wyoming and further north.

Several of the groups of objects buzzed in diamond formations on a line that more or less followed the Turnpike between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. They were sighted by law enforcement and private citizens all across the area in Seminole, Cushing, Chandler, Stillwater, Bristow, Stroud and elsewhere. At the same time others were reported in Woodward, Texas and the western plains of Kansas and some were keeping highly trained guards at the top security missile silo stations near Cheyenne and the ammunition center at Sydney, Nebraska.

I am still digging out stories. If you have one to share send to Marilyn A. Hudson, Author.

ON ROUTE 66: Stroud, Oklahoma

 They are termed "ghost signs" - those lingering imprints of old graphic work on brick and stone edifices. They advertise long defunct businesses or - like this one - well known and loved products. Some are faint enough to seem to be disappearing before the eye, hence the term "ghost" and others are being restored to capture and share some of the vitality such ads once added to bustling small towns.

Along Route 66 in Oklahoma are many such "ghost signs" and each one has a story. I look forward to gathering some of them and sharing the happenings and history along the "Mother Road" as it wends its way through Oklahoma.

Marilyn A. Hudson, Author and Researcher

Stroud, Oklahoma

A Literary Landmark in Stroud, Oklahoma

From a 2013 press release: 

Hello, Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma. We hope you will join us for Oklahoma’s next Literary Landmark dedication on Sunday, April 28 during National Poetry Month. The late poet Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel (1918-2007) will be honored at 2:30 p.m. at Stroud Public Schools, C. B. Wright Auditorium. Literary Landmarks are a national program which started in 1989. 

 

Sites honor a deceased literary figure, author, or his or her work. www.ala.org/united/products_services/literarylandmarks

 

The dedication will feature author and Route 66 expert Michael Wallis as emcee, author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, film screening “Down an Old Road: The Poetic Life of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel” by Chris Simon, poetry readings and award presentations for the Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel Poetry Contest, and music by the Stroud High School Choir.

 

Born near Stroud in 1918, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel was the daughter of Benjamin and Anna McDaniel. Her father was a sharecropper and her mother was a homemaker. Her siblings were Verne, Roy, Allen, Keith, Harold, Opal, and Kenneth. Wilma attended schools in Lincoln and Creek counties until the effects of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl led her family to migrate to California in 1936.

 

Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma (FOLIO) www.okfriends.net has dedicated 10 other Oklahoma Literary Landmark sites: 

 

Woody Guthrie, Okemah (2001); 

Ralph Ellison Library, Oklahoma City (2002);

Lynn Riggs, Claremore Public Library (2003); 

Angie Debo, Marshall City Hall and OSU Library, Stillwater (2004); 

John Berryman, McAlester Public Library (2005); 

Sequoyah’s Cabin, near Sallisaw (2006); 

Will Rogers Memorial Museum, Claremore (2007); 

John Joseph Mathews, Osage Tribal Museum, Pawhuska (2009); and 

Woodrow Wilson Rawls, Tahlequah Public Library (2011).

 

The Stroud Public Library is co-sponsoring the Literary Landmark Dedication and will be the site for the bronze plaque. Additional sponsors to date include, Friends of Oklahoma State University Library, Back40 Publishing, Friends of Oklahoma Center for the Book, Village Books Press, Tom and Leslie Hubbell, George and Karen Neurohr, and The Estate of Poet Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel. Partners include Stroud Chamber of Commerce, Lincoln County Museum of Pioneer History, Oklahoma Department of Libraries; Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers; Oklahoma History Center and Oklahoma Library Association.

 

For information, contact Marsha Morgan, Stroud Public Library, 918-968-2567 or Karen Neurohr, OSU Librarian and Coordinator Oklahoma Literary Landmarks, 405.744.2376.

Some Interesting Memorials and Markers: Okmulgee, Oklahoma