May pole was rite of spring

Sent to The Frederick Leader and The Frederick Press, April 26, 2011

May Day ceremonies at Frederick's Lowell School, 1920s or early 1930s.

  [Click on photos to see larger]

May Day was celebrated at old North Ward school

A springtime tradition that was often celebrated in past decades was dancing around the May pole. It’s a rite of springtime and new beginnings that originated in ancient Rome and was celebrated for centuries in Europe. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, American school children often participated in springtime rites that involved dancing around the May pole.

May Day photo taken from atop Lowell School building.

On May Day (May 1) children would perform an elaborate in and out, over and under dance with long ribbons or streamers, weaving them around a tall pole – the May pole.

Undated Tillman County Historical Society photos from the 1920s or early ‘30s show a May Day celebration at Frederick’s old North Ward (Lowell) school – a two-story brick building that was located in the north part of Frederick (the 800 block between 12th and 13th Streets).

The photos, obviously taken from a vantage point atop the school building, show girls in fancy white dresses, ready to begin the dance with May pole ribbons.

A large crowd gathered for the Lowell School May Day event.

A May Day Queen contest was apparently part of the festivities because a throne was in place on the schoolyard and girls at left of the May pole are waiting to participate in the contest.
Boys in white shirts sit in a row to the far left.
What did the North Ward May Day ceremonies entail?
It’s obvious that the school May Day celebration was a real event, that many parents and community members came to observe and participate, and it’s easy to imagine the young people, then as now, full of anticipation for spring weather and a concluding school year.

Frederick's Lowell (North Ward) schoolyard hosted a playground football game, probably in the 1940s.

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society’s board of directors. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.

Elizabeth Brown was early investor

Sent to The Frederick Leader and The Frederick Press, November 30, 2010

Mrs. Brown Purchased Land in 1906

In the years after this area’s settlement, people from other parts of the country were encouraged to come here to buy property or city lots.

Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, 1916

In previous weeks this column has examined some of the marketing materials that were used to promote the assets of Tillman County to potential residents and investors.

One such investor, Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, was profiled in the Frederick Leader’s July 21, 1916 industrial edition. The article follows:

“In the early days the women were as quick to see the advantages of Tillman county as the men, and many women bought property here at that time which has since proved very profitable. Mrs. Elizabeth Brown is a well known example of this kind.

“In was in the spring of 1906 that marvelous tales of a great country about Frederick, Oklahoma, reached the ears of Mrs. Brown, then residing in St. Louis. Becoming interested she determined to explore the country, and see with her own eyes whether the reports were true.

“In company with her brother she arrived in Frederick and met Stinson and Mounts and arranged to drive over the country the next day (but not in automobiles, remember). The trip they made that day would be considered very tiresome in these days of fast travel, but it was not tiresome to Mrs. Brown and her brother. They must have done some hard thinking as they drove about over the country, for at night when they came in they handed Stinson and Mounts a list of quarters they had decided to buy, that made the said Stinson and Mounts sit up and take notice.

“Mrs. Brown made annual trips to Tillman county, to look after her property, and by 1909 had become so infatuated with the country that she was willing to accept a marriage proposal from one of our citizens (Dr. Brown) and make Frederick her permanent home.

“Mrs. Brown belongs to one of the old German families that settled in and about St. Louis more than 100 years ago, but, while she is of pure Teutonic stock, she is not a hyphenated American. In fact she is one of the staunchest friends of Americanism in the country, and never loses an opportunity to admonish those of her own nationality that they owe allegiance to no flag in the world but Old Glory.”

- - -

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society Board. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.

Record stories and memories

Sent to The Frederick Leader and The Frederick Press, April 19, 2011

  

Oral histories preserve voices and memories

For decades, the best way make audio recordings of stories or interviews was on tape – reel-to-reel and then cassette.

Today, digital recordings are best. Many computers have a built-in microphone and software that can record sounds and conversations as MP3 computer files. Recordings can be made directly to the computer, or recorded to digital recorders and downloaded to computers.

The results are voice recordings with quality sound that can be edited, easily preserved on a CD or DVD, and easily shared by e-mail!

In the past this column has addressed the importance of written histories. We all, regardless of age, should preserve memories of our past in writing.

Another important way to preserve the past, though, is through the recording of oral histories. Oral histories usually involve an interview format in which one person questions another about their life.

StoryCorps Oral History Format

StoryCorps is an oral history project that is sponsored by National Public Radio. Since the project began in 2003, more than 60,000 people have recorded interviews about their lives. At the StoryCorps website (www.storycorps.org) there are instructions for how to conduct oral history interviews, sample questions and topics, and actual interviews that have been conducted in StoryCorps’ mobile recording studio.

The StoryCorps mobile studio (a RV outfitted with recording equipment) visited Cameron University in Lawton for one week in 2006, and people in our area were invited to sign up in pairs for interview sessions. I took my dad, D.B. Wynn. The interview was done on the day before his 91^st birthday.

Following StoryCorps guidelines, I opened the taped interview by stating the date and identifying myself on the recording. My dad then identified himself, and I started asking questions.

Prior to the interview I had decided what topics the questions would address, and I shared that information with my dad.

Some of the things we talked about during our 30-minute interview were his life as a boy growing up west of Frederick, his life as a farmer and cotton ginner, and changes that he had seen in agriculture during his lifetime. We also discussed the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years. He talked about my mother -- how he met her, their marriage in 1937, and their life together. We talked about his parents and his memories of his grandparents. We discussed a 1954 tornado that blew away our family home (with us inside, miraculously spared). We also talked about church and his faith.

My dad died less than six months later, but I still have that interview – saved on CD and loaded onto my computer and iPod. Although he has been gone for four years now, at the push of a button I can hear my dad’s voice and hear his stories.

More important, everyone in the family has a copy of the interview. Its digital format makes it easy to share and very easy to preserve for future generations.

Doing an Oral History Interview

Not everyone can do a StoryCorps interview, but everyone can do a digital oral history like the one that I did with my dad. It’s easy.

My advice:

1.           Find a good digital device for recording. Use a computer with a built-in microphone or an attachable USB microphone, or use a digital recorder.

2.           Do a sound test to be sure that the equipment is picking up voices the way that you want it to.

3.           Decide on general interview questions. Share the topics with the interviewee so that he/she is not surprised during the taping.

4.           Open the interview with statements of date and introductions.

5.           Keep the questions and answers conversational. If the question topics wander or get off the planned course, that’s okay.

6.           Keep the interview sessions to a manageable length (ideally 30-45 minutes) to keep the people involved from getting tired. If more topics need to be covered, do additional sessions.

7.           When the interview is done, save it as an MP3 file and label it with the name of the interviewee and the date.

8.           Save the interview on a CD or DVD. It’s okay to save it on your computer hard drive, but you want to also back it up because computer hard drives can crash.

For more information about how to conduct an oral history interview or to listen to some fascinating interviews from folks around the nation, log on to the StoryCorps site at www.storycorps.org.

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society’s board of directors. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.

Oklahoma advertised as great place to live, 1907

Sent to The Frederick Leader and The Frederick Press, November 16, 2010

Oklahoma promoted in 1907 ads

“Oklahoma is the richest, the most populous and the most highly civilized State ever added to the American Union.”

Those words opened a printed message from the Oklahoma Mutual Townsite Company that was delivered to potential property buyers and investors in a November 1907 publication that was distributed in Southern states. The company described life in the new state of Oklahoma as something barely short of heaven.

Oklahoma had become the 46^th state (the 46^th star on the American flag) on November 16, 1907.

The Oklahoma Mutual Townsite Company’s goal was to entice prospective residents or investors to come to southwest Oklahoma for a visit, with the hope of selling farmland or city lots to the visitors. The company provided a free trip to Frederick for inspection, departing from Birmingham, Alabama.

There is no doubt that the Oklahoma Mutual Townsite Company was successful in recruiting many new residents to southwest Oklahoma.

Following is an excerpt from their 1907 publication:

“As Minerva leaped full-armed from the brain of Jove, so Oklahoma comes into the Union a full grown State born of the best that all the other States might give.

“During the past ten years in the ‘Great Southwest’ there has been just one bright blazing star – ‘Oklahoma’ – which has attracted immigrants from all parts of the world. Oklahoma has, within a few years, been transformed from the broad, sweeping prairie plains into a most beautiful and thickly settled farming country, the homes of the progressive farmer and citizen. Cities and towns of great beauty, size and importance have been builded over the State as if by magic.

“There is no other country in all the world that equals Oklahoma in climate, soil and productiveness. There is no other place on the globe where the farmer can more successfully raise corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, kaffir corn and every other cereal known.”

“The new State of Oklahoma looks to a brilliant future, rich in agriculture, rich in mines and rich in blood; it promises to the people of America that the new star shall never lose its luster.

“Tillman County is situated in the southwestern part of Oklahoma and while it was just opened for settlement five years ago, its development has been marvelous, equaling that of old Oklahoma which has been under construction sixteen years.

“This county has the advantage of being situated in the great rich, Red river valley, and many farmers who came here only four years ago penniless, have today splendid bank accounts.”

“Come to Frederick. You will never regret it for no other town or city can offer you such opportunities, unsurpassed in climate, soil and productiveness – fine schools, all modern improvements, railroad facilities, cultured people; in fact, everything that goes to make an ideal prosperous community.”

“We offer lots 50x140 in the Benefiel Addition to the City of Frederick at the reasonable price of $65 each, payable either all cash or $15 cash and $10 per month until paid for, without interest.

“This Addition is situated one-half mile from the business part of town and is beautifully located in the northeastern part of the city. These are resident lots in the resident district. The adjacent property is being rapidly built up with beautiful new residences, and this Addition will be next to be improved.”

Next week – The Oklahoma Mutual Townsite Company’s 1907 description of life in Frederick.

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society Board. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.

Townsite company advertised Frederick, 1907

Sent to the Frederick Leader and the Frederick Press, November 23, 2010

Frederick promoted in 1907 advertising

Frederick and southwest Oklahoma was promoted heavily to potential new residents and investors in 1907 by the Oklahoma Townsite Company.

The western part of Tillman County was opened for settlement by land lottery in August 1901 and the city of Frederick was organized in 1902. The eastern part of Tillman County was opened to settlement late in 1906.

The Oklahoma Townsite Company distributed marketing materials throughout the United States and arranged for interested individuals to visit Frederick and Tillman County.

Following is the firm’s 1907 information about the city of Frederick:

FREDERICK

“The magic city and county seat of Tillman County is Frederick, situated on the Frisco and Wichita Falls & Northwestern railroads, twenty-five miles northeast of Vernon, fifty miles from Wichita Falls, fifty-one miles from Lawton.

“Frederick has a population of three thousand or more and is five miles west of the “Big Pasture or Comanche Reservation,” where 3,000 families have located within the past six months.

“It is destined to be the best town and the metropolis of this part of Oklahoma.

“There are unlimited resources and opportunities in this fast growing and wonderful western city awaiting future development. It is here the young man of energy and enterprise will find the GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY that will make his future fortune.

Improvements

“Frederick has three banks with deposits of over $500,000, two newspapers, a telephone system, electric light plant, an excellent sewerage system, three grain elevators, a $100,000 oil mill and four cotton gins with a capacity of three hundred bales per day. A 25-ton ice factory is soon to be constructed. There are three large hotels and over one hundred business firms, beside all the professions represented.

Lodges and Churches

“The following lodges are in Frederick – Masonic, Royal Arch, Knight Templars, Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, Modern Woodmen, Odd Fellows and Eagles.

“There are four handsome church buildings, Presbyterian, Christian, Methodist and Baptist (First Baptist Church in the course of construction costing $15,000. This is the church at 11^th and Grand that would later burn in 1931).

Schools

“The culture and great interest in educational matters of the people of Frederick is shown by the modern and handsome new school building that is being erected at a cost of $25,000 (NOTE: This building was likely the first Frederick High School, a brick building that was located on East Grand where the present Frederick Middle School now stands). The number of pupils is increasing rapidly each year.

Railroads

“Beside the Frisco Railway and the Wichita Falls & Northwestern Railway which has just been completed the Commercial Club of this enterprising and growing little city has entered into a contract with the Gotebo & Southwestern Railway Co. to have their line completed and running within twelve months from date of contract. This will give Frederick three railroads. (NOTE: The Gotebo and Southwestern Railway plans never developed).

Soil

“The land is all right; it will grow anything that is given half a chance by the farmer. It is so level that it will never wash away and is so strong that it will never fail you. Come and see.

“The land is a deep loam of chocolate color, ranging in shade from almost black to the lighter grays. It is here that cotton and wheat belts overlap. Either crop does equally as well and the farmer has his choice and by planting some of each for a money crop does not have to put all his eggs in one basket.

Climate

“A happy medium of latitude and climatic conditions seems to have been found in this section, where the agricultural products of both the North and the South are brought together.

“Droughts are unknown and sparkling streams of pure fresh water traverse the country.

“There is no more healthier place in the world. Malaria, asthma, consumption and catarrh disappear.

“Do you wonder they why Frederick is destined to become a city of 20,000 or more population in a few years and property values DOUBLE and quadruple during that time?”

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society Board. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.

Sanders was early leader

Sent to The Frederick Leader and the Frederick Press, December 7, 2010

D.P. Sanders was business and spiritual leader

One of Frederick’s early residents was D.P. Sanders.

Sanders came to Frederick in its earliest years and was influential in the town’s spiritual, business, and real estate development.

Sanders was a Baptist preacher who was originally from South Carolina. In the early 1900s he brought his family west to Texas to preach. Sometime before 1905 he became a missionary to the Indians in Comanche County of Oklahoma Territory. That is when he came to Frederick.

He worked with the Indians and in Frederick he helped organize the First Baptist Church. This was before there was a church building, so the members met in their homes where Sanders and S.N. Gosnell, one of the founders of Frederick, took turns preaching.

Sanders also preached for a time at the Baptist church in Hollister and he helped organize the Baptist church in the Hurst community west of Frederick.

During his early years in Frederick Sanders went into the furniture and undertaking business with Gosnell. Their business, D.P. Sanders and Gosnell, was located in the 100 block of North Main in the area where the Crawford Collection is located today.

Gosnell later sold his interest in the business to William Zumwalt.

Zumwalt and Sanders furniture and Undertaking moved across the street into the building that now houses J & J Gift Shop and the vacant office next door (for many years, the Register Insurance Agency and Dr. Stephen Zoller’s optometry office).

It was common in those days for furniture and undertaking parlors to operate in the same establishments. The story has it that a few times sick people were brought in to wait so that when they did die, they’d be conveniently located.

Sanders was not an undertaker, so in 1911 he and Zumwalt hired David Gish I to work for him, and in 1915 the furniture store and funeral home were sold to the Gish family who operated the businesses for many decades.

Sanders was also noted for his dealings in real estate. Although he wasn’t in the construction business, he and Gosnell developed a large part of the area that is now the northwest part of Frederick. Sanders bought up large parts of this land at a good price, but he did not do so with the real intention of making profit. He had three boys and he always said that he bought the land so that he could give them something to do to keep them busy. The Sanders land comprises a considerable part of current-day Frederick.

Sanders loved to fish and it was while he was on a 1917 fishing trip to Corpus Christi, Texas, that he suffered a heart attack and died. His gravesite is in the Frederick Cemetery.

NOTE: In 1978 I talked with Sanders’ granddaughter, Mrs. Lucille Grant, about her memories of her grandfather, for a Frederick Leader story. Mrs. Grant, who died in 1985, remembered her grandfather as a “short and heavy-set man, not fat, with a full beard. He had fine gray hair,” she said, “and he liked to let us kids comb it.”

She said that he always wore a coat in the style of the day for businessmen.

She recalled fishing trips with her grandfather, including one memorable expedition to Deep Red Creek in which she fell into the water. When she had been fished out, he laughed that she was that she was his biggest catch of the day.

“Grandpa,” Mrs. Grant said, “was a very bad driver. He bought a Model T Ford but he had a bit of trouble with it.” He broke his leg trying to crank it and once, northwest of town, he ran over a boy with it. The boy was not hurt, but was trying to get out of the car’s way and Sanders was trying to miss him. The boy got run over in spite of their best efforts to avoid each other.

“The joke around town for a long time,” Mrs. Grant said in 1978, “was that Brother Sanders runs over people in his automobile.”

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Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society Board. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.

Life stories are important

Sent to The Frederick Leader and The Frederick Press, April 12, 2011

Write stories of your own life for posterity

Every life is unique, and none of us will be here forever.

That’s why one of the most important things that you can do for your children, grandchildren, and posterity is to write about your own life. Whether you are 15 or 105, you need to write your stories. It doesn’t matter whether you can spell, punctuate or type. What does matter is that you record your memories.

If you start working on those written stories now, by Christmas you could have a meaningful gift that your family will cherish always.

Worthwhile project? Just imagine how you would value the written life accounts of YOUR ancestors who are no longer living – your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Few families have such accounts, but the ones that do certainly treasure them.

So… How to do it? The process is easy.

Spend some time thinking about the following starter questions, and then sit down with a paper and pencil (or a computer keyboard) and answer the ones that you like, one at a time, fully and thoughtfully.

Questions for response:

·      What was life like when you were young? How was it different than today?

·      What are your earliest childhood memories?

·      Where did you attend school? What was school like? Describe it.

·      Do you remember your teachers? Tell about them, and what you learned from each.

·      What are some of your school memories, in the classroom and on the playground? What are some specific school events that stand out in your memory?

·      What school subjects did you like best and why? Which ones were hardest for you?

·      Did you ever get into trouble at school? Tell about it.

·      Did you attend church? What are your church memories?

·      What did you do for fun when you were a kid? What kinds of games did you play?

·      What did you do on Saturday mornings?

·      Who were your best friends when you were young? Tell some stories about things that you did together.

·      Who was your first girlfriend or boyfriend?

·      Did you know your grandparents? What were they like?

·      What were family gatherings like when you were young?

·      What were holidays like? What are your most special holiday memories?

·      Tell some stories about your parents.

·      Tell about your brothers and sisters. What are some stories about them from when they were growing up?

·      What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you?

·      What is the happiest moment of your life?

·      What is the saddest? Explain.

·      How did you choose your profession?

·      Tell about your earliest jobs – the good and the bad. Think of some special stories from your work.

·      How did you meet your husband or wife?

·      What are some high points, so far, in your life?

These are starter questions. Every person can answer most of them with unique stories or perspectives that will have meaning to future generations.

Answer the ones that you like. Skip the rest.

By addressing one question at a time, fully and completely without regard to length, spelling or structure, you can work toward a full and interesting account of your life.

What’s more, once you start the process of recording your memories, you will likely find that you enjoy it.

For more starter questions to prompt your memories, there are several great online sites. One of the best is at www.StoryCorps.org. StoryCorps is a great National Public Radio program that seeks recorded oral histories from people around the nation.

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society’s board of directors. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.

Martin was early Frederick business man

Frederick's Grand Avenue, 1912

 Click on photos to see larger

Martin office was in downtown Frederick

In the summer of 2009 the Tillman County Historical Society received a 1912 album of photographs that was sent at Christmas that year to relatives of the L.T. Martin family of Frederick.
The album was returned to Frederick as a gift to the historical society by the Martins' great-niece Mari Wright of Florida.
Mr. Martin was a successful real estate man and lender in early Frederick. The album contained many photographs of their wonderful home at 405 North 11th Street in Frederick (see Tillman County Chronicles blog post "L.T. Martin home, 1912", April 8, 2011).

The album also contained a photograph of Mr. Martin and a secretary working in his Frederick office, as well as a photograph of Grand Avenue looking toward the northeast (posted above).

L.T. Martin office in Frederick, 1912

Where was Mr. Martin's office located in 1912?

That is an interesting question, with no definite answer. Several clues, however, lead to a speculative answer.

The photo of Grand Avenue was taken from the vantage point of a second level window on the south side of the 200 block of West Grand Avenue. This was almost certainly the upper floor of the building that many Frederick residents would later know at the Tomlinson or TG&Y building. In Frederick's earliest decades the second level of all downtown buildings served as professional offices, rental rooms and apartments, and even hospital rooms.

The second level of the Tomlinson building adjoined offices above the McLellan Furniture and Undertaking building on the west (decades later the Marks Dress Shop) and the First National Bank Building (currently Frederick City Hall) on the east. Today those offices have been empty and unused for decades, but in 1912 they were a hive of activity.

So... The 1912 photo of Grand Avenue was almost certainly taken from offices above the Tomlinson Building.

Could that photo, included in the Martin photo album, have been taken from Mr. Martin's office?

The answer is likely "Yes".

The photo of Mr. Martin in his office with his secretary could well have been in the same building. The office's distinctive round-top windows match the original window shape of the Tomlinson building's.

As a real estate investor, L.T. Martin certainly owned other properties.

The Martins seem to have left Frederick by 1919. The Martins were not included in the 1919 city directory, which showed that their home at 405 North 11th had another owner.

A 1920 publication, though, referred to the building at 108 North Main as the L.T. Martin building. Although the North Main property was apparently aquired by Martin during his years in Frederick, it does not appear to be the site of the 1912 office photograph.

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society’s board of directors. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.

L.T. Martin Home, 1912

Sent to The Frederick Leader and The Frederick Press, July 2009

 

L.T. Martin Home, North 11th in Frederick, 1912

Click on photos to see them larger

Photos show 1912 Frederick home

In the early days of Tillman County, it was common for folks to hire a photographer to take a picture of their home. The photographs were then often sent to family members in other parts of the country to show their prosperity.

That’s exactly what the Lawrence T. Martin family did in 1912.

While most families settled for a single picture of their home, though, the Martins had every room in their home photographed. The photos were assembled into a small album and at Christmas 1912 they were mailed to Mr. Martin’s cousin, Margaret Peck Wright, in Concordia, Kansas.

Mr. and Mrs. L.T. Martin and Lawrence, Jr.

The Martins and family cat on the home's front porch.

A few weeks ago, almost 97 years later, the album was returned to Frederick as gift to the Tillman County Historical Society by Mari Wright, Mrs. Wright’s granddaughter, who lives in Florida.

Its amazing photos provide a look into the life of a prosperous Tillman County family in 1912.

Martin family included Lawrence (L.T.), his wife Ella, and their son Lawrence, Jr.

Their home, located at 405 North 11th Street in Frederick, still stands today and is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Fabian Reyes. In 1912, the house featured a full porch with large brick columns and was covered with ivy.

A photo of North 11th Street in 1912 shows an unpaved roadway with wagon tracks, young trees, and electric poles lining both sides of the street.

Photos of the living room and dining room show the home’s furniture, lace curtains, elaborate wallpaper, and the many personal decorative touches that made the house a home for the Martin family.

In the 1912 kitchen, there were no built-in cabinets, but a long sink, a work table, a pie-safe type hutch, a wooden ice box, and a massive cast-iron stove.

The home had four bedrooms and each is pictured in the album.

Although the home was wired for electricity, in 1912 that meant only that it had electric lights. Electricity had been available to Frederick homes since 1906, but there were few if any electric appliances available at that time and no electrical outlets. In most of the Martins’ bedrooms there was rough electric cord that draped from the center light fixture, wrapped around the head of the bed, and ended in a bare bulb suspended over the bed for a reading light.

Each room, including the upstairs hallway, featured wooden floors with decorative rugs.

Mrs. Martin is pictured on north side of the home.

The photos are not limited to upstairs rooms. They also include the basement laundry room where a woman is pictured using a scrubbing board in a big sink; the basement furnace room which shows an large cast-iron furnace, coal bin, and kindling bin; and Lawrence, Jr.’s playroom where he is pictured in a railroad conductor’s outfit playing with a toy train set.

The album also features a picture of busy Grand Avenue and one of Mr. Martin’s office which was located on the second floor of a downtown building, probably in the 200 block of West Grand. A 1916 item in the Frederick Leader described L.T. Martin as “one of Frederick’s leading real estate men” who “does an extensive farm loan business and is one of the progressive town boosters.”

Martin living room, 1912

The Martin family apparently left Frederick sometime between 1916 and 1919. A 1919 Frederick directory showed 405 North 11th as the home of prominent attorney Prov Mounts.

  PHOTOS FOLLOW

         Click to see larger

The Martins' dining room

The home featured a modern 1912 kitchen.

The Martins' bathroom, 1912

Lawrence and Ella's bedroom

Grandma's room

West bedroom

Lawrence Jr.'s room

Upstairs landing

Basement furnace room

Laundry, 1912

Lawrence Jr.'s playroom

The photo album's 1912 inscription

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society’s board of directors. He can be contacted by e-mail at tillmanokhistory@gmail.com.