The Rush Inn at Craterville Park

The Rush Inn and amusement rides were popular Craterville Park attractions in the 1940s.

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Craterville's Rush Inn was popular establishment

In Dorothy Mae McClure's scapbook [see August 16 post] she referenced a trip to Craterville Park on July 4, 1946, just days prior to her 12th birthday.

She included photos of Craterville scenes and attractions.

One of Dorothy Mae's scrapbook photos pictured the Rush Inn, Craterville's central eating establishment.

The Tillman County Historical Society's Pioneer Townsite Museum in Frederick holds a menu from the Rush Inn, dated 1944.

Scans of the single-fold four-page menu follow.

Still more Craterville photos from Dorothy Mae McClure's scapbook are located at the end of this post.

More photos of Craterville Park...

Craterville Park's natural pool was a great place to cool off on hot summer days.

The park's skating rink was a popular attraction.

Bumper cars were great fun!

Dorothy Mae McClure kept scrapbook

Sent to The Frederick Press and The Frederick Leader, August 16, 2011

Dr. and Mrs. H.M. McClure with daughter Dorothy, 1945

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Scrapbook captures life in 1940s Tipton

Good scrapbooks are memory books. When put together well, they serve as a life record of photographs, news clippings, cards and personal notes.

The Tillman County Historical Society recently received a wonderful scrapbook from the estate of Dorothy Mae McClure. Ms. McClure, born in 1934, was raised in Tipton. Her father was Dr. H.M. McClure, a Tipton dentist. She was the only child of Dr. and Mrs. McClure, and grew up in a large house in the 200 block of East Main.

Dorothy Mae Nellie McClure with dolls Anne and Lois.

Dr. McClure had a good dental practice in Tipton and was fondly known in town as “Mr. Spit Please.” He maintained an office on the second level of a building in downtown Tipton.

Dorothy received a scrapbook for Christmas in 1940 when she was six years old and in the first grade. The book was carefully maintained through her senior year of high school, serving as a complete record of her life from ages six through 18.

Because the book was tended carefully, it is a remarkable look at a young life in 1940s Tipton.

The book opens with Dorothy’s first grade report card and class picture. Dorothy’s teacher that year was Miss Minnie Thacker, and she made all “A”s.

Throughout her elementary years, the scrapbook contained report cards and class pictures except during the World War II years when no school pictures were taken.

Tipton 1st grade class of Miss Minnie Thacker, 1940-41

Every year the Tipton elementary students presented at least one play, and there were always snapshots, play programs, and clippings from the Tipton newspaper.

In 1941 the Tipton elementary production of “Characters from Story Book Land” was so impressive that they took it “on the road” for performances in Frederick and Altus. Dorothy played the part of Puss in the Boots. She wore an elaborate cat costume and the scrapbook noted that her long white tail got a big laugh at Frederick.

Many other school plays followed.

At the Tipton Fair in 1941 when she was seven, Dorothy rode a ferris wheel for the first time and she was afraid. The 5-cent ticket for the carnival ride was kept in her scrapbook.

Ticket for 1941 Tipton Fair ride.

On October 28, 1941, a circus came to Tipton. The Al G. Kelly and Miller Bros. two-ring circus featured acrobats, wire walkers, jugglers, cowboys and Indians, and all kinds of performing animal acts. Cost of admission for children was 15 cents and 35 cents for adults. The circus is where Dorothy first saw an elephant.

She also kept photos of her pets in the scrapbook – Bunny Boy the rabbit; Inky, her big black dog; cats Snowball and Brownie.

In the fall of 1942, eight-year-old Dorothy Mae had the experience of picking cotton. She proudly wrote, “I picked 48 lbs. my first afternoon, 47 lbs. the next.”

"The last picture that I had with Grandpa."

As a young child, Dorothy Mae spent happy summers and weekends at the farm home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, who lived near Olustee. In March 1943, just before she turned nine, Dorothy made the following notation: “March 20, 1943 – Grandma and Grandpa had a car wreck at 1 o’clock going home from Altus. Grandpa died March 21.” After her grandfather’s death, her grandmother, Mrs. Grace Anderson, moved to Tipton.”

When Dorothy turned 10 on July 8, 1944, she had a birthday party at her home. The following children attended: Roger Johnson, Dana Kay Pickrell, Jimmy Asbill, Smitty Asbill, Vonda Choate, Nell Worthington, Barbara Miller, Darla Van Gronagin, Gerry Van Gronagin, Marybeth McWhorter, Lanny Dale Curry, Eddy Jones, Elinor Ann Harris, Jane Ann Johnson, Marjorie Raffeus, Donald Heffner, Janice Newson, and Mary Hines.

Among her gifts were 25 cents, socks, a sewing set, perfume, toy dishes, a box of soap, hair bow, puzzle, funny books, a silk scarf, and war stamps.

Dorothy’s father became ill in September 1944 and spent months in the hospital followed by a long recovery period at home. According to a clipping from the Tipton newspaper, Dr. McClure suffered a broken blood vessel in one of his lungs. The paper said, “Perhaps there has been no other person in Tipton more sincerely missed than has Dr. McClure. He has been the local dentist for so many years and worked so tirelessly with hardly a let up, that he overstrained himself.”

On July 4, 1946, the week of her 12^th birthday, Dorothy Mae made her first trip to Craterville Park. She wrote, “Lee Owens took Daddy and me,” and she pasted pictures of park attractions that she saw and enjoyed. These included photos of the Craterville swimming pool, park rides, bumper cars and skating rink. High point of the Craterville visit, though, was getting to see Roy Rogers and Trigger.

She glued a picture of the famous singing cowboy and his horse in her scrapbook and wrote, “I saw Roy Rogers and Trigger in person. Trigger danced, counted and threw a kiss to the boys and girls.”

Next week… More from Dorothy Mae McClure’s scrapbook.

CARDS and PHOTOS from Dorothy McClure's scrapbook follow.

Dorothy's first grade report card, 1940-41

Cast of Tipton production, "Characters from Story Book Land", 1941

"Characters from Story Book Land", 1941. Dorothy is in costume, 3rd from right.

Dorothy as Red Riding Hood for another school play.

"Teacher and her two pests -- Pat and me"

Dorothy with Bunny Boy

Seventh Birthday, 1941

Dorothy's 2nd grade class, Tipton, 1941-42. Mrs. Gladys Osborne was the teacher.

School Halloween play, 1941. Dorothy is the ghost at right.

Circus advertisement, 1941

"Ready for Sunday School, Easter 1942"

"Home Sweet Home" -- The McClure home at 212 East Main, Tipton.

Note about the death of Dorothy's grandfather.

Roy Rogers and Trigger. Dorothy saw them perform at Craterville Park on July 4, 1946.

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

Craterville Park

Column sent to Frederick Leader and Frederick Press

March 1, 2011

Swimming pool at old Craterville Park

Meeting featured special memories of Craterville

Craterville was a special place that many people hold dear in their memories.

Frank Rush III, grandson of Craterville Park’s founder, spoke at the Tillman County Historical Society’s 2011 annual meeting on February 27, and told stories from Craterville’s history and his family’s involvement with the park. Approximately 75 people attended, most of whom had personal memories of Craterville.

The people in attendance also told many stories about their experiences at Craterville. The stories brought many smiles and happy memories.

There were actually two Craterville Parks. Frank S. Rush organized the first Craterville north of Cache in 1923. Rush had served as the first forest supervisor at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. He had been commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt as the nation’s second forest ranger (the first was in Yosemite Park in California), and tasked by Roosevelt to re-establish buffalo at the refuge.

Frank S. Rush with Craterville Park Covenant, 1924

The senior Rush formed Craterville when he retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 1923.

When Frank S. Rush died in 1933, his son E. Frank Rush took over operation of the park and built it into the most popular family recreation area in Southwest Oklahoma and North Texas. It is important to remember that this was an era before computers, video games, or cable television. The countless entertainment options that exist today did not exist then. Folks went to Craterville Park for recreation and fun.

In his presentation at the annual meeting, Frank Rush III described all of the original park’s attractions: a grocery store and post office where people could buy supplies or mail 3-cent post cards; a glass house and dark house maze that one walked through in the dark; the pretzel ride; a skating rink (strap-on skates were rented and cost of skating was 25-cents for an hour); a concession stand (Fairmont ice cream., Root bear, popcorn and hot dogs); camp grounds; rental cabins; a cobblestone golf course; bumper car rides; an arcade; a full cafeteria; a swimming pool (complete with fish and turtles) that was fed from natural springs; and an Indian curio store.

Craterville postcard scene

Amusement rides on the midway included a Ferris wheel, a train, and a rock-o-plane ride.

Other popular attractions were a monkey cage, horse rentals, a snake pit (with rattlesnakes that were gathered from the local mountains); and Jimbo the steer, advertised as the world’s biggest at more than 3800 lbs.

Earlyday Craterville scene

Many of the era’s most well-known entertainers performed in free concerts at a stage near the midway.  At the historical society meeting, Frank Rush III asked what stars the local folks had seen at Craterville. The answers kept coming – Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Rex Allen, Stonewall Jackson, Dale Robertson, Tex Ritter, Rin-Tin-Tin, Minnie Pearl, and Little Jimmy Dickens.

Other acts at Craterville over the years included circus acts, a bear act, dog performances, a horse act, a human cannonball, and many more.

Saddle horses at Craterville

The old Craterville was closed in 1957 when Fort Sill land was expanded to include the park. Frank Rush III described the land expansion as very controversial at the time, an effort to make Fort Sill so big that it could not be closed.

The federal government promised to treat landowners fairly, but did not.

Although E. Frank Rush moved Craterville to a new site north of Altus, he never recovered from the financial losses that were caused by the government land grab of the original site.

The second Craterville operated at the new site near Quartz Mountain until the late 1960s. Although never as successful as the original Craterville, Frank Rush III said he finds many people who remember the “new” park with sentiments as emotional as the original one. The second Craterville closed in the late 1960s when the Rush family moved to the Dallas area to stage a successful Wild West Show at Six Flags Over Texas.

Since 1971, the Rush family has owned and operated Sandy Lake Amusement Park near Carrolton, Texas.

NOTE: Historic photos are property of Frank Rush III and used with his permission.

AT RIGHT: Craterville pennants from 1939 and 1940 are on display at the Pioneer Townsite Museum.  

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