A visitor to this blog e-mailed me some interesting pictures of Temple from many years ago. Harley Gene Salsman, who has relatives who lived in Temple, sent this drawing of the B&O Cash Store, which once brought visitors to Temple from miles around.
Thank you, Harley.
The B&O was opened in 1906 by brothers Bob and Otho Mooney, who began with $1,300 and 200 square feet of floor space. By 1923, the store took up an entire block with 40,000 square feet. It grossed $1.5 million that year.
Billed "the biggest country store in the world" the B&O employed a preacher, an undertaker, a doctor, a pharmacist and a milliner among 100 regular employees. The store hired another 100 people during turkey and pecan season.
I remember going through the store on Saturday and going to the drug store. They had a soda fountain in the drug store. I remember looking at all the saddles and bridles. I bought a bridle there for $5 to go with my horse I had bought for $13. That was a lot of money I had to mow five lawns to earn that much money.
To learn more, visit the Temple Museum Association website.
Posts
The B&O Cash Store was responsible for many "firsts" being attributed to Temple. One of the Mooney brothers built a house on N. Commercial Street. The house and lot occupied almost a quarter of the whole block. It is probably the largest house ever built in Temple. There was a most unusual and rare feature in the back yard--a swimming pool. It remained the first and only swimming pool in town for years and years. I think that Elmer Graham may have installed a pool when he built a house in the early 60's near the elementary school. If so, that would have been Temple's second swimming pool.
ReplyDeleteAfter the closing of the B&O Store and Sears, Yeilding's Department Store continued to have a regional draw of customers to Temple. Sometime in the mid 90's, I visited my dad's cousin, Ozella Griffin, in Temple. She and her husband had moved back to Temple and had purchased a house on N. Boundary that was either built or previously owned by W.A. Yeilding. She pointed out the air conditioner in the front room. It was a huge brown appliance that sat on the floor by the window and was several times larger than any of today's window units. WA was the first person in Temple to have a refrigerated air conditioner in his home. My aunt said that it still ran.
WA's son, Walt Jr., was responsible for another "first" in Temple. Sometime during the 50's he built Temple's only contemporary or modern style house on the west side of town. It had straight, angular lines and a flat sloping roof. I was never inside the house, so I don't know how it was finished. Nevertheless, for its time, it was almost "alien" looking as compared to the typical bungalow or farmhouse architecture in the rest of town.
Carroll Newberry
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTHIS TOWN TEMPLE----WHERE I WAS BORN AND GREW UP--POPULATION AROUND 1,500--THE B&O STORE DREW PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA-AND NORTH TEXAS--I REMEMBER TEARING A GASH IN MY LEFT ARM AND GOING TO THIS STORE WHERE THEY HAD A DOCTORS OFFICE--THEY HAD EVERY THING. IT WAS THE WAL MART OF THAT DAY--ALSO A FOND MEMORY GOING TO THE SODA FOUNTAIN AND GETTING A BLACK WALNUT SUNDAY FOR 5 CENTS --IT WAS DELICIOUS--MEMORIES FROM WHEN I WAS A KID--WHEN B&O CLOSED, SEARS OPENED THEIR FIRST STORE IN THE STATE RIGHT HERE IN TEMPLE. AFTER SEVERAL YEARS SEARS MOVED TO LAWTON AND MY DAD, ALTON MOORE, OPENED THE B&M STORE AND OPERATED IT UNTIL 1969. HAGGAR SLACKS TOOK OVER THE LOCATION TO EXPAND THEIR PLANT AND THE B&O ERA ENDED. MY DAD SPENT ALMOST 50 YEARS OF HIS LIFE WORKING ON THAT STREET CORNER THROUGH ALL THE DIFFERENT BUSINESES. DALE MOORE
ReplyDelete