Just after 1900 my great-grandfather, Samuel Edwin Clarkson,
moved from Arkansas to Oklahoma and established Oklahoma City Hardware. He bought out another hardware concern and
set up shop on Grand Ave in the young, but booming, city. His brothers-in-law, Alfred Boyd and William H Vick,
joined him in the business venture. This
article appeared in The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) on the 10th of March 1907.
Later the business left off the “City” and became Oklahoma Hardware Company,
moving operations to a large, new warehouse building on East California
Street. The building still survives
today in the center of Oklahoma City’s Bricktown revival district. The ghost sign, Oklahoma Hardware Company, is
still clearly readable on the side of the building. It is listed on the National Historic
Register.
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The large stocks
carried by this company embrace everything in the hardware lines, especially
including the materials and implements adaptable to the industries of the
country. The officers of the company are
all capable and practical business men, progressive and modern in all of their
methods, taking a lively interest in everything for the advancement of the
material interests of the city and section.
They are Messrs. SE Clarkson,
president and buyer; AW Boyd, vice
president; WH Vick, secretary and
treasurer. The directors are WM Parker,
WF Wilson, RA Clarkson, WH Vick, AW Boyd, SE Clarkson and Dennis T Flynn, all
among the best known business men in this section. The company employs a large number of
experienced and efficient men, while the officers in charge of the
establishment give their personal attention to the business and attend promptly
to all orders. This is especially one of
the establishments which give credit to the city for doing business on a scale
that entitles it to the name of a metropolis.
We cover Indian and
Oklahoma territories, northern Texas and part of New Mexico.
Our ALWAYS READY line
is strictly first class.
We are agent for the
following lines: Peter’s loaded shells
and cartridges, Lowe Bros high standard paint, Russell and Erwin’s builders
supplies, the Wetter line stoves and ranges, the Vortex and Hemps hot blast
heating stoves. We handle blacksmith’s supplies, carpenter’s tools, galvanized
sheet iron and corrugated roofing, enameled, galvanized and tinware. Our ALWAYS READY cutlery is unsurpassed in
finish and workmanship and is fully guaranteed.