Monday, October 29, 2012

Oklahoma City Hardware Company, 1907



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. 


One of the strongest possible illustrations of the fact that Oklahoma City has a great commercial destiny is the large scale upon which some of the mercantile concerns of more recent establishment here have been founded.  A leader among them is the Oklahoma City Hardware Company, one of the largest wholesale concerns of the entire southwest.  It does a jobbing business exclusively and represents some of the largest and best known concerns in the country.  The house of this company occupies Nos 19 to 25 East Grand avenue, and has an extensive building.  It was first established in business in this city in 1900, and has been constantly growing ever since.  The company is incorporated and has a capital stock of $500,00 making it one of the strongest competitors for the hardware business of the entire southwest, thus aiding in making Oklahoma City the greatest distributing point in this section. 

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.

14 comments:

  1. Welcome to Geneabloggers! Best of luck with your new blog!

    Michele Lewis
    Ancestoring

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    1. Thanks for the welcome Michele! I made a visit to your Ancestoring blog and particularly enjoyed your post on DNA in a Nutshell - a subject I really want to learn more about.

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  2. Welcome to the Geneabloggers Community! Your blog is terrific!

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    1. Thanks for your visit! I have a lot to learn about the blogging world and I appreciate the encouragement.

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  3. Welcome to Geneabloggers. My ancestors were all working in hardware factories in the early 1900s.

    Regards, Jim
    Hidden Genealogy Nuggets

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    1. Jim, thanks for welcoming me to Geneabloggers. I made a stop at your Hidden Genealogy Nuggets and appreciated the posting on Free Newspaper Archives. I do enjoy reading old newspapers, especially from small communities.

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  4. What a great bit of family history to add to your record--and which contains a standing record even today! I love finding articles such as this in newspaper accounts--rounds out the family history story so aptly.

    I headed this way to your blog today thanks to GeneaBloggers, by the way. Welcome to the group!

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    1. Thanks Jacqi for your welcome. I am totally new to the world of blogging and your blog was an inspiration to me, when I finally decided to "take the plunge". I've made a number of visits to your 'Tapestry' blog, and I've learned a lot. Your postings are delightful! Thanks for the encouragement.

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  5. Love the blog and the focus on the stories that bring your family tree to life.

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  6. Love the stories... ;-)

    Welcome to the GeneaBloggers family. Hope you find the association fruitful; I sure do. I have found it most stimulating, especially some of the Daily Themes.

    May you keep sharing your ancestor stories!

    Dr. Bill ;-)
    http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
    Author of "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories" and family saga novels:
    "Back to the Homeplace" and "The Homeplace Revisited"
    http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/
    http://www.examiner.com/x-53135-Springfield-Genealogy-Examiner
    http://www.examiner.com/x-58285-Ozarks-Cultural-Heritage-Examiner
    http://www.examiner.com/heritage-tourism-in-springfield-mo/dr-bill-william-l-smith
    http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/drbilltellsexcitingstories
    The Heritage Tourist at In-Depth Genealogist: http://www.indepthgenealogist.com/

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    1. Dr Bill, I'm glad your stopped by to make a newcomer feel welcome. I enjoyed my visit to your 'Ancestor Stories'.

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  7. Pat Garrett,

    I found your blog when searching Oklahoma Hardware Company. Is it your great-grandfather who founded Oklahoma Hardware Company? I write because my grandfather, Herman E. Moon, was the assist warehouse foreman at the time of his passing in 1970. I have photograph dated April 1964 as he sat at his roll top desk in the warehouse. Early on Saturday mornings, he would take me with him to the warehouse where i'd explore the warehouse & ride the wooden freight elevator.

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    1. "Theo . ." It was wonderful to receive your comment, and I am delighted to hear of your connection. My great-grandfather SE Clarkson (1875-1951) was the founder of Oklahoma Hardware, and my grandfather Albert Clarkson (1901-1981) worked there many years. He was a fine man. I only wish he had taken me to work with him to ride the elevator.

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