Volume 11 , Issue 11

1937 - Landlady In College Town

We are going to take you back to a news article that appeared in The Oklahoman, dated Jan. 3, 1937, on page 59, with the headlines that read: "Landlady in College Town Likes Old Fashioned Girls - Mrs. Nellie Noble Has Rented Rooms to More Than 3,000 Students in 40 Years."

Before we get started ... Does Nellie Noble jog any memory cells out there? Did your mother, grandmother, etc... ever one of those 3000 students from 1897-1937 that were "old fashioned" and rent a room from Mrs. Nellie Noble?

The news article begins with, "The old fashioned girl hasn't many admirers these days, but Mrs. Nellie Noble of Alva will speak up for her any time. In 40 years experience as a landlady in Alva, Mrs. Noble has rented rooms to nearly 3000 college girls from all parts of Oklahoma who have attended Northwestern State Teachers college."

This first paragraph of the article makes we wonder what life in January 1937 was like or just beginning for women back then. How had the 1937 college girl changed? Read on and see what Mrs. Noble said.

The 1937 news article also mentions Mrs. Noble stating, "When I came to Alva in the famous old days of the Cherokee strip college girls spent all their spare time in study. They seldom went out and most of them got by on as little as 50 cents a week for food."

Mrs. Noble also stated that the motor car, motion picture shows and dance halls had all played big parts in drawing the college girls attention from study and sensible living.

I guess we were seeing changes between the ages way back then, huh!

Mrs. Noble went on to say in the 1937 article, "There is nothing seriously the matter with the modern girl but she hasn't much to show for her time at college. Too much time is wasted on the frivolous and unnecessary things of life."

Mrs. Noble, in her long years as a landlady declared that she had never had a quarrel or difference of opinion with any of her young female tenants. She was quoted as saying, "They have al been very fine to me and it has been a wonderful experience to meet all those hundreds of girls; all different and yet all so alike in many ways. One of the most striking things about my contacts with girl tenants is the fact that I've never had the slightest trouble about getting rent money. It was always paid promptly or whenever our arrangements called for."

The article mentioned that Nellie Noble and her husband came to Alva shortly after the Cherokee strip was opened in the early "nineties." They had only $25 when they bought a small house on the installment plan and began the renting of rooms.

Nellie also stated that unlike most rooming house landladies in college towns, she had little use for boys as tenants. Nellie went on to say, "We rented rooms to boy students for a short spell in our first few months in Alva, but we soon learned better. Boys are much herder to get along with as tenants. They aren't nearly as tidy as girls and sometimes they can be very difficult. No, the girls have it all over the boys as model roomers."

Nellie. Noble every year during the christmas and new year season got dozens of letters from former students who had roomed with her in college days. For a long time she had a large brown notebook with the names of all her tenants. Nellie mentioned smilingly in the article, "It got so tiresome keeping track of all those names, I just put the book away and forgot it."

Here is a list of some of the college girls that rented from Mrs. Noble:
Miss Carol Clarke, Miss Sally Ben Russell, Miss Adelaide Carter, Miss Mary Sharpe, Miss Margaret Ann Young, Miss Mary Thais Holmboe, Miss Petty Brooks, Miss Evelyn Lou Lowry, Miss Pauline Huddleston, Miss Dena Lee Jones, Miss Patsy Eskridge, Miss Mary Frances Johnston, Miss Bette Ann Vance, Miss Elizabeth Shelly, Miss Patsy Harper, Miss Marjorie Ann Hayes, Miss Marjorie Miller, Miss Carol Jean Hare.

Miss Dorothy Jean Hopps, Miss Dolores Stephens, Miss Shirley Davis, Miss Ruth Ann Hummer, Miss Florence Cottrell, Miss Peggy Samis, Miss Mary Evelyn Irby, Miss Norma Jo Jones, Miss Margaret Jean Hayes, Miss emily Jo Beard, Miss Peggy Flynn, Miss Janet Eaton, Miss Norma Owens, Miss Marjorie Ann Bogenschultz, Miss Marjorie Daw Yeakel, Miss Elaine Simpson, Miss Betty Jean Tway, Miss Lelah Maytubby.

Miss Helen Margaret Hart, Miss Rosemary Kneeland, Miss Sara Jean Chesterman, Miss Jean Joullian, Miss Rosemary Smith, Miss Ruth Caldwell, Miss Jane Wellman, Miss Doris Pollock, Miss Loretta Wright, Miss Marjorie Green, Miss Joan McEwen, Miss Anna Doris Hall.

Miss Nona Jean Macklanburg, Miss Helen Catherine Starry, Miss Susan Severin, Miss Mary Virginia Price, Miss Betty Lou Dalton, Miss Olive Jean Bretz, Miss Jean Westcott, Miss Thanya Lee Spurrier, Miss Betty Carson, Norman, and Miss Betty Andres.

If Nellie Noble quit keeping records after those 40 years, how many more college girls rented from her that are not listed here? We would like to know and hear their stories of Mrs. Nellie Noble and her "Old Fashioned Girls" whom she rented rooms to in Alva, Oklahoma as they studied at Northwestern State Teachers College.
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