Volume 8 , Issue 28

Early Leaders Opposed Some Things In Perry, Oklahoma...

"E.W.Marland wanted to put his company in Perry (Oklahoma) in the early days, but our city leaders said: 'No way!' Our city fathers didn't want that 'stinking stuff' in our town so he took his company further north and built the Marland Refining Company in Ponca City. Then he bought another company in Orem, Utah (called Continental) and moved it to Ponca (Oklahoma), retaining the familiar Marland Triangle sign as the advertising symbol and renamed his company Continental Oil Company (Conoco) which continued to grow and is now called Conoco-Phillips (after merging with Phillips Petroleum). We still have one of the first 3 Marland (Conoco) triangle-shaped service station buildings here in Perry (Oklahoma).
      In our early phone directories, the Marland Oil Distributor (later Conoco) had phone #1. The lumber yard that I bought for my antique mall had phone #5; an insurance company had #12; the Borden's Milk distributor had phone #18; and T.B.Wilson's grocery was #30 (T. B. was an early mayor here).
      Mason's Automotive was #43 (I just discovered this week that his wife 'Jerry' [still living here] was Oklahoma's very first licensed female aircraft pilot!)! Luthye's Garage (still operated by 2nd generation, David Luthye) was phone #50. A local furniture store was #54 and the Phillip's Gas distributor was (what else?) #66. Power's Abstract (still operating) was phone #68 and Moore's Floral & Nursery was #92 (Vern Moore passed away just this last year). Phone #100 was assigned to W.P. Elliott (oil field contracting, another former mayor). The Perry Daily Journal was #222 and our famous TAMAC Pottery Co. was phone 344. My Perry Theatre had #444.
      I realize that most of these names and numbers are meaningless to anyone but students of history (like me) but we are fascinated by these early memories. As a Main Street city, we have several buildings (plus a brick street and some brick sidewalks) listed on the national historic registers." -- Roy of Perry, Oklahoma
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