Volume 5 , Issue 4

Okie's NW Corner

This last week has this writer's head stopped up with a head cold due to the on again off again winter-spring like weather that hits through the heartland of America this time of year. That is my excuse for being slow and late this weekend. BUT... the ezine/newsletter goes out anyway, huh?

I have had lots of interesting email this week. One email concerned a McGill-Vinson relative of mine ... AUGUSTUS GRANT VINSON, born Abt. 1866, and died April 27, 1940 in Alva, Oklahoma. He married MARY MCKELVEY MCGILL Abt. 1890, daughter of WILLIAM MCGILL & ISABELLE JOHNSON. Mary McKelvey McGill was the older sister of my grandfather William J. "Bill" McGill (Major/Minor baseball player).

Remember the Spring of 1900... and the history of Northwestern - the first graduating class of four women and two men was produced. Augustus Grant Vinson was one of the men. Each of the 6 graduates gave an oration, then they received their diplomas. Thursday evening, June 28, 1900.

Records in the historical files of the Northwestern museum tell of the formation of the school's 1st Alumni Association in 1905. The first president was Dudley Nash, a member of the Class of 1901. In succeeding years as the association continued to hold regular annual meetings, others elected to the alumni presidency include A.G. Vinson, etc...

In aligning the faculty for the new year, the Board of Regents elected A.G. Vinson to the Chair of Agriculture. Vinson was a member of the first graduating class in 1900 and had joined the Northwestern faculty in 1905, first to teach geography, geology and later mathematics. His salary in 1908 was $1,400.

The heavy role played by politics in the election of not only the president by also members of the faculty was a fact not everyone could accept. So it was in May, 1910, the Board of Regents in electing the faculty for the new year retained President Ross and voted to remove two-thirds of the faculty. A total of 21 individuals, including A.G. Vinson. Hundreds of telegrams poured out from Alva residents to the board. Four of the professors previously dropped from the faculty, including Vinson, were reinstated in a June, 1910 meeting of the Board of Regents. Ross submitted his resignation

Dedication of the new buildings was another grand occasion for the Alva area, attracting thousands into town for the main ceremonies on March 12, 1937. Alumni President Phil Noah served as general chairman for the program, which also recognized the 40th anniversary of the founding of the school, an historic development which was spotlighted in a program on March 11. At that event, presided over by Professor A.G. Vinson, a half-dozen individuals who had figured in the institution's history reminisced about their experiences.

Two new dormitories were finally ready for occupancy in September 1939. Dedicating the Men's dorm to A.G. Vinson and called "A.G. Vinson Hall" also as asked by the alumni.

Did you also know that the Science Hall was renamed Vinson Hall in honor of A.G. Vinson. The Class of 1938 presented the school with a portrait of the beloved professor to be displayed in the building. That name remained there little more than a year, then the new dormitory for men became Vinson Hall and the older building resumed its former name, Science Hall.

Northwestern and Vinson Hall

Let us move onto Bill Barker's Memoirs of the Alva downtown square around the 1940s. That is sure to jog some memory cells out there. Speaking of the downtown square, does anyone out there remember whatever happened to the gazebo and the fountain that used to reside on the westside of the downtown square? Do those things still exist or were they demolished?

A friend in the Tulsa area sent me a special gift of two Vol. (I & II) of the Garfield County history books. Garfield County (also known as "O" County before statehood).

I hope this hasn't sounded too disjointed this week. Strange things happen on paper when the mind is clogged with a head cold. Have a great Super-Bowl weekend. See you next weekend - hopefully, with a clearer head! -- The Fairvalley Eagle still soars above it all! ~~ Linda "Okie" ~~

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