Volume 13 , Issue 34

NW Okie's Corner

The photo on the left is a view probably taken from the roof of the Monfort building on the downtown square. As you look South up College Avenue (6th Street) you can see the Stipp's Department Store, Congregational church and the Castle on the Hill after a rain storm. Also in the background you catch a glimpse of Alva's first water tower to the left and slightly behind the Castle.

Where you see the Alva Lumber Company is where the Alva State Bank is today (NE corner of College Ave. and Center St.). by the way, does anyone know anything about the Charles D. Stipp family that settled around Northwest Oklahoma Territory?

Do you have a Facebook account? If so and you are from Northwest Oklahoma (particularly Alva) you need to connect to the following group site, You Know You're From Alva If. . .. Vicki Cunningham shared some of those old Alva photos that the Cherokee Strip Museum - Alva has accumulated onto a CD that the museum sells to raise funds for the museum.

The Cherokee Strip Museum - Alva also has other items to sell of historic value concerning Northwest Oklahoma pioneers. AND . . . the museum in the old Alva General Hospital located in the West part of town on 14th Street has a superb collection of the pioneers histories through Oklahoma Territory. For more information check out their Facebook page above and click on "Info" for their address, phone, website and hours that they are open to the public (Tuesday thru Sunday, 2pm thru 5pm).

While you are visiting the Cherokee Strip Museum in Alva, Oklahoma, there is another item (history book) that you might want to purchase. Early Woods County (ISBN 9780738583105) by author Beverly Kinzie, published by Arcadia Publishing, has been on sale since May 30, 2011.

It contains a history of Woods County, Oklahoma and showcases images dating from 1894 to statehood in 1907. It covers the period of early settlement and the hardships of pioneers in a new territory. It includes the growth from a wide open prairie to the beginnings of small towns and school districts, from mostly one-room schoolhouses to the Normal School for higher education.

People from all walks of life came to the Cherokee Outlet before the land run of 1893 and after. Those frontier inhabitants suddenly found themselves nearly alone on the wide expanse of prairie unbroken by a single building and with almost no trees. Early settlers came from across the country and even from across the ocean, many with nothing but the clothes on their backs and hope. These new residents carved out a living and made Woods County what it is today.

The Author's Bio reads as follows: Beverly S. Kinzie came to Alva, Woods County, Oklahoma, as a bride 50 years ago. She and her husband, Wayne, built an international aviation business which they owned and operated for over 45 years while raising a family of four children. Beverly has been involved with numerous church and community activities, all of which help preserve the history of Woods County.

It was in 1975 that the Cherokee Strip Museum Association acquired the former Alva City Hospital building with its 40 rooms to house one of Oklahoma's best collections of pioneer exhibits was set up to display northwestern Oklahoma artifacts. Check out Cherokee Strip Museum website.

While you are over at the You know you're from Alva if. . . Facebook page, scroll down to where Mark Bellah posted about still looking for early pictures of the Nickel/McClure mansion and any information on the Nickel family. If you have any information or photos, get in contact with him. Thanks!

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