Bryant Ave namesake

[Swalell1960]

For whom or what is Bryant Avenue named?

[Martin]

i found maps from 1914, 1947, and 1953 that calls the street "foundry" from ne 63rd to se 44th. then, maps from 1960 and 1967 still use "foundry" around edmond, but "bryant" from ne 122nd to se 89th.

so... sometime in the 1950's, the name was changed. it's possible that it was somebody from that era.

[Martin]

i don't have any evidence, but maybe it was named for anita bryant... she had some level of popularity in the late 50's and early 60's, so it fits the timetable:

Anita Bryant - Wikipedia


edit: i see a 1956 reference to 'bryant ave' in the oklahoman, so i'm doubting this connection.

[Martin]

it's also possible that it shares the namesake of bryant school which was at ne 3rd and geary. i-235 now runs across that parcel. i'm not sure who the school was named after. i didn't see a 'bryant' on the 1889 oklahoma township plat map, so i'm ruling them out as the donor of the school land. consequently, the plats also do not show 'bryant' for any of the parcels near the present-day street.

Bryant School | Metropolitan Library System (metrolibrary.org)

Bryant School - Clio (theclio.com)

[Martin]

well... i think the answer is that there isn't a definitive answer. i finally found this article from 1956 in the oklahoman:

Attachment 18248

it seems that there were naming variations in different parts of town, inclduding 'foundry', 'bryan', 'bryant', and 'bryand'... if there was a clear answer to the original source of the name, i'd think that this would have been included in the article. the article quotes a city engineer who states that 'bryan' was the most generally accepted name, but that the mayor and a city councilman thought that 'bryant' had been used for many years.

[oklip955]

I've always wondered about Sorghum Mill in Edmond/north Okla county. Where was the mill?

[Midtowner]

I've always wondered about Sorghum Mill in Edmond/north Okla county. Where was the mill?

Sorghum would come from sugar cane which isn't grown here. So doubtful there was a sorghum mill anywhere in the area.

I think it's just a random name someone made up.

[oklip955]

Sorghum is grown as a feed around here. Ok maybe no longer in the Edmond area but used to be and maybe a few that grow it and bail it up for cows. If mature it can be pressed to make sorghum syrup that is more of a southern thing. I think a few stores carry it. I have not tried it.

[Midtowner]

Sorghum is grown as a feed around here. Ok maybe no longer in the Edmond area but used to be and maybe a few that grow it and bail it up for cows. If mature it can be pressed to make sorghum syrup that is more of a southern thing. I think a few stores carry it. I have not tried it.

It's good stuff. I don't know why no one really buys it anymore. Probably because imitation syrup/high fructose corn syrup is so inexpensive.

I emailed the Edmond Historical Society re the main question of the thread. I'll let y'all know if they have anything.

[Studying Okie]

Sorghum would come from sugar cane which isn't grown here. So doubtful there was a sorghum mill anywhere in the area.

I think it's just a random name someone made up.

Sorghum is a grain and is pretty commonly grown in Oklahoma... although it's often called "milo." Sorghum is not a byproduct of sugar cane.

[Midtowner]

Sorghum is a grain and is pretty commonly grown in Oklahoma... although it's often called "milo." Sorghum is not a byproduct of sugar cane.

Well my apologies! I'm just a city boy and I thought for sure the Sorghum I used to spread on my biscuits was a sugar byproduct.

Well anyhow.. I got a response from the Historical Society and they've passed my request on to a researcher.

[Studying Okie]

Well my apologies! I'm just a city boy and I thought for sure the Sorghum I used to spread on my biscuits was a sugar byproduct.

Well anyhow.. I got a response from the Historical Society and they've passed my request on to a researcher.

Thank you for the update - it would be awesome if there was an accessible database online with all the local street names and their namesakes.

[HangryHippo]

Thank you for the update - it would be awesome if there was an accessible database online with all the local street names and their namesakes.

Your username sure checks out.

[Swalell1960]

Well my apologies! I'm just a city boy and I thought for sure the Sorghum I used to spread on my biscuits was a sugar byproduct.

Well anyhow.. I got a response from the Historical Society and they've passed my request on to a researcher.

Thanks Mid, Studying, et all! My fam has lived off of what turned out to be Bryant since the land run. I’ve never heard anybody refer to it as anything other than Bryant… and those are some old memories.

Mostly just curious.

[Midtowner]

Hi [Midtowner],

I apologize for the delayed response. I've been looking into the naming of Bryant Avenue and I still don't have a clear answer. However, I don't think that it was named for anyone associated with Edmond. The maps in our collection from before around 1965 list the street as Phillips Ave. - not sure the naming source on that one either. I've attached a couple of different maps of Edmond that illustrate this. Both are from around 1960 and show the street as Phillips Ave - and the eastern city limits.

This map at the OSU library lists it as Bryan, but also Foundry. This is from 1955.

https://dc.library.okstate.edu/digit...id/7752/rec/64

This map at the Oklahoma Historical Society is from 1968 and lists the street as Bryant.

https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/6...ma%20county%22

I've attached an article from the Oklahoma from 1956 that discusses the OKC council officially changing it to Bryant.

[the article is "Street's Name Now Fits to T" from teh Oklahoman on October 24th, 1956, couldn't upload it here]

My best guess is that it was known as Phillips or Beltline in Edmond until the hospital opened in 1967 at which point they changed it to Bryant to match OKC. Prior to the hospital being built, there wasn't much out there. The city dump was roughly where the ball fields at Hafer Park are today, it that tells you anything. The attached article from the Edmond Booster refers to the road as the "dump ground road southeast of town."

You'll also notice that Kelley is listed as Western on the Edmond maps, and I would have to check on this, but I would guess the City of Edmond changed both street names to match OKC as Edmond really started growing in the 1960s/70s.

I'll be sure to share any update with you regarding this if I come across anything else in the future. But please let me know if you have any other questions!

Sincerely,
derek.

--he uploaded 2 newspaper articles and 2 old maps, if there's somplace I can send those to host those images, I'll do so.


Derek Lee | Curator of Collections
431 S. Boulevard | Edmond, OK 73034
edmondhistory.org | 405/340-0078

[Swalell1960]

Thanks Derek!

Also, while poking around Logan County as a rail fan I noticed the BNSF ROW grade crossing at Academy that the signaling cabinet is labeled N Bryant, and is indeed on the same line as in Oklahoma County.

I wonder if that makes is an old ATSF reference or something?

[Bellaboo]

Sorghum would come from sugar cane which isn't grown here. So doubtful there was a sorghum mill anywhere in the area.

I think it's just a random name someone made up.

Sorghum was definitely grown here. I had a relative who died several years back at the age of 95. He claims he used to drive a horse drawn wagon to the Sorghum Mill plant south of Guthrie in the late 1930's.

[Urbanized]

Well my apologies! I'm just a city boy and I thought for sure the Sorghum I used to spread on my biscuits was a sugar byproduct.

Well anyhow.. I got a response from the Historical Society and they've passed my request on to a researcher.

You're probably thinking of molasses, which DOES come from sugar cane. Sometimes folks might also call sorghum syrup molasses, and they do seem pretty similar before being refined. But as pointed out elsewhere sorghum is a grain, and it was grown pretty commonly in Oklahoma in the early 20th century. I'm sure there was an actual mill tied to the sorghum mill name. Would be fascinating to find out more about it.

Regarding Bryant, I did quite a bit of research on newspaper.com and found some interesting info that I typed into a post here, but got logged out and lost everything I'd typed. So I will have to double back and give it another shot soon.

[Swalell1960]

You're probably thinking of molasses, which DOES come from sugar cane. Sometimes folks might also call sorghum syrup molasses, and they do seem pretty similar before being refined. But as pointed out elsewhere sorghum is a grain, and it was grown pretty commonly in Oklahoma in the early 20th century. I'm sure there was an actual mill tied to the sorghum mill name. Would be fascinating to find out more about it.

Regarding Bryant, I did quite a bit of research on newspaper.com and found some interesting info that I typed into a post here, but got logged out and lost everything I'd typed. So I will have to double back and give it another shot soon.

Been there done that. Just today in fact when writing a note to the Logan County Historical Society. Seems like the N Bryant stenciled on the signal cabinet on the rail crossing at Academy is something to check out.

[Urbanized]

Been there done that. Just today in fact when writing a note to the Logan County Historical Society. Seems like the N Bryant stenciled on the signal cabinet on the rail crossing at Academy is something to check out.

Might be. But where I was pointing to is a possibility there was an early OKC business leader or perhaps an elected official with the name Bryant, who has since been largely forgotten to the community. This would be consistent with other names of (in most cases) better-known business and city leaders who also had streets named after them; names like Stiles, Couch, Classen, Hudson, Harvey, Walker, Wheeler, Douglas...these were all people involved in the early years of OKC's development.

One reason that I believe this might be the case is that not far from Bryant Avenue was a Bryant School, which was - like the street - also on the near NE side of OKC. The earliest references I found to Bryant School was 1902, but even as early as 1905 it was targeted for replacement with a modern school building, which looks to have happened by 1908 or 1909. This makes me think the first school building known as Bryant was probably built well before 1902.

Bryant School was originally frame construction and was being derided as a fire trap in 1905-1906, with no fire escape on the second floor. The location was 3rd and Geary (possibly another early but now mostly-forgotten community leader..?), which would place it squarely in the middle of the I-235 on ramp immediately adjacent to Deep Deuce.

Also worth noting that Bryant was the eastern boundary of the Oklahoma township plat, with Crutcho township immediately east of there.

Following the lifespan of Bryant School via newspaper accounts was pretty interesting, as it was caught up in the changes wrought by Jim Crow. As I'd mentioned, a new, beautiful school building was completed in the late aughts, but by the teens there was consternation over the fact that a white school was surrounded by black neighborhoods, so eventually it was switched to an all-black school. Most likely was demolished during the clearance of neighborhoods in favor of the construction of I-235, though definitely could have been well before.

Here is a photo of Bryant School (OHS archives):

[Swalell1960]

Whoa—Nice work, Urbs! That’s a whole new bit of NEside narrative to ponder.

Now I’m wondering if the bnsf Logan Co grade crossing predates the school.