Another Guessing Game

[Doug Loudenback]

OK, OK! Time for another guessing game.

Two questions about the image below:



1) What is the building?
2) Where was it located?

I'll give a couple of starter hints:
(a) The above building was built before 1920;
(b) It was the 2nd building in its class that was constructed in or around Oklahoma City.

I'll add hints as needed; it will be the subject of my next history blog article.

Guess away!

[USG '60]

OK, OK! Time for another guessing game.

Two questions about the image below:



1) What is the building?
2) Where was it located?

I'll give a couple of starter hints:
(a) The above building was built before 1920;
(b) It was the 2nd building in its class that was constructed in or around Oklahoma City.

I'll add hints as needed; it will be the subject of my next history blog article.

Guess away!

First a question. Is only the main part down on the left end of the picture all that is left?

[Doug Loudenback]

The question assumes that part or all of the building still exists, and it's a heck of a good compound question (2 answers for one question), but, this ain't 20 questions! I ain't sayin' just yet.

[rcjunkie]

OK, OK! Time for another guessing game.

Two questions about the image below:



1) What is the building?
2) Where was it located?

I'll give a couple of starter hints:
(a) The above building was built before 1920;
(b) It was the 2nd building in its class that was constructed in or around Oklahoma City.

I'll add hints as needed; it will be the subject of my next history blog article.

Guess away!

It looks like part of the OKC Water Plant at NW 4th & Penn

[Doug Loudenback]

Kinda does, but nope.

[USG '60]

I think it is the Wells-Fargo bldg. I think that main bldg on the left is what is left today.

[Martin]

i would've guessed the okc waterworks, too. -M

[CarltonsKeeper]

Fred Jones Mfg Plant on West Main?????????

[flintysooner]

Old GM training facility on N Santa Fe?

[gen70]

Fred Jones Mfg Plant on West Main?????????

Same here.

[Doug Loudenback]

None of the above. However, remembering what I said about starter tips ...

I'll give a couple of starter hints:
(a) The above building was built before 1920;
(b) It was the 2nd building in its class that was constructed in or around Oklahoma City.

... a pair of the above answers are "warm," but not "hot," about the "class" of the building. The 1st building of this class was built in 1915-1916 and opened in 1916.

Next clues:
(c) The building to identify opened for business in 1918;
(d) The property is visible in this March 17, 2004, aerial by the Oklahoma County Assessor's office:



(e) Chances are good that none of us had ever heard of this business without researching the Oklahoman's archives (at least, I hadn't) ALTHOUGH an early Sanborn map is helpful ...

[ChuckE]

Could be the Ford assembly plant constructed in 1915, which was later to become the Fred Jones Remanufacturing facility.

[Doug Loudenback]

ChuckE, you've identified the 1st building of the class, constructed in 1915-1916, opening in the latter year.

[papaOU]

Could be the Ford assembly plant constructed in 1915, which was later to become the Fred Jones Remanufacturing facility.

Know why it became a "re manufacturing" facility?

[Doug Loudenback]

Know why it became a "re manufacturing" facility?

Know why your question is off topic?

[Doug Loudenback]

Here's a colorized pic from a 1920 Oklahoman article, showing a trainload of products on its way to India.

[FRISKY]

East India Toilet Goods and Manufacturing Company?

[Martin]

1920? india? and a picture?

way too easy, doug... but since i 'cheated' i'm not gonna be a spoilsport. in all honesty, i'd never even heard of the company. can't wait to find out more about it in your next blog post!

-M


edit:

on further research, maybe you were being a bit tricky... the owner of the building changed between the first and second pictures...

and i found out how the building currently looks... well... unless something has happened since this last aerial, of course.

[Doug Loudenback]

East India Toilet Goods and Manufacturing Company?

Sorry Frisky, but maybe the east Indians did have a large demand for toilet goods, who can say? Fun guess ... try again!

[Doug Loudenback]

1920? india? and a picture?

way too easy, doug... but since i 'cheated' i'm not gonna be a spoilsport. in all honesty, i'd never even heard of the company. can't wait to find out more about it in your next blog post!

-M

edit:

on further research, maybe you were being a bit tricky... the owner of the building changed between the first and second pictures...

and i found out how the building currently looks... well... unless something has happened since this last aerial, of course.

Yes, you have the building identified ... state where, exactly, and you get the prize for question #2 ...

If you think you know #1, give it a go ... sounds like you know, but I need to hear you say it ...

Tip for all: #1 question, "What is the building" isn't answered by "naming" the building since, if it ever had a name, I don't know it. But, as Martin suggested, there were 2 important owners, the 1st & the 2nd, the 2nd being the more significant.

[Martin]

ok, ok...

in the first picture, from the 6/9/1918 oklahoman, the owner is midland motor company. when the second picture, from 6/6/1920, was taken the wichita truck company of wichita falls, tx was leasing the building from midland. i'd never heard of either company.

the factory was located near sw 22nd and westwood blvd. what's weird is that it looks gone when i pulled up google street view... was it demolished?

-M

[Doug Loudenback]

Bells, whistles, fireworks. Martin is the winner!

I wondered exactly what you did, Martin, and for the same reasons. So, I drove to the property this afternoon to have a look. From what I can see, the building is no more ... I'll upload the pics later. The latest assessor pic is 2007 and it's in that pic. MS Maps (or whatever it's called now) shows the building from its birds eye view. But Google Maps street view shows pretty much what I saw this afternoon.

Both companies manufactured motor vehicles. Midland Motor Company made an auto, the Oklahoma Six, and a truck. It was going great guns until armistice was declared ending WWI, which also resulted in the cancellation of a 500 vehicle government contract. After that, the company didn't last long, and there may have been some internal corruption, also ... certainly there were claims of embezzlement. The Wichita Falls Motor Company, renamed the Wichita Motor Company, was much more successful but only made trucks. It went belly up in 1932. More will be in the blog article.

[Martin]

well... comparing the streetview and aerial maps, it looks like the building has, in fact, been demolished... and i was dead set on driving by and everything!

here's something interesting... according to the assessor's site, the property is owned by the city of okc. it says the city has owned it since 11/11/1911... 11/11/11... sounds like a programmer put in a placeholder for a date that couldn't be filled in. but given that the last sale date isn't available i'd imagine that the city has owned the property for quite a while now.

-M

[Doug Loudenback]

well... comparing the streetview and aerial maps, it looks like the building has, in fact, been demolished... and i was dead set on driving by and everything!

here's something interesting... according to the assessor's site, the property is owned by the city of okc. it says the city has owned it since 11/11/1911... 11/11/11... sounds like a programmer put in a placeholder for a date that couldn't be filled in. but given that the last sale date isn't available i'd imagine that the city has owned the property for quite a while now.

-M

I don't know about the chain of ownership, but the 1950 Sanborn map at the MLS website shows this for the property use (note that it shows the building's date as 1918):




So, one way or another, the property apparently wound up being owned by the city (unless it was only a lessee). Or, if the assessor's data is correct (which I'm skeptical about), it may have done an early-day Bass Pro Shop deal, but that seems unlikely.

[Steve]

Alright, I think I may have the missing puzzle piece here. If this is the building I think it is, I visited it once. It's near Will Rogers Courts, truly a gang war zone if this city has one. Not a fun area in which to live. And this was where the city had it's various street maintenance and hazardous materials, etc. kept. A new central facility was built around SW 15 and Portland. This building was in bad shape, and I'm not surprised it was torn down, though it would have been good for the Abandoned Oklahoma guys to have documented before it was torn down.
Too bad there isn't an organization in town to take care of that sort of task... oh wait...