History of a building?

[Dredle]

Does anyone know what the building at 45th and shields used to be? Today, the building is Hope Community. Was it originally a school?

[Martin]

i'm guessing you mean this building on the northeast corner of se 47th & shields? -M

edit: ok, hope community services is also at 105 se 45th...

edit #2: i didn't see any info on the structure on the county assessor's site...

[Pete]

Before Hope, it was Powerhouse Vocational Rehabilitation services.

Not sure what it was before that.

[Pete]

Looks like prior to Powerhouse, it was owned and occupied by H.J Jeffries Truck Lines.

Not sure if they built the building on Shields.

[kevinpate]

Don't know its history, but a school seems a remote shot. SE High is just up the road and due east of SE is an older abandoned school (Jefferson Middel School maybe)

[Martin]

not finding much on 105 se 45th...

a december 6th, 1986 listing of building permits shows an $80,000 remodel issued to hope community services.

a december 28th, 1986 brief says that hope community services will combine the operation of its two south area centers into the two-story structure... the article calls it an "18,000 square-foot office building, including basement" sold by kerr-mcgee building corporation. that previous owner os corroborated by the assessor's records.

the earliest occurence of this address in the oklahoman is the february 2nd, 1982 listing of births contains a family living at this address... but this may be a misprint.

i would expect a school's address to show up regularly in publication, so unless the address has changed at some point in this building's history i don't think that possibility is likely. perhaps the building was originally apartments, bought and converted into offices by kerr mcgee and eventually sold to hope community. -M

[Charlie40]

I believe this was H Jeffries trucking company at one point or Wagonneers

[FRISKY]

In the late 1970s it was Kerr-Mc Gee Refining Corp. (270-2000) according to the Polk criss-cross.

[SOUTHSIDE GIRL]

In the early 70's it was H J Jeffries Trucking Company

[FRISKY]

In the early 70's it was H J Jeffries Trucking Company

Seeing it spelled out like that clicked something in my memory. You are correct. I was in the H J Jeffries building several times in the late 1960s and early 1970s to visit with a couple guys that drove trucks for the trucking company. It didn't look anything like the current pictures.

[Martin]

so you two are saying that the building on 45th was once the offices of h.j. jeffries? -M

[FRISKY]

so you two are saying that the building on 45th was once the offices of h.j. jeffries? -M

Yes. I remember you had to walk up a couple steps to get into the building and there was a gravel parking lot on the south and east sides.

[RadicalModerate]

Is this the same building on the way to Contractor's Supply that suffered economic damage due to the crash of Braniff and Penn Square "Bank" back on the cusp of other "real" estate shennanigans back in the day? Or is that a different building.

At least H.J. Jeffries didnt' try to compete with Halliburton . . . =)

Not to mention the former historic Groendyke Trucking Location (replete with historicalesque rocket statue =) over on Bryant, Eastside, between 4th and 10th.

I think the building alluded to in the above reminiscences was multi-purpose.
Even back then.

Edited to Add:
"a december 6th, 1986 listing of building permits shows an $80,000 remodel issued to hope community services."
Dang. Who woulda thought real estate scams were going on even back then.....=)

(A Tip: No matter how inexpensive the asking price on the property may seem to be the costs of mold and lead abatement--not to mention asbestos removal--it is still a good value. =)

[Tritone]

I wonder if that's the same "historicalesque" rocket statue on the Groendyke Ranch just across the Canadian River from Weatherford and Hydro. There are some pretty strange structures on and just off of American Horse Road.

[RadicalModerate]

It is almost certainly the same rocket statue. Back in the '70s I worked for a paving company just south of the old Groendyke building and we redid the gravel road leading back in there off of the main highway as well as the roads--actually more like paved paths--leading back to the actual "hunting lodge" on the property. We also lengthened the runway. This was all back just before The Great County Commissioner Scandal.

[Fantastic]

Don't know its history, but a school seems a remote shot. SE High is just up the road and due east of SE is an older abandoned school (Jefferson Middel School maybe)

Don't know about the abandoned school, but it wasn't Jefferson. JMS was built in 1960 at 6800 S Blackwelder.

[Tritone]

It is almost certainly the same rocket statue. Back in the '70s I worked for a paving company just south of the old Groendyke building and we redid the gravel road leading back in there off of the main highway as well as the roads--actually more like paved paths--leading back to the actual "hunting lodge" on the property. We also lengthened the runway. This was all back just before The Great County Commissioner Scandal.

Thanks for the info. On that same east/west road a ways east, on the north side of the road, there was a strangely built multi-level-tower-house-thing. It was there in the early '90s. I have no idea what it was, but it was strange.

[RadicalModerate]

You can never tell what they are liable to do out there around Geary . . .
(and Calumet? all i can think of is discarded baking soda!)

Yet, apparently, that old Groendyke Rocket--sighted, apparently, out there somewhere along the route of the road to American Horse Lake--has some connection with the inferior (and laughable--in a good way--in my opinion) version of the same icon posted over in NE OKCounty, on Hefner, across the road, by the driveway into the Elementary School semi-adjacent to the Witcher Baptist Church.

Sorry . . . I over explained . . . That one is strange, too. =)