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 By sometime in 2011, Oklahoma City will have a beautiful new sculpture to look at in Bicentennial Park east of the Civic Center Music Hall and easily viewable west of Walker. Click the photos in this article for a larger views. On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, the Oklahoma City Council approved a plan being 100% funded by a $350,000 grant from the Inasmuch Foundation to construct and install the the 30-foot diameter sculpture named "Compass Rose." The sculptor is New York artist Owen Morrel. What you're seeing above and below are photos I took at City Hall yesterday before the transit meeting which I reported on yesterday. 
A packet of realistic looking images were available near the model and I'll show some of those images below. When I took the above pics and picked up the packet, I didn't know what it was all about, but today's Oklahoman carried a short article by Tim Henley which describes the action taken by the City Council.
The information below was scanned from the packet and gives some background and cost detail:
I don't fully know the history behind this project but I've found a little. In an October 21, 2009, Staff Report to the city's Park Commission, it is noted that on May 16, 2007, Leadership Oklahoma City (LOKC) presented a proposed Bicentennial Park and City Hall Area Master Plan to the city's Park Commission and, further, that,
The Department has been notified that LOKC has selected an artwork by Artist Owen Morrel to be placed in Bicentennial Park, funded by a $350,000 grant from the Inasmuch Foundation * * *.
* * *
The proposed artwork selection by LOKC has been placed on the October 19, 2009 Oklahoma City Arts Commission agenda for a recommendation to the City Council. The decision of the Arts Commission will be communicated by staff to the Park Commission during the meeting. The sixty-year old sculptor has crafted a substantial body of public art and you can find out about the award winning Morrel at his website and view photos of some of his other work here.
The packet of materials by the model of Compass Rose shows these views of how the completed project will look. Click on them for larger views.
Artist's Description
Night Scene -- LED lights in base illuminate at night
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Following up on the theme of last article on 1st National & Bunky and with the same emphasis on the early days before and after the April 22, 1889, Land Run, during a recent insomniac event I went to Hulu to see what I could watch there while I should have been sleeping but could not. There, I ran across a popular movie, McLintock, released in 1963 starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. It being a movie I'd enjoyed many years earlier, I selected it to watch and I'm glad that I did.  But not until that viewing did it sink in that McLintock might be a movie about Oklahoma, scripted as it was in the nature of a historical novel. That glimmer led me to research a bit more and the result is this post which I hope that you will enjoy, in addition to the movie itself. The result of my investigation led me to conclude and say without any hesitation that McLintock is a comedic western tale which has Oklahoma Territory as its setting, and the parts of the story which are presented as historic fact are solidly accurate. The story line itself is based on William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew ala John Wayne's unmistakable style.
Below, I'm presenting for your viewing a condensed slide-show of the movie without audio which lasts 8-9 minutes but which contains controls so that you can move around or end watching as you will. I've assembled this from 100+ screen captures within the real movie. It contains a summary annotations as well as historical notes along the way. Below that, I've embedded the full 2-hour movie from Hulu's website, for as long as it remains available there. After that, I've added some notes about how the movie measures up to real Oklahoma history. Have fun and enjoy the show!
Doug Dawgz Cut
Click on the graphic to start the 8-9 minute slide show
containing historical notes and the movie summary
McLintock, the Movie
An Oklahoma Territory adaptation of Taming of the Shrew
The 2-Hour Full Movie
From Hulu, for as long as remains available there -- sometimes it isn't
A no-commercial but not wide-screen version is also available at the link below:
Click Here To Play McLintock At The Alternate Location
The Real History. Even though McLintock is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew and the story itself is fictional, the story's setting is based upon accurate historical Oklahoma facts.
Click below for a brief 6 minute slide show which explains that.
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 In 1939 the 1st National Bank published an excellent 64 page booklet called Fifty Years Forward which not only commemorated its 50th anniversary as an Oklahoma City banking institution but also contained lengthy excerpts from "Bunky's" The First Eight Months of Oklahoma City (McMaster Printing Company 1890), a then-contemporary history of Oklahoma City's 1st 8 months, published in 1890. This booklet is one of the neat purchases I made at the Abalache Book Shop on Exchange Avenue a couple of weeks ago. This article presents all 64 pages of 1st National's commemorative booklet. Beyond that, it presents information about Bunky and contains the full content of his 1890 publication. To read all of Bunky's work, go to this later post for the full booklet. Fifty Years Forward. 1st National's booklet consists of two parts. First, following a brief introduction, pages 3-45 contain excerpts from the booklet, The First Eight Months of Oklahoma City by "Bunky" (McMaster Printing Company 1890). Second, pages 46-64 trace the history of the First National Bank from the Land Run through 1939. Every page in the booklet contains either a drawing of a historical scene, building, or person, OR it contains a photograph of 1st National as it existed in and around 1939.
The constraints of blogger software aren't good for presenting larger scale single-topic presentations like this one is meant to be. My work-around is to create files external to the blog which present 1st National's booklet in both HTML and PDF formats both of which are linked to in this article, after the explanation below.
The HTML presentation contains a home page with links to each separate page, allowing you to move page by page through the booklet.
The PDF version is fully bookmarked and presents everything in a single file and one that you can save to your computer. It is best for printing should you want to do that. But it is large ... 34.5 MB ... and it will take some time to download.
Click a link below for what you want to do ...
Open HTML version Open PDF version
Only Look at Photos Just Read Bunky's Stuff
Photos From Fifty Years Forward. In addition to the sketches of people, places, and events shown on each page, the booklet contains eight photos showing First National (or its president) in 1939. Click on any small image below for a 1024 px wide version of the same.1st of 4 Cameron Murals
The Run
 | 2nd of 4 Cameron Murals
The Run
 | 3rd of 4 Cameron Murals
Louisiana Transfer
 | 4th of 4 Cameron Murals
Sunset Trail
 | Christmas At Night
 | 1st National
 | Hugh M. Johnson, President
 | Great Banking Hall
 |
Full Text of Bunky's First Eight Months of Oklahoma City. First things first: Who Was Bunky? The author's real name was Irving Geffs. Luther B. Hill's 1908 A History of the State of Oklahoma, Vol. I (1908), pages 218-219, says this about the author of First Eight Months of Oklahoma City:
This unique little book, printed at Oklahoma City in 1890, containing 110 pages in pamphlet form, was written by "Bunky," and aside from this name the historian gave no hint of his own individuality. His real name was Irving Geffs. Some time before the incidents which he describes he had taken too much liquor, and on recovering his senses found that he was a regularly enlisted soldier of the United States army, a position for which he had no special liking, but it was several years before he was able to get out. He was with the infantry that camped at Oklahoma City the day before the opening, and on leaving the army remained in the city for some time. He was a left-handed scribe, a clever writer, and was in the employ of some of the first newspapers of the city, especially with Frank McMaster. McMaster was publisher of early-day newspaper, The Oklahoma Gazette, and was publisher of Bunky's booklet.
A reader of Bunky's work would do well to differentiate between what Bunky reports as fact and what he reports as opinion. It is easy enough for an objective reader to see that he was a "homer" – his reports are much too glowing and also report much too little on any negative aspects of the 1st 8 months in Oklahoma City to be taken at face value as literally correct. He also wholly misstates facts in at least one instance -- his closing description of the attempt to create a successful electricity-producing canal was written as though it was a huge success, but the truth is that it proved to be a huge failure. So, read Bunky with your eyes wide open.
Readers should understand that the PDF file linked to below may not exactly contain the exact original document published by McMaster Printing Company in 1890, even if it almost completely does so. After the 1890 publication, the work was republished in 1939 by the Trave-Taylor Company, and, most recently in 1989 was republished by HISTREE in a rendition by Larry S. Watson. Excerpts from the original document appear in various sources, notably in the First National Bank's Fifty Years Forward in 1939.
The original was also republished in 1988 by the Women's Posse of the Westerners and since writing this piece I've come to own a copy, have scanned it, and it is available for you here.
Additionally, at www.okgenweb.org/books/okc/index.htm, Bill Hallman has reduced to text what is presumably (although it is not so stated) the original version of the booklet — and from Hallman's rendition the file produced here, with substantial formatting and modest technical corrections, is derived and is presented.
Click here to open the PDF file, or click the image below.
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 The New York S.H. Kress & Co. was an early-day 5¢-10¢-25¢ retailer with stores throughout the country. After announcing plans to establish itself here in July 1904, Kress opened shop at 217 W. Main on December 2, 1904. Soon, Kress expanded to include the 1st floor of the Illinois Hotel at 219 W. Main, as well. A 1911 Daily Oklahoman article reported that Kress had stores located in 140 cities in the United States. After acquiring long-term leases of properties on the south side of Main Street, in February 1913 Kress announced plans to build a 5-story building across the street (south) of that location and in 1914 its existing properties were leased to Sidney L. Brock of Brock's Dry Goods, forerunner of John A. Brown's department store. Although the fact did not meet the promise (the new building was 3-story, not 5, as shown in this 1950s photo), S.H. Kress relocated its downtown store to 218 W. Main in 1915 where it remained until Urban Renewal demolished it in the 1970s. ( This 1940s photo shows the area but doesn't show Kress very well). More to the point of this article, though, S.H. Kress was not only a retailer, it was a prolific producer of postcards around the country, including Oklahoma City. If you are a postcard aficionado, many of the early-day Oklahoma City postcards you've seen or own were produced by S.H. Kress & Co. The postcards shown in this article featuring Oklahoma City were produced by Kress in 1919 or 1920. Most often, Kress postcards were single cards but others were multiple-card fold-out sets with pictures on both sides, like this one. This particular fold-out set was sent by (Mr.?) H.L. Miller of Oklahoma City to Mr. R.O. Miller of Terre Haute, Indiana, on September 8, 1920, the postmark bearing "Oklahoma, Oklahoma," which is to say, before the US Postal Service accepted Oklahoma City as the name of this town. Although the 2¢ stamp presumably accomplished its purpose, at some point along its meandering path the mailing found its way to the Abalache Book Shop, 2225A Exchange Avenue, Oklahoma City, until the date that I purchased it, February 12, 2010. I'll tell a story associated with the postcards by going back in time to September 20, 1920, or, at least, try to. In the story and post card notes, I'm guessing that H.L. Miller was the son who lived in Oklahoma City and that the Terre Haute addressee, R.O. Miller, was his dad though he could easily have been a brother or other family member. Other than the literal addressor and addressee names (H.L. Miller and R.O. Miller, respectively), the story and other name attributions below, are wholly fictional.
Skip the Story & Go To the Cards
 Your Day Begins. You are H.L. Miller, the proud owner of the fine home located in the area now called Mesta Park at 900 West 18th Street, Oklahoma City, built only three years earlier, but your dad, still living in Terre Haute, has never come to Oklahoma City for a visit. The date is Monday, September 20, 1920, and you just got out of bed at 5:30 a.m. to give yourself some time alone with your wife before the children get up to get ready for school. "Good morning, Charlotte," you say as you give her a kiss on the cheek, "I'll see if the paper is here yet."
She starts brewing the coffee and you put on your robe and go out on the front porch to see if your Daily Oklahoman newspaper has arrived yet. "Drat," you say to yourself, "late again." "Charlotte," you say upon entering the kitchen, "remind me to call Mr. Gaylord about delivery service. He hasn't got the only paper in town, you know, now has he! By 5:35, the paper should be right by the front door." "Yes, dear," she replies, adding, "Have a seat — the coffee is almost ready." Thump — you hear the paper hit your front door. "I'll be right back," you say.
 Perusing the front page, you grumble to Charlotte, "Only ten pages today — must not be much news." "The dratted socialists are trying to get seats in the New York Legislature and the Russians are trying to infiltrate Mexico," you report to Charlotte as she starts work on the children's breakfast. "Hey," you say, "I see that Tennessee men are fighting the suffrage amendment. What do you think about that, my dear?" "They're assholes," she thinks to herself (women didn't openly use such words in those days) and she merely says to you, "Oh, they'll come around, just like you have, Harland. You know, I remember a time that you felt the same way." "Hrumph," you mutter.
On page two, you note that Tom Mix is playing in a movie at the Dreamland, thinking that might be good to see. You flip by page 3, page 4, and page 5 to get the sports page to see if the Oklahoma City Indians won their season-ending double-header yesterday with Des Moines. "Hey, we took both games," you exclaimed, but added, "Tulsa won the pennant yesterday, though. But we had a heck of a year, winding up in third place behind Tulsa and Wichita." You added, "I still chuckle at Omaha naming their team the Omahogs!" Charlotte agrees and chuckles with you.
Page 7, page 8 and page 9 don't catch your fancy but you see on page 10 that the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. is nearing completion. "A waste of public money," you say to Charlotte who says, "Yes, dear."
Time passes ... the kids eat and get off to school and you get ready to catch the trolley which passes by your front door and gets you to work. You catch a quick lunch at the Kress store at 218 W. Main and, at the register, you notice a postcard folio which catches your eye. "You know," you say to the cashier, "I haven't talked with Dad for awhile ... let me have this postcard folio, if you don't mind." "Not at all, sir, that will be 5¢." You slap on a 2¢ stamp and address it to your dad who lives in Terre Haute but has never been to Oklahoma City ... 220 South 9½ Street, Terre Haute, Indiana, you write.
Before sending, you had a look over the cards and you were tempted to write the following notes on the cards to your dad hoping to lure him here for at least a visit if not to live ... you didn't since that would have messed up the cards. (You also anticipated that readers 90 years later would like to be able to click on any card without your notes for a 1500 px wide view.)
The Front Cover — State Capitol and Wilson & Co.
We don't have a capitol dome yet but you're sure we will, some day.
Card 1: The City From An Aeroplane
My, we are growing — up to 91,295 now!
Card 2: County Courthouse
The jail is at the left.
Card 3: Ford Assembling Plant
We even make our own Model T's.
Card 4: Oil Wells
Don't ya wish we had one of these, Dad?
Card 5: Lee-Huckins Hotel
Huckins Annex, Campbell, Wells Fargo & Herskowitz buildings are at the right.
Card 6: Oklahoma City High School
We're too big for just one high school but more are coming soon.
Card 7: Broadway & Grand
Left to Right: Huckins & Huckins Annex hotel buildings,
the Campbell, Wells Fargo, Herskowitz buildings, & the Kingkade Hotel.
Card 8: Belle Isle Park
This is our city's finest recreational park today.
Card 9: OIL
The note at the left reads: "Oklahoma in 1915 produced 117,910,410 barrels crude oil leading all other states." The note at right reads: "Over two hundred million dollars was divided in 1915 among the workers in Oklahoma oil fields and thousands of stock-holders in Oklahoma oil companies."
The 1917 drawing is © by JP Hathaway.
Card 10: Our YMCA
The sign over the left entrance reads, "Boys," and, the right, "Men."
Card 11: Colcord Office Building
This is the city's most beautiful skyscraper, today.
Card 12: Other Skyscrapers
Left to right are the Hales, Lee, and American National Bank buildings. In the background, you can see the Skirvin Hotel, center-right, Insurance Building, and, at the left, the Lee-Huckins Hotel.
Card 13: State FairDad, we've got a great state fair here and it is set to open this Saturday. This year, it's going to feature a special fireworks display based upon the Naval Siege of the Dardanelles a few years ago when Winston Churchill gave the order to the British navy to blast open the Turkish straits to enable the allies to attack Austria from the rear. And there will be auto races, too. Sure wish that you could be here to see them with me!
Card 14: Carnegie Library
This is our city's beautiful library.
Card 15: Comanche Indians
Their original home was Texas. Those who survived the Texas Rangers (not that many)
were forced to relocate to their home today in southwest Oklahoma, near Lawton.
Card 16: Skirvin Hotel
The Skirvin and the Lee-Huckins are our finest hotels, but, personally, I like the Skirvin.
Card 17: Picking Cotton
Oil is important but so is cotton.
Our city is a leader in cotton exports to all over the world.
Card 18: W. T. Hale's Residence
This home is at 1521 N. Hudson, less than a mile from my house, Dad.
He owns the Hales Building, shown in card 12, above.
Back Cover — Santa Fe Station
I've made a mental note to find the best route from Terre Haute, Dad.
I hope that you'll come for a visit very very soon.
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