Cache, Oklahoma

ZEKE CAMPFIELD

CACHE Foster kids across Comanche County may soon sleep a little more peacefully thanks to the charitable efforts of Beverly Martine and quilters from across the area.

Martine, owner of the Quilt N Bee in downtown Cache, said her store will be the hub for Southwest Oklahoma’s participation in a nationwide campaign to sew pillowcases for charity.

Sponsored by American Patchwork & Quilting, the nationwide “Make a Pillowcase, Make a Difference” campaign calls on participating stores to donate pillowcases collected throughout the year to a local charity or organization.

Martine said she chose the Comanche County Department of Human Services as her target organization because she has a personal affinity for children in the state’s foster care program.

“My kids come from DHS,” Martine said, her eyes tearing up. “I have four kids adopted from the foster care system in Texas, and they didn’t do anything wrong their parents and caretakers did.”

12/31/2009 12:55:00 AM

ZEKE CAMPFIELD

CACHE The water crisis in Cache also appears to be over, Mayor Shawn Komacheet said on Wednesday.

A recommended boil order for city water customers since Monday was lifted Wednesday afternoon; the water system is full, clean and pressurized; and business will continue as usual, Komacheet said.

"After two days of testing, the lab says our water was fine both days, so we’re back to normal," he said.

ZEKE CAMPFIELD

CACHE

A precautionary boil order for Cache water customers has been extended through Wednesday.

Cache Mayor Shawn Komacheet said the state Department of Environmental Quality has not completed its tests on the water, which are required because the water system was drained after a series of power outages last week followed by a broken valve discovered over the weekend.

THE LAWTON CONSTITUTION

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2003

By

EDWARD CHARLES ELLENBROOK

WICHITA MOUNTAINS FIELD NOTES
HOME ON THE RANGE

Cache’s Woesner Saves Historic Buildings

James Carroll and Emma Epting McMillian, Herbert Woesner’s grandparents on his mother’s side of the family, were only in their 30s when they migrated to Oklahoma for the opening of Big Pasture for settlement.  They packed all their belongings and came by rail, sometimes riding in boxcars, all the way from Tupelo, Miss.  Herbert’s mother, Cora, was only 3 years old when the family uprooted, leaving Tupelo and arriving in Lawton, by rail, in 1906.

During the bidding, the McMillians failed to bid enough to obtain a piece of land in the Big Pasture bidding, but soon bought a relinquishment for a farm just outside Lawton.  McMillian built a house on a hill east of where the Great Plains Vo-Tech is located.  Later, he sold his  land and went to work at Quartermasters at Fort Sill to help build the new post.

On his father’s side of the family Herbert Woesner’s grandfather came to America from Germany when he was about 7 years old, in approximately the 1870s, where the family settled in Ottawa, Illinois.  During the early years he worked at the Western Organ and Piano Co.  In 1907, both of his parents died of the influenza epidemic and were buried in Ottawa.  They left behind four sons; Arthur, Emil, Herbert and Walter.  The brothers were split up among various relatives.  Herbert’s father, at the age of 12, was sent to live with his aunt Jewel and his brother, Emil, went to live with Aunt Minerva.  Experiencing difficulty adjusting, Herbert Sr. ran away and went to work at Berson Millings Machine Co., where he learned the trade of a machinist.

In 1917, during World War I, Herbert’s father and his brother, Emil, joined the Army.  His father served at the Rock Island Arsenal (Illinois) and the Frankfort Arsenal (Philadelphia) where he worked as a machinist and tool maker.  Eventually, he was ordered to Fort Sill to help open the new Artillery School.  His brother Emil (Dan Woesner’s father and former county commissioner) served in the infantry and was sent overseas where he fought and was wounded in the combat Battle of Verdun.

In 1919, Herbert’s father was ordered to Fort Sill to help open up the new Artillery School.  They set up shop in the old Post Trader’s building.  He was discharged in 1919 and resumed his work in civil service at Fort Sill in ordinance.  In 1950, he was given a promotion, becoming armament foreman supervising all armament work.  When he retired in 1952, it was noted that in his 35 years of he had never taken one day of sick leave or been absent from his job for the reason of illness.

Although raised a Lutheran, Herbert’s father attended Lawton First Baptist Church where he met and married Cora McMillian.  Their first born was Herbert Woesner Jr., born at Fort Sill in the old rock faced hospital on Feb. 4, 1925.  Later a daughter, Kathleen, was born to the Woesners at Angus Hospital in Lawton in 1939.

Herbert grew up in what is now called “the old North Addition” of Lawton.  He attended McKinley Elementary School for three grades, completing grade school at Washington Elementary in 1936.  After attending  Lawton Central Junior High School and then Lawton High School, Herbert graduated from Lawton High with the class of 1942.

In the fall of ‘42 Herbert enrolled at Cameron College where the first year, at the insistence of his father, he studied engineering.  He didn’t return for his second year at Cameron until 1946 when he enrolled in agriculture.

Following in his father’s footsteps, as Herbert’s father had instilled in him the ethic of hard work, by the age of 12 Herbert worked for John Helvy at Lawton Drug Co. next to the Dome Theater.  Then worked as a doorboy and assistant cashier at the Dome Theater, and between 1941-1944 worked for Willie Weinburg as a clerk at Willie’s Men’s Store.  In 1944, he moved to the country near Cache where he worked with his father on their 250-acre farm and 160-acre Indian lease.

Herbert has had many roles in his life including a span of years when he served as a Sunday School teacher at Lawton First Baptist Church.  He taught a 12 year old boy’s Sunday School class for three years when Mrs. Witzel, Sunday School Superintendent, took another church position.  Herbert felt the new superintendent might want to enlist his own teachers so he went back to Joe Troop’s men’s class.  One Sunday, H. Tom Wiles, pastor, spotted him sitting in class and asked him, “What are doing here?”  After a brief conversation, ordered him to report to Roy B. Hooper’s 8-year-old boy’s primary class as they needed a teacher.  Herbert continues to to be a member of First Baptist Church Lawton.

In the fall of 1956, Herbert bought the Ferris wheel, bumper cars and dark ride (spook house ride) from Frank Rush Jr., who was forced to close Craterville Park due to the Fort Sill land expansion.  In late 1956, he opened up an amusement park to the public called “Frontier Park,” later to be renamed “Eagle Park” in 1957 in honor of Quanah Parker, known as the “eagle of the Comanches” to his people.  In 1957, a skating rink was built, and the bumper cars and “Dark Ride” were installed.  The first building brought to the park was the Elk Mountain Ranger Station (original headquarters used by Frank Rush, forest supervisor) in 1957 and later, in 1958, Quanah’ Parker’s “Star House.”

Herbert remembers Mrs. Birdsong driving up to the front of the trading post and beeping the horn for him to come out.  It was on Easter Sunday morning in 1958 when Neda Birdsong and her daughter, Annona, beckoned Herbert to the car.  “Neda and Annona appeared very worried and concerned about the fate of the Star House,” Woesner recalled.  There was a tinge of urgency in her voice as Neda began telling Herbert that he Army had jacked up Star House and begun to move it to the edge of the military reservation.  Already prowlers had gotten into Star House and smoke damage had occurred as someone had set a small fire in one of the matresses in a bedroom.  Needa and her husband spoke to officials at Fort Sill convincing Gen. DeShazo to put a hold on the house so it would not be immediately torn down.  She told Woesner, in no uncertain terms, “if you don’t do it no one else will save it.

Due to some complicated, technical government regulations Star House would be torn down if it wasn’t moved within a few weeks.  In order to move it Woesner ended up buying a house from the Cache High School basketball coach, Charles Collins, who was leaving town and subsequently, gave this house to Neda in exchange for Star House.  Star House was moved by C.E. Putney, house mover from Lawton, several days later.  But, had it not been for the efforts of Neda Birdsong, the last Comanche to live in Star House, and Herbert Woesner, Quanah Parker’s Star House would probably have been destroyed and lost forever.

Over the years Woesner operated Eagle Park as an amusement park and village of historic buildings, for a period lasting 27 years.  Eagle Park was officially closed in 1984 due to the exorbitant cost and eventual cancellation of Insurance, which in a year’s  time had doubled in cost.  A rodeo, picnics, family reunions and school parties that had been previously booked for months had to be cancelled.  One group, MacArthur High School, was granted permission to have its activity rescheduled for the day before the deadline for closing.  The next day the gates were shut and have been shut ever since.

Today, Herbert is more that content and right at home living in one of his historic houses.  The home Herbert resides in is the old Fort Sill railroad agent’s home, a 1901 vintage bungalow.  The railroad agent was a man by the name of Vern Lew.  Years ago, Herbert lived on the grounds of Eagle Park in the gingerbread-style Hopps house.

Nowadays, Herbert and his old friend and sidekick, Allan Sasser, keep busy poking around, chasing history, looking for century-old historic buildings, sites and places in this part of the country.  Recently, they found the abandoned building of the historic Peace Congregational Church.

Herbert keeps busy with a plethora of tasks from store attendant, fix-it-man, farm worker, errand runner, buyer of goods, caretaker and historian of Star House, tour guide and dozens of other tasks just to keep things running around the old trading post.

If you are out that way, stop by the Cache Trading Post, Cache, and if Herbert is there you will enjoy his stories about early history and way things used to be.

Historic Buildings Preserved by Herbert Woesner

Building	Original Location		Date Built	Date Preserved
Picket House	Fort Sill	circa	1869	1963
Star House	Mi. N. of Cache		1884	1958
Elk Mountain Ranger Station	Refuge	circa	1907	1957
Orient Drug Store	Blair	circa	1890	1962
Real Estate Office	Chattanooga		1901	1964
Frisco Railroad Depot	Cache	circa	1902	1963
Cache Journal Office	Cache		1902	1963
Sunny Side School	2 Mi. S. of Baseline	circa	1902	1963
Saddle Mountain Indian Mission	Kiowa County	circa	1903	1964
Saddle Mountain School	Kiowa County	circa	1903	1964
Frank James Home	West of Fletcher	circa	1905	1967
Codopony Bungalow	2 Mi. W. of Cache		1923	1967
Hopps House	410 SW B, Lawton		1902	1962
Buffalo Hall  *	West Texas		1880	1975
Violet Livery Stables  **	Cache		1907
Fort Worth & Denver Caboose	Childress, Texas		1907	1965

* Reconstruction of 1880s music hall in west Texas

** Reconstruction of the original which burned in 1907 fire in downtown Cache

 

Article submitted to The County Times by Donald W. Hawthorne.
  Published Thursday, February 16, 2006 – Issue 24, No. 7, Volume 29

The day was a special one as friends and family gathered at the First Methodist Church in Cache to celebrate Thelma Jane Simmons Callicott’s 100^th birthday.  She is known to her extended family as Aunt Jane.

She was born on February 3, 1906 in Greenwood, Texas, which is located about 15 miles northeast of Decatur.

Her family moved to the Cache area when she started in the first grade at a one-room school south of town.  She doesn’t remember the name of the school, but she does remember that her first grade teacher was Rachel Cook.

Later, Thelma Jane’s family lived in Grandfield for two years and then in Spencer, Oklahoma before moving back to Cache where she graduated in the Class of 1926.  She played on the girl’s high school basketball team and recalls winning the State tournament.
Her family lived on a farm northwest of Cache in what is now the Quanah Range of the Ft. Sill Military Reservation.  She remembers riding to school in a horse-drawn covered wagon with only a coal oil lantern and quilts to keep them warm in the winter.
In the early 20’s, her father, McCajah Pope Simmons and her brother, Judson bought two trucks and made seats and converted them into school busses.  These “busses” were rented to the Cache School, and Thelma Jane, who was still in school at the time, and her brother Allison “Hans” drove them.  She had what was called the cemetery route and her brother drove the southeast route.  No driver licenses or insurance were required in those days.

In February 1929, she married Walter Burton “Boots” Callicott.  They were married in Duncan. 

For a while, she ran the Simmons Gas Station on the northwest corner of State Highway 115 and old Cache Road while her husband “Boots” owned and operated a dump truck and hauled sand.

In about 1952, she built and operated the Dairy X located at the corner of 15^th and Cache Road in Lawton.  This writer remembers begging his mother for a nickel and walking down to the Dairy X for an ice cream cone, and on the days the Cubs Scouts didn’t meet   taking his dues money (10 cents) and slipping off to the Dairy X and getting a “gret big’en.”

In 1964, when Lawton widened Cache Road, she moved the Dairy X to Cache and located it across the road west of the school campus where she ran it for 2 years.  Then it was sold to Jess Tidwell. 

The secret to her longevity seems to be; staying active- recovered from two broken hips and she still gets around, planting a garden –she still plants a garden, eating well – she eats lots of vegetables and she starts off each morning with a bowl of fruit, and always continue to have plans – she is now planning to use some of the money given to her for her birthday to buy a new lighter weight vacuum cleaner.

The Early Years

Donald W. Hawthorne

There are not too many people today, particularly in this mobile society that can claim to be a resident of any place for an extended period of time.  Especially if they are 92 years old, but Martha Petty Cowan can.  She has been a Cache citizen all her life.

Her folks, Austin Edgar and Matilda Josephine Weaver Petty lived in Illinois in the early part of the 1900’s.  In 1909, Martha’s Uncle Lee Roy Petty was traveling through Southwest Oklahoma and he got word to his brother, Austin, telling him how wonderful the climate was.  It was the middle of January and he was in shirtsleeves.

So Mr. Petty packed up his family, which included wife and two small girls, Esther and Ella and moved to Cache along with the Twineham family.  Her Grandmother Martha Townsend Petty was concerned about the family moving into what was Indian Territory only a few years earlier, and she worried that Esther who had lovely blond hair would be scalped by the natives.  It was not until she visited them in Cache that she stopped worrying.

Together the two families opened a livery stable, which was located in the 400 block of what is now “C” Avenue.  They would also “taxi” folks to Lawton to shop in a two-seated surrey.  The trip was an all day affair usually leaving early in the morning and arriving back in the late afternoon.

Her parents sold that business and bought the Cache Hotel, which was located at the opposite end of the block where the New Life Assembly of God church is now located. The hotel was a block south of the train depot.  It was at this time that Martha Virginia came into the world, being born on March 3, 1911 in the hotel.

The old Cache Hotel, which was located across the street from where the water tower now stands.  In those days, “B” Street was the main street of Cache.In 1912, Mr. And Mrs. Petty sold the hotel and bought the General Mercantile store, which was located just north of where Beeson’s Café is today.  Behind the store the Alf Clingan family built a feed store. During this time the first telephone office was located just north of where the New Life Assembly of God Church now stands.

The Petty General Merchandise Store located on what is now 5^th between “C” and “B” Streets.  Those standing on the porch from left to right are: Mrs. Austin Petty, Marion Norris, Wesley Webb, Austin Petty, A. Drummer, Wallace Violett, Sam Wimple, A. C. Shamley, Cal Clingan, Harry Unsell, Herman Asenap, and, Arthur Mitchell.

The Mercantile store was brick and had a big porch that stretched across the entire front of the store, which faced the east.  There were two big windows on each side of the front door to display various items. Inside double doors separated the grocery and meat market from the rest of the merchandise. It was a typical store of that time, with candy jars on the counter and wooden barrels filled with pickles, beans, crackers, flour and sugar.

Herman Asenap was the butcher and would also check the quality of the cream in the “cream station” as the farmers would bring it for them to buy and before it was shipped to market.  Martha’s mother, who was part German, also worked in the store but also always found time to help the sick and work in the church.  In addition, she made all the clothes for her three girls except for their winter coats.

One of the Petty store windows decorated for Christmas.  Martha is standing in the window.

Martha has many fond memories of the store.  At an early age, she begin helping out by counting eggs for the customers. She remembers that Saturdays were when all the area farmers would come to town to buy what they needed.  Local Indians were also regular customers, tying their horses to the hitching rail at the side and in back of the store.  Because her father was a close friend of the Indians, the family was invited to pow-wows, which were private events in those days. During World War I, a lot of the pow-wows were for the young men who were going off to the war.

During the oil boom in the State, Martha recalls, after closing the store, her father would take a watermelon and go out to an oil well drilling site located a mile west of the current Trading Post where it would be shared with the crew drilling the oil well.

This is the first in a 4 part series about Martha Cowan and her memories of her life in Cache.

HERBERT WOESNER, JUNE 23, 2000, PARKER REUNION

The history of this house actually goes back to about 1802 when Ben Franklin went to France and made the Louisiana Purchase. After the Louisiana Purchase, this so called Louisiana Territory was opened for settlement to American citizens.

The Parkers were from mostly North Carolina and Tennessee. They came into what was supposed to be Louisiana Territory but for some unknown reason they crossed the river and got into Texas. I’ve talked to various people and it seems like the consensus is they were from a hilly country and they didn’t like the flat level swampy land in the area where they could come into Western Louisiana.

The Comanches and Texans both claimed that territory. So of course that’s when the Comanches raided the Parker settlement. Cynthia Ann, an 8 year old child and 2 others were taken to be raised by the Comanches as foster children. They were adopted into the tribe, raised and became in effect Comanches. Cynthia Ann was the wife of Peta Nocona. She had children by Peta one of which was Quanah.

The federal government had declared this country as Comanche territory. They had established the ring of frontier force across North Texas at Fort Gibson, Fort Townsend and Fort Belknap (oh there was 5 of them). And these forts were North of that was supposed to be Comanches, South of that was supposed to be Texans. The Comanches were settled in camp down there well inside their territory. They were then attacked by Texans, what they called at that time irregulars. We would call them a militia. Quanah was not in the camp at that time as were most of his warriors. But they attacked this camp and attempted to exterminate all the Indians.

I went to Texas one time to Dallas and did some research down there in the library. I found an account of that raid written by one of the participants and in the raid he said that they attempted to exterminate, that was his exact words, the tribe. That they called everybody. They shot the fleeing women off of their horses. The children they stabbed in the back with a knife. The babies they didn’t waste powder on them, they held them by the heels and bashed their heads against the tree. Now we have heard about cruelty but this was white people being cruel to the Indians. This was not the way we usually read history. Now incidentally, one of Quanah’s wives, irtiqua, who was Mrs. Birdsong’s mother was presumed to have been a survivor of that raid. She would have been at the right age. She was given the Indian name, arrow attach them, "stabbed in the back with a knife."

After this raid Quanah of course went to war against the white people again. They went as far South as Blanco Canyon, nearly to San Antonio. As far North as Adobe Walls and as far West as out in the Staked Plains. But they were being starved because the buffalo had been more or less exterminated.

General Ranald Mackenzie was sent by the U.S. government to catch Quanah and do away with him. Mackenzie himself said that Indians were better soldiers than they were. They were the only troops that he could not catch. But he did meet with Quanah under a flag of truce, persuaded Quanah to come back into this territory, guaranteeing him free conduct, the right to bring his saddle, his horses, his camps, his side arms and to be a permanent residence in this area as a sovereign nation.

Quanah then came in down this trail, we now call it the Quanah Parker Trailway. Back in those days it was called Navajo Trail because it was the one used by the early explorers to go across New Mexico and West. Quanah came into this territory and camped right here on this creek. He was supposed to have gone to Fort Sill for a council but he still did not trust the soldiers at Fort Sill. So they had the council on the creek halfway between Cache and Fort Sill which is probably Blue Beaver Creek. At that council they were guaranteed all of the rights and privileges which they expected. They settled here. This became the Comanche Nation. Quanah then as spokesman for the Comanches, made the deal with the Texas Cattlemen who had been using this land free of charge to drive their cattle to Dodge City. Quanah made a deal with them for the so called "grass money." The money was paid to the Comanches but the federal government again intervened. They were afraid the Indians would not spend it wisely. So most of the cash was put in trust.

The Indians were given commodities, cattle, horses, script and tokens. The script and tokens could only be spent at the Indian store. The cattle and horses of course they could use as they will. After a couple of years Quanah told them that he had all the cattle and horses he needed and he could provide his own commodities. But what he needed was a house like the general had at Fort Sill. So these cattlemen under the direction of Tom Burnett hired a contractor from the little town of Navajo which was located on this trail. He came in here, copied the Sherman house at Fort Sill, built this house for Quanah. It was on the hillside 2 miles North of here, facing South, overlooking the Comanche Nation. The house was originally, the front entrance right here where the double windows are and it has a 1 story porch across the front. The front entrance here went into a little hall. This double room was a living room. Then there was a dining room parlor and where the entrance is now was the kitchen. Quanah after he moved in said he needed sleeping rooms more than he needed playing rooms. So the living room was divided into two bedrooms and the parlor was appropriated for his bedroom. The dining room became what we would call the family room and was also the bedroom for the wife called Toncey. The kitchen door became the front door. At the time that the Indians were settled here the government built dog trot, as they were called in those days, houses for several of the leading Indians including Quanah. After they relocated the front entrance, according to Mrs. Birdsong, this dog trot house was moved up to the West side where it became the new kitchen and dining room. It was originally made out of 1 by 12 boards, batter boards (up & down), had wallpaper on the inside on those single boards and so siding on the outside. After it was moved up here Quanah had the siding put on the outside and had the inside covered with beaded ceiling to match the rest of the house. That became the new dining room and kitchen. After Quanah lived here they relocated the front entrance. That’s when they built the 2 story porch on this side. Quanah enjoyed the 2 story porch, said that upstairs you could sleep and there was no mosquitoes. And he like the idea of the up upstairs sleeping porches so they were added all the way around. And the house achieved its present appearance, probably about 4 years after it was built. There’s a dated photograph at the Fort Sill Museum dated 1892 which shows the house in its present form with the upstairs porches, stars on the room, new front entrance and extension on the back. Quanah lived here of course up until he died in 1911. At that time Quanah had a number of dependents and several wives. The federal government came in and they said in order to settle the estate we will divide the furnishings and we will sell the house. Mrs. Birdsong, Quanah’s daughter, who was still living at the home and who was working in the bank in Cache made arrangements and purchased the house to keep it in the family. Mrs. Birdsong then lived in house, raised her daughter and granddaughter here until 1956.

In the early 1950s, Russia blockaded Berlin, invaded Checkosovalika and was making threats to the rest of the world. Our federal government after World War II had sent most of the soldiers home, had done away with a lot of the armed forces. So in order to be strong and put out a threat to Russia they brought the atomic cannon out of mothballs. This cannon had been developed during World War II at the arsenal in Philadelphia and was moth balled. They sent it to Fort Sill but in order to train with it they needed to extend the firing range at Fort Sill. To do so they took without much grace, they took 7 miles on the West side of Fort Sill which included where the house was, Post Oak Church, Post Oak Cemetery, a number of ranches & Craterville Park and without much regard for preservation or for history or anything. This house was going to be torn down.

Mrs. Birdsong’s daughter, Nona, was married to Don Wilkinson who was a Post Exchange Officer at Fort Sill. He was acquainted or had done business with General Deshazzo. So he went to General Deschazzo and got the general to put a hold on this house so it wouldn’t be destroyed. The Army then was anxious to get it out of their way; they jacked it up and moved it down on the section line, parked it and forgot about it. The house set there for the first winter, nothing was ever done to preserve or to save it. Finally then in order to get rid of it the Army moved it up to a vacant lot in Cache. It set there. Nobody had any idea what to do. And on Easter Sunday 1958, Mrs. Birdsong who I had known of course for years, had gone to school with her granddaughter, my father and mother had known Nona and Don Wilkinson so they were no strangers. But anyway on Easter Sunday 1958, Mrs. Birdsong came to our house, knocked on the door and asked if I didn’t think this house should be saved. I said surely I do, everybody thinks so. She said well apparently not and if you don’t do it, it doesn’t look like anybody else will. So we made the arrangements, go a hold of the mover, moved it down here and its been here now for 42 years. We tried to keep it, people say are you going to restore the house. I don’t believe in restoring. If your going to restore, you might as well just build new. I believe in preserving. I want to keep the house the way it was when it was occupied. Try to keep it forever in as good of shape as possible and make it available for the Parker’s or anybody else who is really genuinely interested.

Early Years in Cache

Donald W. Hawthorne

In the early part of the last century Cache, like many of the small towns in the County was a thriving community of businesses.  Every Saturday would bring many of the farmers and ranchers to town to buy supplies, including feed, groceries and other necessities.

Once every month, the businesses would have “trade days”.  This special day would draw an extra big crowd from all around the area, and it was as much of a social event as anything else.  The merchants would pass out tickets during the month and then on trade day there would be drawings for prizes, usually some type of merchandise.

In the summers, the days would be hot and there were no air conditioning but that did not stop the area folks from coming and enjoying themselves.  On these scorching days, Mr. Petty would make ice-cold lemonade in a big wooden barrel for his customers.

This is one of many Cache community picnics.  Pictured (L to R) are Lawrence Banks and wife Margorie, Mr. Crawford (Indian Agent), Matilda Petty, Lena Jarvis, Mrs. Crawford, Clint Jarvis, Wallace Violett, Mrs.Violett, Blanche Barnard, Owen Pylant and his mother.  Austin Petty is sitting on a jar of pickles.

There would be special activities that everyone would take part in such as various games, races, and picnics.  Transportation, or the lack thereof, is the main reason the small towns flourished.  There were a few automobiles in those days, but the primary means of getting somewhere was horse and buggy.  Even in a motorized vehicle the pace was slow, the speed limit out of town was 15 miles per hour and in town 8 mph.

In 1917, the third of three major fires hit Cache.  The two previous fires were caused from cinders from trains that puffed through what was then main street.  This one started in the Feed Store located behind Martha’s Dad and Mom’s General Mercantile Store, which was located north of where Beeson’s Cafe is now.

The fire consumed the feed store, the Petty store and the telephone office north of the store where the New Life Assembly of God Church now stands. The fire burnt all the businesses on both sides of the block to the hotel at the west end of the street.

The Petty’s (front car) and the Jarvis’s look at the burned out store.  The Cache Hotel where Martha was born can be seen in the background.

By this time Martha’s father, Austin E. Petty was Mayor of Cache. The City Hall was in the cement block building that is now The Reformation Church. The City Hall was more than a place to conduct city business. It also served as a community center. It had a stage and seating for the audience, and was a place of different kinds of social gatherings and entertainment.  Martha remembers black minstrels and other performing groups coming to town and putting on performances in the City Hall.

There were also pie suppers and box suppers, and Mr. Petty would be the auctioneer. (For those of you who don’t know what these are:  The women and young girls would bake a pie or fix a box supper and these would be auctioned off to the highest male bidder.  The man would then have the honor of sharing the pie or supper with the lady who prepared the food).  The box suppers became very interesting when the husband did not know or pay attention to what color or kind of box into which his wife put her food. These were usually done as fundraisers for various projects.

When Martha was three years old, the “Tom Thumb Wedding” was performed in the City Hall complete with props and costumes.  The cast was made up of kids from Cache.  Martha was the bride and Conway Clingan was the groom.

After the fire in 1917, Mr. Petty set up the telephone office on the stage at City Hall and put his general store in the front.  The business owners decided to rebuild this time farther away from the railroad tracks and with cement, which was less flammable.  Mr. and Mrs. Petty rebuilt their general store where Ken’s Grocery is now.

Ken Maloy later owned the store and in the 1954 there was a fire that was started by an electrical short and the building that was built by Mr. Petty burned.  When Ken Maloy rebuilt his store he bought the property next to it that was previously owned by Marion Norris and his son Lester so that he could enlarge the store.

This is the second in a 4 part series about Martha Cowan and her memories of her life in Cache.