A BIT OF HISTORY: Martha Cowan

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 5th 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.
Part II