WELCOME TO OLD TOWN

Fast forward to Summer 2014; where Nicole Tannehill stands bracing herself with a lamp post on a sultry pre-July fourth Sunday. She’s been watching her mother Kelly painting the ‘Dezigner Cakes’ sign on the roof of her shop in the 90 degree heat and a strong breeze. Tannehill is an historic name to this; the ‘Birthplace of McAlester’ the locals call North Town, or Old Town.

 

 

Nicole Tannehill

 

   

 

  

As descendants of early settlers; Nicole and her mother wouldn’t look out of place in a bonnet and calico except for the heat. After all; the girls are just a block from a major intersection of local Oklahoma History.

 

 

The McAlester Mansion; a prominent feature of Old Town is for sale.

   

J.J. McAlester

 

   

Let’s back up a bit. Same place; but it’s the 1860’s now. A time when what will become North McAlester is a couple of lonely crossroads at a juncture in history.

 

 

Historic buildings abound. Some restored; while others show the wear of time. Click on image to enlarge.

    

The Civil War ended in 1865. It would be 24 years until Oklahoma would open the famous ‘land rush’ in 1889 and 42 years before these ‘Indian Territories’ would reach Statehood. James Jackson McAlester, left his Fort Smith Arkansas home after the war. He was like so many others who were leaving their Civil War ravaged Southern States nudging their way into Oklahoma’s Indian Territory.

 

 

The Whistle Stop Bistro is a popular restaurant with locals and tourists.

    

McAlester; a former Colonel in the Confederate Army; was a shrewd operator from the start; pitching a tent to sell mercantile at the crossroad of the Texas road and a California trail to those in search of black gold, in Texas; and genuine gold in California.

 

Wildflowers at the edges of Old Town.

   

Paraffin from crude, used for candles, had been around for a while, but another derivative of oil called Kerosene caught fire as the new fuel for lanterns. Kerosene or paraffin oil, was fast replacing whale oil; causing many to want to move to Texas in search of this valuable commodity. The East to West crowd represented those who were pushing West; for gold and many other reasons.

 

 

 

An antique Phillips 66 gas station in Old Town.

 

It was at this pivotal crossroad in 1869; that McAlester pitched a tent to peddle goods to passers by. Soon the tent was a store; but it burned down in 1906 and was replaced.

 

 

The crossroads of History.

This building replaced the tent. It burned down in 1906 and was replaced.

 

   

McAlester found a way to control his environment the way many entrepreneurs did before anti-monopoly laws and counterfeit enforcement took hold. He started his own bank and paid his workers with money he printed for use in his own stores.

McAlester’s money (in better condition than this); can be seen at the free Tannehill family Museum in Old Town. 500 W Stonewall Ave, Call for appointment. (918) 423-5953

   

Was it legal? Would it have mattered? McAlester was the essential sheriff of his town anyway.

 

   

 

 

This was the West at it’s wildest. There was just one thing that McAlester didn’t have but wanted badly. There were vast coal reserves all around; but unfortunately the coal was on Indian Territory land. In 1872 McAlester married Rebecca Burney; a Chickasaw maiden of a prominent family.

 

 

 

Rebecca Burney

   

 

 

In one fell swoop McAlester became both Chickasaw and Choctaw Indian by marriage; giving him access to the coal claims he craved. McAlester; along with three other partners leased the land to the Osage Coal and Mining Company in 1875; and his mercantile, ranching, and other businesses grew rapidly. Coal was the fuel of choice for the booming railroad industry.

 

 

This early Bank became a 19th century Post Office. The vault protected the stamps; ( also used as currency)  from robbers.

   

  

In 1889 two railroads crossed paths a mile and a half South of town. By 1900 the population of Old Town McAlester went from over 3000 to 642. McAlester’s wealth allowed him to lay claim to both downtowns. Buildings in both Old Town and downtown still bare his name.

 

   

  

J.J. McAlester was introduced as the mercantile shop owner in the 1968 novel by Charles Portis entitled “True Grit”. The novel was first published in 1968 as a serial in The Saturday Evening Post; and later became a major motion picture.

 

   

  

Old Town is still an attraction for tourists. Walking these streets is like stepping into history. Even coal trains still rumble by just as they did in times long gone.

 

 

 

Poster for the remake of True Grit; which was released December 2010.

   Trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403865/

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