Local Dentist Was War Hero

The US Congress declared war on Germany and their allies on 6 Apr 1917.  Ten days later, Dr. Otto L. H. Hine volunteered for military service.  This was almost exactly two years since he passed the Oklahoma licensing examination and began practicing dentistry in Muskogee.

His volunteering effort sent him to Oklahoma City where he took an oral exam and passed.  Shortly afterwards, he was sworn in as a First Lieutenant in the US Army’s Dental Corps Reserves.

In the middle of July he was drafted into active duty.  He spent the rest of 1917 in uniform awaiting orders for debarkation for the European Theater.  He served in the Second Battalion, 139th Infantry.

This is Lt. Hine in a more peaceful moment.  However, the war in France was a brutal one of attrition as each side tried to wear its opponent down to the point that they gave up.  Trench warfare caused horrendous losses on both side.  The infusion of American soldiers shifted the balance of power to the British-French-American side.

No Man’s Land existed between the trenches.  When the whistle blew to send GI’s out of their trenches, and “over the top” into No Man’s Land, they entered a zone that was raked by machine gun fire and exploding artillery shells. 

Naturally, chaos regularly ensued as soldiers tried to avoid being killed while advancing forward.  One time, Lt. Hine became lost.  Another time he found himself in the vanguard of the attack and he captured 32 German soldiers.

On September 29th, this Muskogee dentist followed the advancing 139th Infantry into No Man’s Land.   He was assigned supervision of a field first aid station located at Chaudron Farm.  There wounded soldiers received basic treatment before being sent to hospitals behind the front line.

Finding German resistance to be too great, American troops were withdrawn in this area leaving only 25 American infantrymen to protect the aid station. This aid station with 94 wounded soldiers happened to be very far forward and soon became the focus of German gunners.

At great personal risk, Lt. Hine returned through No Man’s Land to American trenches about 2:00 in the morning of the second day.  Reporting the danger wounded American soldiers faced, he requested artillery fire from the 129th Field Artillery to prevent the Germans from overrunning the aid station.  Otto returned to the forward aid station, again having traversed the deadly terrain called “No Man’s Land.”

The American artillery barrage to suppress the Germans lasted nine hours.  It took that long to carry those wounded soldiers back to the American trenches.

Lt. Otto Hine’s account of these events became a footnote in Jay McIlvaine Lee’s 1920 history of his service during the war.  But to the men whose lives he saved, Lt. Hine was their hero who deserved more than a reference at the bottom of a page.

In July, 1919, the US Army agreed with these wounded men and awarded Capt. Otto Hine the Distinguished Service Cross.  The DSC is given to soldiers who at great personal risk in combat, performed gallantly.  It is ranked next under the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Dr. Otto Hine returned to Muskogee.  Two and a half years after volunteering for service, he restarted his dental practice.  He was Dr. Ted Hine’s father.

Muskogee's Auto Tourist Camp

     

 by Glenn Smith, Muskogee, OK

Muskogee's Auto Tourist Camp

  In the earliest days of long distance travel by automobile, motorists who ventured very far from home faced a problem at the end of the day: where to spend the night? Hotels were expensive and inconveniently located in downtown business districts, and after a hard day's drive few motorists were comfortable traipsing across stuffy hotel lobbies in their road-worn touring clothes. Pitching a tent out along the road was soon perceived by many to be a better alternative.
     As autocamping rapidly increased in favor after 1915, many communities along the major highways, hoping to lure motorists and their dollars, built municipal camps and made them available at no, or for a modest charge. Road associations also touted the many public tourist camps on their favored routes. In 1923, for instance, the Jefferson Highway Association published a "tourist camp manual" describing the features of over one hundred municipal camp sites that had been especially built for the accommodation of travelers on the Jefferson Highway.
   
 One of the largest and best appointed tourist camps listed in the JHA manual was the camp at Muskogee, Oklahoma. Built in 1921 by the Muskogee Kiwanis Club in Spaulding Park at the then-hefty cost of $3,000, the Muskogee camp could accommodate 200 cars and provided a screened building containg electric lights, twelve gas plates for cooking, and four large tables and benches for dining.  Other crucial amenities provided for campers included sinks with running water and bathrooms containing toilets and showers. A pond was available for swimming during the summer months, and band concerts held in the park provided free entertainment.
     Muskogee's tourist camp was an immediate big hit with motorists, one of whom--Frank M. Smith of Dallas, Texas--described his favorable impressions in a 1921 letter: "When we reached the park we hesitated to go in as the lawn and everything about it was so well-kept we thought we must have made a mistake. In a few minutes, however, an officer approached us and invited us in.  We were directed to a large building where we found bathrooms, reading and rest rooms, and also a place to cook meals. A registration fee of 25 cents is charged for each car utilizing the camp. There were probably 50 cars in the park the night we spent there. We found Muskogee highly praised during our trip and every tourist had a good word for the city on account of the excellent arrangements made for their comfort."


View of the Camp from across the 'pond' in 2013.

      According to a Muskogee Times-Democrat article, as of July 15, 1922, over 1,400 tourists had already stayed at the Spaulding Park camp during that season, a big increase over the previous year's total.  Noting that the camp's users came from all over the U.S., the article concluded that "the univeral lure of the open road and purring motor is best attested by the diversity of the people who make this outdoor camp their temporary haven." Within only a few more years, however, most of those fetched by the "open road and purring motor" no longer cared to put up a tent at the end of a day, preferring instead the convenience of a tourist cabin.  In Muskogee and elsewhere in the U.S., most travelers very quickly abandoned municipal camps in favor of private cabin camps and, subsequently, tourist courts and motels.  By the mid-1930's, no fewer than eight private camps, all offering cabins, were in business in Muskogee.
     In the early 1930's, the Kiwanis Club gave the camp building to the Girl Scouts, who remodeled it and for many years used it as a meeting place and camping house.  Known as the "Little House," the building was recently remodeled again and, now in the care of the city's Park Department, can be rented for meetings and family gatherings. Although several historic buildings in Muskogee have been torn down, the "Little House" in Spaulding Park remains as a memento of the earliest days of motoring on the Jefferson Highway.

Muskogee and the Jefferson Highway

Muskogee, Oklahoma is proud to have played a founding role in the establishment of the Jefferson Highway across the state of Oklahoma. The many active boosters and promoters of the city included a large number who gave their total support to new road-and bridge-building programs.

When the first organizational meeting of the Jefferson Highway Association was held in New Orleans on November 15 and 16, 1915, organizers had expected to attract about fifty delegates, but over six times that number attended! In fact, more than fifty delegates showed up from Oklahoma, many of them from Muskogee.  All delegates wanted the new highway to run through their states and cities.  Route selection yielded the most contentious issue of all: would the new highway run through Arkansas or, less directly but on better roads, through Texas and Oklahoma?

David N. Fink, president of the Commercial Bank of Muskogee, quickly emerged as the leader of the Oklahoma delegation, which succeeded in getting the highway routed through Texas into Durant, Oklahoma, then north through McAlester, Muskogee and Vinita to the Missouri state line. At this
meeting Fink was also elected JHA vice-president. further reflecting the great enthusiasm for the new highway coursing through the state, several months later Fink and approximately two hundred other delegates from seven Oklahoma counties met in McAlester to organize the Oklahoma Jefferson Highway Association.

In late November, 1916, the JHA held a meeting of the board of directors at the Severs Hotel in Muskogee, on which occasion Fink was unanimously elected as JHA president for the following year.  At a concurrent meeting of the Oklahoma Jefferson Highway Association, Fink proposed a plan to build a new bridge of concrete and steel over the Canadian River near Eufaula, in order to prevent the JHA from altering the highway's route in Oklahoma.  A non-profit company was organized and authorized to issue bonds to finance the $125,000 cost of the bridge, which was completed in April 1920.


This is the original road where the Jefferson Highway
came into Muskogee from the south side.
It is now South 24th street and only used by local traffic.
Photo taken by Glenn Smith September 2012.

The highway through Muskogee County was completed and opened in the summer of 1918. the public's interest in automobile travel continued to grow by leaps and bounds as the Jefferson Highway and other improved roads were built.  Not only did car ownership increase rapidly in the Muskogee area, but as the largest city on the Jefferson Highway between Kansas City and Dallas, Muskogee benefited from lots of tourist traffic, an outcome that city fathers and business groups had eagerly anticipated from the start.  To foster and accommodate that ever-growing automobile traffic, the local Kiwanis Club in 1921 built in a Muskogee park a well-equipped state-of-the-art tourist camp able to accommodate 200 automobiles.

Muskogee had led the way to get the Jefferson Highway built in Oklahoma, and the leadership of David N. Fink (1868-1927) was an important part of the highway's successful completion.

This article by Glenn Smith was originally published in the Jefferson Highway Declaration Newsletter of the Jefferson Highway Association Vol 2, No. 1, Winter 2013

 

Muskogee's Torson Hotel

 





The opening of the Torson Hotel at 6th and Boston in Muskogee was reported in the Muskogee County Republican newspaper on 15 September 1910. The brief announcement said: "It is a modern hostelry, and will be conducted with an eye single only to the comforts of its guests." Thomas A. Johnson and J. B. Torrans built the structure and operated the hotel.

The Torson was considered a family hotel, temporary home to Muskogee visitors including traveling theatre troupes, as well as permanent home for local families and businessmen.  Frequent events occurred at the Torson, including bridge parties, wedding and engagement receptions, and numerous meetings and conventions as well as private parties in the family suites.

In March of 1911, such a large event was held that a riot almost ensued.  An article in the Muskogee Times-Democrat shouted: "Cabbies Run Over Lawn" and explained: "So sharp was the competition for trade among the cabbies lined up on the street in front of the Torson hotel last night that it required the presence of police to quell the small riot that threatened as each and every cabman insisted on driving his carriage in the same location, the walk leading to  the entrance of the hotel. A reception was on at the Torson and the guest list was large and distinguished. When the festivities were over and the guests called for their carriages, the cabbies all came in a bunch, until the street entrance was congested with hacks and even the lawn was driven over by the ambitious cabbies who saw visions of short drives and big tips.  Patrolman Bailey headed the platoon of police officers who tried to straighten out the muddle between the cabbies." .....Muskogee Times-Democrat.

Large conventions at the hotel were common. On 27 March 1912, The Muskogee Times-Democrat reported: "Floating above the stately entrance of the Torson hotel, the stars and stripes waved in the breeze today while within one hundred women, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution were entertained. The occasion was the coming of the state chaper of the D.A.R. which convened in Muskogee today."

The Torson was a busy place in bustling downtown Muskogee until in early 1917 the owners began negotiations with the Bedouin Temple for purchase of the "famous hostelry at the corner of Sixth and Boston for use as a home for the shrine" for $43,000.

By 15 May of that year, the deal was completed and the hotel tenants were moving: "Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Ogden, who have had a suite at the Torson hotel, are moving to the Hotel Severs....Thomas A. Johnson and J. B. Torrans will be at the Hotel Severs after Wednesday, having sold the Torson hotel to the Bedouin patrol of Shriners....Mr. and Mrs. John Flenner, who have been at the Torson hotel, have moved and are temporarily at home with Mr. Flenner's parents Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Flenner, 525 South Fourteenth.....Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Hathaway and children have moved from the Torson hotel to the Mayland apartments on South Seventh street." .....Muskogee Times Democrat.

Today, the Torson Hotel is gone from the south west corner of 6th and Boston but the property is still used by the Shrine.

Three Rivers History Explorers

The Planned U.S. Marshals Museum

Three Rivers History Explorers Meeting Tuesday Evening

The US Marshals Museum will be the program presentation by Jim Dunn when the Three Rivers History Explorers meet on Tuesday June 26th at 7:00 p.m. in the meeting room of the Three Rivers Museum, 220 Elgin.

 

Mr. Dunn is President and CEO of the planned Fort Smith museum to be located near the Fort Smith National Historic site in downtown Fort Smith. 

The public is welcome to attend the History Explorers events and meetings on the last Tuesday of each month.  For more information, call the Three Rivers Museum, 918-686-6624 or see our website at www.3riversmusem.com.

Fun, Food, and Music at Disney on the Dock

Three Rivers Museum brings you great family entertainment Saturday June 23rd at 7:00 p.m.  Disney on the Dock is a FREE outdoor concert and sing along with outstanding Muskogee area performers.  Bring your lawn chairs and join us!  Hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn and soda will be available for purchase.

Kids will love the Disney space jump and Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy will make an appearance too!

We thank these great musicians for so graciously volunteering their time for this event:

 

Tyler Acord, Brady Allen, Michael Dunn, Abbie Faith, Colten Fitzgerald, Shalyn Gallaway, Bill Gardner, Cathy Hayes, Kim Jaquez, Jeremy Jones, Dana Lane, Tyler Maruca, Katie Matthews, Tim Matthews, Jericha McGill, Brittany Mealer, Amber Morton, Tanner Morton, Joy Nelson, Madeline Parks, Stephanie Payne, Jessica Potter, Marsha Reynolds, Janie Riddle, Madison Riddle, Muriel Saunders and Nate Tolbert.

For further info, please call the museum at 918-686-6624 or email: 3riversmuseum@sbcglobal.net or visit our website at: www.3riversmuseum.com

Beardless President Truman Gets Shaving Permit During Muskogee Visit

"Chief Injustice" Bob Hurst pins a shaving permit
on President Harry S. Truman

Muskogee was busy celebrating the Indian Centennial when the nation's 33rd President Harry S. Truman rode into town during his whistle stop presidential campaign on September 29, 1948.

Truman's special eighteen car presidential campaign train arrived at the KATY Depot about 12:35 p.m. and Mayor J. Ollie Lee officially greeted the President, who then shook hands with members of a reception committee.

The Secret Service set the estimated number in the crowd gathered at the depot, along East Okmulgee Street, and in Spaulding Park at 50,000 strong, swarming into Muskogee to see the "warhorse whose favorite rhetorical pastime was to "give 'em hell.' "  "Just how many persons saw or heard the President during his 45 minute visit couldn't be accurately judged, but indications were that local Democrats hadn't been overly optimistic in predicting a crowd of 25,000" reported the local newspaper.

In keeping with the spirit of the Indian Centennial celebration, beardless men and women wearing cosmetics were considered to be "villains." At the depot, Truman was confronted by a group of bearded men, members of the "Court of the Brush," which was organized for the celebration. But, Bob Hurst, the "Chief Injustice," allowed the nation's commander-in-chief to "escape from justice" while in Muskogee by pinning a shaving permit on the beardless U.S. President.

Truman received repeated applause as his forty-three vehicle "auto-caravan" moved slowly along the East Okmulgee route from the depot to Spaulding Park accompanied by shouts of "There He Is!"

Arriving at Spaulding Park, Truman was greeted by costumed Indians from Bacone College. The group reportedly included two nationally known Indian artists, Dick West and Acee Blue Eagle and the President shook hands with them. Truman's wife Bess and daughter Margaret were greeted by the "Hazing Harpies," the feminine equivalent of the "Court of the Brush." The "Harpies" gave feathers to the Truman women which entitled them to wear cosmetics while in Muskogee "without fear of punishment."

Governor Roy Turner and former Governor Robert S. Kerr who was running for a U.S. Senate seat at the time shared the platform in the park band shell with Truman.  "I certainly am most happy to be in the wonderful town of Muskogee." Truman told the very large crowd. "I don't know where all these people came from, but there must be everybody in Oklahoma here."

Sources:
Muskogee Phoenix and Times Democrat