BRYAN COUNTY HISTORY: Help Yourself
Bryan County Genealogy Library
The grocery shopper of 2021 can expect the convenience of complete customer service: visit a website, shop for a variety of supplies, pay by credit card, and pick them up at curbside or have them delivered to the door. Ironically, the grocery shoppers of Indian Territory could expect a comparable level of service. They wrote out a list, delivered it to the store owner or clerk, waited while their supplies were chosen and wrapped, and then had the option of carrying them home in their wagon or having them delivered. Charges were written in a ledger and paid at the end of the month. A few years later the telephone made orders even more convenient.
BRYAN COUNTY HISTORY: Fill er up
Bryan County Genealogy Library
“It is estimated that it will take 7 million gallons of gas to supply motor cars this year in the United States alone.” Durant Weekly News, June 26, 1925
According to ads and articles in local newspapers, Bryan county was well prepared to take care of the needs of area motorists and more than a few tourists. Most small communities had at least one “filling station” or “service station”. In 1925 Caddo boasted seven stations with a new one under construction for Claude Glasscock.
In the early days, when the auto was still a novelty, services for them were limited and repairs were often left to the owner. Gasoline could be purchased from a variety of businesses- drug stores, hardware stores, black smith shops, garages, even grocery stores. Merchants carried it out in a bucket and assisted drivers to pour it into their autos, or sold it in 5-gallon cans. In 1914 a gallon of gasoline cost 18c at Glasscock�
BRYAN COUNTY HISTORY: Connecting to the world
Bryan County Genealogy Library
Alexander Graham Bell gifted the world with the invention of the telephone at about the same time many communities in Native American Territory were becoming “civilized” enough to need one. By 1886 there was a commercial telephone line from Tahlequah to Fort Gibson to Muskogee. A few years later Guthrie and Oklahoma City constructed small exchanges. 1897 saw Arkansas Valley Telephone company connecting towns throughout the state. In 1902 it became the Pioneer Telephone Company, and in 1905 joined the Bell System. By 1912 the Pioneer company had 115 exchanges in Oklahoma, with 114,975 miles of aerial wire and 19,480 miles of underground wire.