View Full Version : That Man Stone



Doug Loudenback
02-07-2009, 08:30 AM
My latest history article is about That Man Stone, renowned early day photographer who took thousands of early day photos of Oklahoma City. Last August, Dean Schirf, Corporate Secretary of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, kindly allowed me to scan all of the few photos still in the possession of the Chamber which are contained in a bound volume ... most of the Chamber's historic photos had earlier been donated to the Oklahoma Historical Society where you have to pay money to get decent images.

Precious little biographical information is available on-line or in books I could locate which give any data at all about That Man Stone ... and, ironically, I've still not located a photo of the photographer! Even finding his real name wasn't that easy -- it was seriously misstated in one of the Arcadia books about Oklahoma City, volume 2 of the otherwise fine 3-volume set by Terry L. Griffith. But, I did finally identify his name with a high degree of certainty: Fred L. Stone was the man's name. I've included what I've found so far about him but as I learn more about him personally, I'll amend the article.

All of the photos contained in the Chamber's book are already there:

Doug Dawgz Blog: That Man Stone (http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2009/02/that-man-stone.html)

A few exemplary photos are shown below and all images are credited to the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce:

The Morning Before the Land Run

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/chamberofcommerce/ThatManStone/TheMorningBeforetheRun.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/chamberofcommerce/ThatManStone/TheMorningBeforetheRuns.jpg

One Week After the Run at California & Grand (Sheridan)

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/chamberofcommerce/ThatManStone/tms_32_1stweek_california_grand_-1.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/chamberofcommerce/ThatManStone/tms_32_1stweek_california_grand_coc.jpg

Cheyenne & Arapaho Chiefs Counseling For Cherokee Outlet, June 1889

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/chamberofcommerce/ThatManStone/tms_22_cherokeeoutletcounseling_-2.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/chamberofcommerce/ThatManStone/tms_22_cherokeeoutletcounseling_coc.jpg

A Little Girl & Her Baby Deer

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/chamberofcommerce/ThatManStone/tms_16_girlwithfawns_coc.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/chamberofcommerce/ThatManStone/tms_16_girlwithfawns_cocs.jpg

Enjoy!