View Full Version : Capitol Hill Pics



Doug Loudenback
03-28-2009, 12:49 AM
This could probably have gone in some other thread but I didn't seen one that exactly fit. Soooo ... this thread will hopefully be a good place to add random photographs of Capitol Hill ... at least, I'll be doing that from time to time.

When researching for the vintage map (which really doesn't include Capitol Hill, per se), I ran across this photo in William D. Welge's Oklahoma City Rediscovered (Arcadia Publishing 2007) which he says was probably taken in 1947 or 1948 ... but some the cars look like they may be early 1950s to me. Any 1940s-1950s car experts around here who would know? Anyway, I thought that you might like it:

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/capitolhill_around1948.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/capitolhill_around1948s.jpg

One of these months, I intend to do a long blog article on Capitol Hill but not right away. The vintage map is taking all of my blogging time right now.

ON EDIT: I misspelled Capitol Hill in the thread title ... perhaps a mod will fix that for me since I'm unable to do that.

Steve
03-28-2009, 06:57 AM
Doug, I suspect your hunch is correct.

Martin
03-28-2009, 07:22 AM
thread title fixed.

can't really tell the model year of the cars... but late fourties early fifties seems reasonable to me. i can say that it looks like this picture was taken from sw 25th & hudson pointed toward the east/northeast.

-M

Generals64
03-28-2009, 09:50 AM
thread title fixed.

can't really tell the model year of the cars... but late fourties early fifties seems reasonable to me. i can say that it looks like this picture was taken from sw 25th & hudson pointed toward the east/northeast.

-M
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100% right on direction and on location... I didn't know that Allen's had a store in Capitol Hill. The TG&Y store was on the South side of the street next to the Bank in the next block down....Allen's also had a store in Packing Town, they were a Ben Franklin Franchisee.....Thanks for the picture Doug...and we will ALL enjoy seeing those type of pictures,,,

jellen
03-28-2009, 10:15 AM
Looks like about "52 to me if most of the cars are new.

Steve
03-28-2009, 10:28 AM
Those of you who enjoyed this photo should really consider buying Bill Welge's book, "Oklahoma City Rediscovered." It's got a great selection of Capitol Hill photos and you'll be supporting a local author as well (something Doug and I both wholeheartedly endorse!)

Generals64
03-28-2009, 10:40 AM
This could probably have gone in some other thread but I didn't seen one that exactly fit. Soooo ... this thread will hopefully be a good place to add random photographs of Capitol Hill ... at least, I'll be doing that from time to time.

When researching for the vintage map (which really doesn't include Capitol Hill, per se), I ran across this photo in William D. Welge's Oklahoma City Rediscovered (Arcadia Publishing 2007) which he says was probably taken in 1947 or 1948 ... but some the cars look like they may be early 1950s to me. Any 1940s-1950s car experts around here who would know? Anyway, I thought that you might like it:

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/capitolhill_around1948.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/capitolhill_around1948s.jpg

One of these months, I intend to do a long blog article on Capitol Hill but not right away. The vintage map is taking all of my blogging time right now.

ON EDIT: I misspelled Capitol Hill in the thread title ... perhaps a mod will fix that for me since I'm unable to do that.

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This picture is undoubtedly taken from the top of the Knob Hill Theater.....or from the Marquis there of...

Doug Loudenback
03-28-2009, 11:14 AM
Steve and all, I'm glad to have Welge's book and it does have a nice section on Capitol Hill and I do recommend that OKC history lovers buy a copy. That said, I do find more fact errors in it than I'm comfortable with. I haven't made a list but there have been enough to cause me not to necessarily take his statements as fact and I sometimes feel the need to corroborate by using other sources.

Steve
03-28-2009, 11:23 AM
Interesting Doug.
Quick admission. I've only enjoyed the book for its photos. What Doug is saying is a surprise to me - and a concern.
Errors are bound to pop up. Doug caught one in my book. But there is a limit to what is a slip or two and something more serious.
I'll just leave it at that.
For what it's worth, I've not caught any errors in Doug's Springlake book, which is excellent, and I did read it cover to cover.

Martin
03-28-2009, 11:24 AM
those of you who enjoyed this photo should really consider buying bill welge's book, "oklahoma city rediscovered."

now on it's way from amazon ; )

-M

Steve
03-28-2009, 11:26 AM
Martin, I'm going to southies get-together at Coit's. Seeing as you're a southsider as well, do you want to show up and be an interpretter for this northsider? I could get you your book there as well....
-Steve

Doug Loudenback
03-28-2009, 11:34 AM
Interesting Doug.
Quick admission. I've only enjoyed the book for its photos. What Doug is saying is a surprise to me - and a concern.
Errors are bound to pop up. Doug caught one in my book. But there is a limit to what is a slip or two and something more serious.
I'll just leave it at that.
For what it's worth, I've not caught any errors in Doug's Springlake book, which is excellent, and I did read it cover to cover.
Well, I did transpose/flip one of the Big Dipper photos ... it is the mirror of what it should be and that was a dumb mistake I didn't pick up. And I did say that the Wild Maus wasn't built there until after Marvin Staton sold the park, and that was a factual error error on my part which I learned the truth about later. I wish that I could do those pages over. But this is getting off topic, my fault.

Steve
03-28-2009, 04:20 PM
Doug, I've lost all respect for you now.
:doh:

By the way, got to be the northside visitor today at the gathering at Coit's. You would have loved it. You must join them next time they meet.

papaOU
03-28-2009, 05:12 PM
Does the Beacon not have an extensive photo archive? At one time they were giving away a history of Capitol Hill with a subscription for the paper?

SoonerGirl26
03-28-2009, 05:22 PM
Doug, I've lost all respect for you now.
:doh:

By the way, got to be the northside visitor today at the gathering at Coit's. You would have loved it. You must join them next time they meet.

We have scheduled our next lunch/meeting for Southside OKC Memories....

Coit's - 24th & S. Western
Saturday, April 18 @ 1:30pm

All are welcome to join us!!!

~~~

FRISKY
03-28-2009, 05:24 PM
By the way, got to be the northside visitor today at the gathering at Coit's. You would have loved it. You must join them next time they meet.Thank you for joining us! Was it what you expected?

Doug Loudenback
03-29-2009, 12:09 AM
I've added a new thread to discuss the definition/boundaries (http://www.okctalk.com/nostalgia-memories/17361-capitol-hill-definition.html) of Capitol Hill to try and keep this thread focused on Capitol Hill Pics.

Here's one you've probably seen before, Circle Theatre at 2510 S. Robinson. This photo is also from Welge's book but I've seen it elsewhere, also. Contrary to what he said about the theater opening in 1929, it opened in 1928.

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/circletheater_2510srobinson.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/circletheater_2510srobinsons.jpg

Oklahoman newspaper item on December 18, 1928:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/circletheatre_12_18_1928.jpg

The Circle was renamed the Capitol Theatre somewhere during 1941-1942 and it continued movie operations in the same property for many years. The last movie ad that I located was for the movie She starring Ursula Andress, November 22, 1965, but I may have missed later advertisements.

A September 21, 1979, Oklahoman article described what became of the property, at that time:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/circletheater_9_21_1979.jpg

Doug Loudenback
03-29-2009, 09:13 PM
Here's an interior pic of the Circle Theater, from the OHS Star Archives:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/capitolhill_circletheatre2.jpg

I've placed quite a few Star Archive photos in my Capitol Hill photobucket account today: I've set up a Capitol Hill folder in my Photobucket account and that's where I'll stick all this stuff for those who are interested: capitolhill pictures by DougLoudenback - Photobucket (http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/capitolhill/) - they are usually small low res photos - one must pay OHS for larger.

papaOU
03-29-2009, 11:34 PM
I attended movies there when it was the Capitol. It was one of those theaters with a lavish upstairs for smoking and the restrooms were located there as well. I think the Yale is the oldest on Capitol Hill. Then came the Knob Hill and later the Redskin. While the Redskin had magnificent murals, the Capitol beat them all. I have seen the photo of the Circle before and the elders of mine I have shown were more interested in the Circle Waffle Shop next door. The Capitol was the first of the movie theaters to close and then be razed. Need to get with you for leads in locating photos.

Generals64
04-01-2009, 01:30 PM
if no one has taken the time to go through the photos you must take the time and click through them...Those photos and the preparation are so cool....Even Pruner could understand. He likes to look at the pictures....

SoonerGirl26
04-01-2009, 04:26 PM
if no one has taken the time to go through the photos you must take the time and click through them...Those photos and the preparation are so cool....Even Pruner could understand. He likes to look at the pictures....


Yes, the photos are amazing and so are all the newspaper articles about Capitol Hill in the early 1900's. Learned things I didn't know. And no, Gen64 before you even ask....I was not alive back then!

~~~

Generals64
04-01-2009, 05:52 PM
[QUOTE=SoonerGirl26;212951]Yes, the photos are amazing and so are all the newspaper articles about Capitol Hill in the early 1900's. Learned things I didn't know. And no, Gen64 before you even ask....I was not alive back then!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's O.K., we still Love you.....

papaOU
04-01-2009, 07:28 PM
I read this in the Beacon some time ago. Are you aware that while building S.E. money got so tight that they were considering drilling the schools own well and septic tanks?

papaOU
04-17-2009, 10:52 PM
Any hints as to where to locate historical photos of Capitol Hill. The Okc Library System seems to be very limited?

Doug Loudenback
04-18-2009, 01:25 AM
Any hints as to where to locate historical photos of Capitol Hill. The Okc Library System seems to be very limited?
See my above post again: OKCTalk - View Single Post - Capitol Hill Pics (http://www.okctalk.com/212216-post18.html)

Aside from that, many others are around. Several were taken during the pair of 1932 floods ... a couple of them are in this post: Doug Dawgz Blog: The Oklahoma River, Part 2 (http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2006/08/oklahoma-river-part-2.html). I have some trolley pics in Capitol Hill but I don't have time to locate them for you right now. A good bit of what you are looking for may not be on the internet ... but some books you can get will add a lot ... Welge's Oklahoma City Rediscovered has many good Capitol Hill pics (sometimes his text in the book isn't all that accurate, but the photos are good). The Vanished Splendor series (3 volumes) has many. If you're interested in reading old Oklahoman articles about Capitol Hill, use your Okc Metro Library Card to logon to the MLS website and, from there, you can search the 1901-current achives for free for as long as you want. If you don't know how to do that, read this: http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2008/07/using-oklahoman-archives.html ... and then go for it on your own!

SOUTHSIDE GIRL
04-20-2009, 08:12 AM
Check the Beacon office out. I bet they have old pictures stashed away.