Sallisaw to get new $50,000 theatre
-Sequoyah County Times, Oct. 13,1950
25 Years Ago
(From the Oct. 12,2000, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The 11th annual Grapes of Wrath Festival in Sallisaw Saturday will be shorter but better than ever this year, organizers said.
Don Elwick, executive director of the Sallisaw Chamber of Commerce which organizes and sponsors the festival will only be held Saturday this year “mainly because the arts-and-crafts people asked us to try it. We told them we’d try it for one year, and if it works, fine. If it doesn’t, we’ll go back to a two-day (Saturday and Sunday) festival.”
50 Years Ago
(From the Oct. 9,1975, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The Vian State Bank filed a lawsuit against the board of commissioners Friday, alleging that $5,883.50 is owed them.
According to the suit during May and June of 1974 the bank purchased claims from the sheriff’s office for feeding prisoners and mileage for deputies.
—Dwight Mission will hold a reunion on Oct. 11. Registrations will begin at 9 a.m. and the meeting will last until the middle of the afternoon, according to E.B. Wilson of the Sequoyah County Historical Society.
The Lee Girty family of Vian will be on hand to sing songs in the Cherokee language.
Lunch will be served at noon in the Dwight Mission dining hall. The meal will cost $3 per plate.
75 Years Ago
(From the Oct. 13,1950, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Rex Childers of Gans entered the first prize winning gilt in the 1950 Sears Foundation 4-H Hog Show held Monday at the Sequoyah County Free Fair Grounds, according to Ray Zimmerman, assistant county agent.
—Carl Phillips, Sallisaw theatre owner, announced today that construction of his new theatre building would start within the next few days. The building, which is to be located just south of Mayo and Company, will be 50 feet wide and will extend back 140 feet.
Phillips said that the cost of the new show will be approximately $50,000 when it is completed. Engineers surveyed the lot Thursday.
The building will be of the popular new oval roof design and will have a lobby of 30 by 35 feet. The auditorium will be 40 feet by 90. There will be a nursery where children who become fretful can be taken. There will also be modern restrooms.
The downstairs of the auditorium will seat 500 people, while the balcony will seat an additional 150.
Phillips said that a business building 20 by 30 feet will be built on the north part of the lobby.
100 Years Ago
(From the Oct. 9,1925, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —One of the prettiest weddings of the fall season was solemnized Tuesday evening at six o’clock at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John I. Charlton in Quesenbury Heights, when Miss Aleda Meinecke of Taylorville, Illinois, became the wife of Mr. Merle Cooper of Wichita, Kansas.
The bride is the sister of Mrs. Charlton, while the groom is connected with the Phillips Petroleum company at Wichita. He is a construction engineer by profession. The bride has been an instructor in the Taylorville schools the past five years and has been visiting Mrs. Charlton since September 1.
The happy couple departed soon after the ceremony for Fort Smith, enroute to St. Louis, Missouri, for a brief honeymoon trip.
—George Ritter, former deputy U.S.
Marshal and former deputy sheriff under C.M. Gay, last week purchased the mercantile stock of goods at McKey and assumed immediate management of the store. He moved his family there about two weeks ago, and will make that his future home. He has had previous experience in the mercantile business and enjoying a wide acquaintance as he does, will realize success in his new business venture. McKey is located in a prosperous and thriving community.
