Bevers / Huppler / Lena Huppler / McElhany

Day Fourteen: McAlester to Atoka, Oklahoma

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October 26, 2019

Retracing Lena Huppler Bevers’ Travel Log

Sun. – Oct. 26.

Left McAlester and drove through Brewer, Kiowa, Chockie, Flora, Stringtown, Atoka.  Stayed all night Caddo. – Lena Bevers

The drive for the Bevers family on October 26, 1919 was one of the shorter drives that they made up to that point.  Florence Bevers explains the reason: “Left McAlester and had terrible roads.  Broke a spring and had 2 blowouts, 2 [punctures] within one and one-half miles.  Got to town and put 2 new casings on and had no more trouble all the way.  Ate our dinner on the road side and had rough and muddy roads all the way.  McElhaney got stuck twice.  Stayed all night in Caddo and Pa got a new spring for the car and put it on.”1

Herbert Bevers and Mr. McElhany again used the King of Trails/Jefferson Highway.  They started in McAlester and traveled through several small towns.  Some of the towns are no longer in existence.  My mother and I could not find Brewer nor Chockie, and when we looked for Flora, we only saw a correctional facility.  At Kiowa and Stringtown we didn’t find any historical buildings.

Postcard of Choctaw Avenue, looking East, McAlester, Oklahoma, postmarked 19092 (Courtesy of My Genealogy Hound)
The McMurray Building in McAlester, Oklahoma is dated 1897. (Photograph by MRW October 26, 2019)
The McAlester Building is dated 1902. (Photograph by MRW October 26, 2019)
A mural in downtown McAlester (Photograph by MRW October 26, 2019)
Another mural on a street-side wall of a building in downtown McAlester has a 3-dimensional effect (Photograph by MRW October 26, 2019)

The running directions of Route 916 of The Official Automobile Blue Book 1920 mentions passing the court house in Atoka.3  Below is a picture of the Atoka County Court House, which was constructed in 1913.4  It was six years old when Lena and Herbert passed it.  This court house was used until 1962, so we did not see it when we drove down Court Street.5

Atoka County Courthouse, constructed 1913 (Courtesy of Atoka County Historical Society)
Court Street (Courtesy of Atoka County Historical Society)6
The Oklahoma Building in Atoka is dated 1909. (Photograph by MRW October 26, 2019)
Diagonally across the street from the Oklahoma Building is the Bank in Atoka, Oklahoma. (Photograph by MRW October 26, 2019)

My mother and I could not locate a motel in Caddo, Oklahoma when we were using an online travel website, so we made our reservation in Atoka instead.  We left McAlester at 11:00 AM and arrived in Atoka at 1:00 PM, so we decided to take a scenic drive on the Indian Nation Turnpike and returned to Atoka at 4:00 PM.

Notes:

  1. B. Winkelmann, Our Trip to Texas [Transcription of Our Trip to Texas by Florence Bevers, 1919] (unpublished, n. d.): 3.
  2. Choctaw Ave., looking East, McAlester, Okla. (1909), http://www.mygenealogyhound.com/vintage-postcards/oklahoma-postcards/OK-McAlester-Oklahoma-Choctaw-Avenue-Looking-East-vintage-postcard.html.
  3. Automobile Blue Book Publishing Company, The Official Automobile Blue Book 1920, vol. 7 (New York: Automobile Blue Book Publishing Company, 1920): 798, https://ia601208.us.archive.org/26/items/case_gv1024_a92_1920_v_7/case_gv1024_a92_1920_v_7.pdf.
  4. Atoka County Courthouse, https://www.atokaok.org/gallery.aspx?PID=141.
  5. The USGenWeb Project, Oklahoma Archives, Atoka County, http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/atoka/atoka.html.
  6. Court Street, https://www.atokaok.org/gallery.aspx?PID=139.

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