Published: August 12, 2007 09:37 pm            

State's Main Street communities evolving

By William F. O’Brien



It has been said that conditions in our nation’s airports give passengers an experience not unlike the running of the bulls through the streets in Pamplona Spain. And Congress is currently considering legislation that would restrict the number of hours that passengers could be confined to a plane while it is located on an airport runway.

It for these and other reasons, including the recent rise in fuel prices, that I have decided to spend my summer vacation in Oklahoma And I have decided to journey to some of the state’s smaller communities to chronicle the rebirth that their downtowns areas a currently experiencing.

Under the auspices of the Main Street Program that is operated by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, many of Oklahoma’s downtown districts are awakening from a long Sabbath of decay and neglect, and their buildings gleam with hope and renewal. The late management theorist Peter Drucker once observed that every time you see a successful business you should realize that it reflects a courageous decision made by those who started it. And there are many people who are located in structures in downtown areas in this state who have made courageous decisions to start a variety of new businesses.

Many of the downtown areas in the state’s smaller communities that I will visit feature genuine Hispanic and Asian eateries that are operated by immigrant families

In recent years I have become somewhat of a culinary Indiana Jones in that I fearlessly venture into a wide variety of restaurants and food stores and order what the other patrons are consuming. And while the food isn’t always good, I must report that the proprietors of those places invariably are, and enjoy relating to an inquisitive Anglo patron about how the came to Oklahoma and the opportunities that they have had in this state. I will continue this tradition as I venture into the downtown areas of Altus, Ardmore, Woodward and other communities

I will also detail how some of those towns are evolving. Ardmore, which will soon be hosting a MG motors automobile manufacturing plant that is owned by the Chinese government, appears to be in the process of becoming a suburb of the Texas City of Dallas. Several pilots who fly out of the Dallas Fort Worth airport reside in Ardmore, and so do other people who are employed in the Dallas area.

Altus also has deep ties with the Lone Star State; the first public monument that a visitor to Altus sees coming in from the Lawton area on the Quannah Parker highway is a statue that is titled “Crossing the Red” that pays tribute to the settlers who crossed the Red River from Texas. But it could be said that Altus is taking on many of the characteristics of a military town as a result of the Air Force base that is located there.

Many former Air Force personnel have chosen to retire in Altus, and several businesses there are operated by veterans. As a military installation Altus is home to an Asian community of military dependents and survivors that have endowed it with a cultural diversity that is not often found in smaller communities. There are several Asian restaurants and some Asian women who perform alterations is small shops in various parts of that community. Altus also has a growing Hispanic population that’s presence is beginning to be reflected in its civic life.

For the past several years Altus has officially celebrated the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo, and Hispanic food is found in its grocery stores and a popular .Mexican restaurant is situated on its town square Both Ardmore and Altus are home to lakes - Murray and Altus respectively - that provide for a variety of water based recreational pursuits that I will also detail.

They City of Woodward now has a fiberglass buffalo that grazes in a conspicuous manner near its main Post Office. A similar beast, who was located adjacent to the stadium in Bricktown in Oklahoma City, was abducted several years ago, and despite the fact that a local arts group placed his picture on a large milk carton, he is still unaccounted for as of this date.

I have it on good authority that the city fathers of Woodward have heightened the security around their buffalo as a result. The procreative potential of those buffaloes is evident in the size herd that grazes in a pasture in Oklahoma City near Bricktown, and while in Woodward I will seek to ascertain if any more of those beasts will be seen there in the future.

Woodward has a colorful history, which was celebrated in the Edna Ferber novel “Cimarron” where the main character Yancey Cravat was based on Temple Houston, who was son of Sam Houston. Temple Houston was a pioneer attorney in Woodward, and stories are still told of the eloquent arguments he made on behalf of several of his less fortunate clients

And Woodward’s Main Street program is cited to other communities who are considering becoming part of the program as an example of how a downtown area can be reinvigorated. The Main Street program there currently has in place an ambitious plan known as “Streetscape” that will implement over $1.4 million in downtown renovations I will also chronicle how the community of Woodward is welcoming its new Hispanic residents and is embracing some of their traditions.

        

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