Ferguson Features

President,

Friends of Ferguson Home

It was good to see all the ladies from OHCE that attended the History of the Seed Sack Program. They all seemed to enjoy the presentation. Renee Trindle site director of the Sod House gave the presentation and brought feed sacks that had been donated to the Sod House. She described how the ladies and their husbands would have to sort through the sacks of feed to find three that were the same print so they could make a dress from that print. Pattern companies would make patterns saying how many feed sacks it would take to make the dress printed on front of envelope. My dad and uncle owned the Ponca City Produce Company when I was young so most of my clothes and my brother’s shirts were made of feed sacks.

Thank you to the Tim Nelson family for donating the Beethoven Organ. There is a lot of detailed engraving and carving on the front and top and has a lot of room to store the music. The best I can tell from the writing on the front, the font is kind of hard to read, it is a Golden Tone. I did a little research and found this information. “Beethoven” was a brand name of Victorian-era piano and organs by Daniel F. Beatty Piano and Organ Company of Washington, New Jersey. Established about 1869 and was one of the first manufacturers to do the mail order system. They were sold to farms and rural areas. The Needham Piano Company took over the Beatty’s business in about 1892. Digging a little deeper I found the top part is for looks but the organ part is all in the bottom half. A mandolin was made before the organ and didn’t have the top part. I found out the places on front where there is fabric behind the cut out is where sound comes out. Imagine the person playing the organ has to read the music, know which knobs to have pulled out, pump the foot pedals, and move the knee braces back and forth for the loudness or softness. When I read this I thought what knee braces and looked and sure enough they are there. And to think some people could even sing while doing all this.

We will be having our first Ferguson Market June 5, July 10, and August 7, 2021 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. If you have fresh or canned garden vegetables and fruit, or do crafts, sewing, knitting, crochet or quilting, have garden or yard tools, lawn mowers or tillers not being used, pets, if you bake or cook just to name a few ideas. Whatever you want to trade, sale or just want to visit come by. For more information or to reserve a spot call 580-623-5069. Must bring your own table and chairs and no dangerous items or animals. All animals must be in cages or on leashes. There will be a small fee for spot.

Work is going along on the scraping on the balcony. Hopefully we can paint that section before long. The pillars are here and waiting for their turn in the process. It is exciting to see the process being made.