Saturday a group of 12 ladies came for a tour while their husbands were in a meeting. They were from several different places, Ponca City to Elk City. It is such a pleasure for us to get to tell about the history of the home. Before they left a family of four came in. The father said they like to get in the car and go to different places and stop along the way. They were on their way to Alabaster Caverns and wanted to go to the salt plains but missed it by one day before it closed for the season. We are glad they chose to stop at the museum. He said about three to four times while getting a tour this is amazing. The two sons acted interested too. I was able to brag about the renovation Clay is doing to both groups.
Clay really has the front looking good. Jena and Sandra have the flower beds cleaned out and landscaped. They will do planting in the spring. Going in the other day I just stopped and looked at how appealing the front looks now. Clay is going to finish doing a few things on the front side then work on repairs to the inside this winter. Again we can’t thank him enough for his dedication to the restoration or the ladies for doing the yard work.
I learn something new just about every time I go to the museum. There is a newspaper article framed on the second floor telling about Lieutenant Tom Ferguson, T.B. and Elva’s oldest son. I’ve seen it but never read it because it was hanging too far away for me to see. It starts out with “Was Wounded on the First Day of American action at St. Mihiel. Fought with a Machine Gun. At Time He Received His Wound Was Carrying Dead Soldier Who He thought Only Wounded.” I wondered where Mihiel was and found out it is Northeastern France. The Battle of Saint-Mihiel was a major World War I battle fought from 12–15 September 1918, involving the American Expeditionary Forces and 110,000 French troops under the command of General John J. Pershing of the United States against Germany. I’m going to figure out how to read the article sometime so I can learn more information about Tom the second or Tad as he was known by family. There is a “The Lakeside
Organ“ at the museum. William P. Tryber was the first person listed selling pianos and organs in Chicago from 1874 to 1882. Tryber went into partnership with Frank R. Sweetland. The business was located at Lake and Peoria Streets thus the “Lakeside” brand name. They were successful at selling several well-known pianos and organs, while also manufacturing their own line of Organs.
The Halloween Bash will be at the Ferguson Home Museum on October 30, 2021, 6:00 to 9:00 PM. There is a $2.00 entry fee. We won’t be doing games with the young kids because of Covid but we plan on having a walk through for the older more adventurous people
We would like for different businesses or groups to come to the museum and decorate a Christmas tree. People can come to the museum to vote by donating $1.00/vote on the tree they like best. They can vote more than once of course. We would like this to be done November 22 through December 3 so we can take pictures and have them at the Christmas Bazar so people can also vote on them there. There is six that have already agreed to do this. We would like a couple more. If you are interested call the museum at 580- 623-5069 and let us know. Be sure to leave your name and call back number since we don’t have caller ID. This will help us decorate the museum too. We will open after hours to let anyone in that can’t make it during our regular hours.
If you would like to become a member you will be helping a worthwhile cause. We have one meeting per month. You can help with any project you are interested in or none at all. Maybe you can give suggestions. We will be planning more educational programs in addition to fund raisers like the Chicken Noodle Dinner, Easter Egg Hunt for children five years old and younger, the Tea, Halloween Bash, and Breakfast with Santa.