Marshall County History: Pettijohn Springs Pt VI

In late 1926, Dr. Christopher Stevens decided to leave the hectic life of running anamusementpark. He realized that he missed the practice of medicine, and he wanted to resume it. By the first of 1927, Dr. Stevens had opened an office in Seminole, Oklahoma, and shortly after that, he and Mrs. Stevens left their home at Pettijohn Springs and moved to Seminole.

Dr. Stevens turned the ownership and operation of the park to his sons, Golder and Paul. It was his and their intentiontocontinuerunning the park.

InJanuaryof1927,Golder and Paul began preparing for the 1927 season. An article in the January 20, 1927 edition of the Madill Record reported that Golder and Paul were in Madill ordering new stationary, preparing ads and flyers, and planning several additions to the park.

Before the season opener, the brothers completed the repainting of all the buildings at the park. They made various minor upgrades and enhancements, including playground equipment and upgrades to the dance pavilion.

The park opened the 1927 season with a large dance on Friday,May13,1927. Arthur Collings and his Red Peppers supplied the music for the opening-day dance. That opening day dance attracted over 500 dancers. In addition to the Friday night dance, a large group from Ardmore cametotheparkforaSunday evening “campfire” dinner.

Beginning that week, dances were scheduled every Tuesday and Friday evening from 9:00 PM to Midnight. Swimming and other activities were scheduled for each day until dark.

But by June, Paul Stevens decided he had his fill of “amusement park” operation and sold his 1/2 share in the park to Golder. Paul quickly moved from Madill to Chicago, where he went to work for the Western Union TelegraphCompany. Healso beganattendingChiropractic medicine school.

Throughout the 1927 season, the Rotary clubs of Madill, Ardmore and Durant regularly traveled to the park for social events. For several years, the Rotary clubs of each of those towns held regular baseball games in the respective towns. The purposeofthosegameswasto raise money for the “crippled children’s fund.” The players for each town were members of the Rotary Club, and they played to large crowds of citizens of each town. At one game played in Madill, the DailyArdmoreiteNewspaper hired an airplane to fly over the park in Madill to drop copies of the newspaper on the crowd.

Following each of these games, regardless of the location, theparticipantsandany citizen who wished traveled toPettijohnSpringsforswimming and a meal. At each of these events, a few hundred folks would join the festivities at the amusement park.

The men who played for the Madill Rotary Black Sox were Boots Taliaferro, nicknamed“Weaver”playing third base. Rex Strickland, nicknamed “Flash,” is playing in-field. H. Lawrence “Risburg” played shortstop. Don Welch, “Gandell” played first base. J. Russell nicknamed “Williams” played catcher. Marvin Bryant “Douglas” played second base. L. Woody nicknamed “Kauf” played center field. John Taliaferro nicknamed “Cicotte” was the pitcher. AndMarvinNeff,nicknamed “Jackson” played right field.

Madill fielded a good team and won most of their contests.

As a sign of the popularity of Pettijohn Springs Amusement Park, the June 30, 1927 edition of the Durant Daily Democrat, under the headline “Durant Stores to be Closed on 4th; Will Be Quiet Here,” wrote the following: “The business houses of the city will be closed next Monday, celebrating the Fourth of July. The day will be celebrated in Durant very quietly, no character of entertainment being held in the county. The citizens of Durant will spend the day in various ways, many going to SulphurorPettijohnSprings, both of which will have big celebrations.”

In 1927, the population of Durant was almost three times that of Madill, yet the citizens of Durant traveled to Madill and Pettijohn Springs for the biggest holiday of the 1927 summer season. It is without question that Pettijohn Springs was a big draw for the city and county.

Then, in the late summer of 1927, Golder was seriously injured in a car accident on the road between Madill and Ardmore. On that day, Golder and M. A. Rice of Madill were headed to Ardmore in Golder’s new Packard Six automobile when Golder lost control of the car and rolled it over a few rotations. Rice was uninjured, but Golder had to be transported to the Hardy Sanitarium with severe cuts and abrasions.

Golder ran the park for the remainder of the 1927 season, but in late 1927, he also decided to enter the medicalfieldandputthepark land up for sale. He could not sell the land immediately, so he leased the park to an individual who operated it for the 1928 season. No records currently exist to show who ran the park for the 1928 season, but newspaper ads show that it was open and operatingduringthatseason.

Then, in early 1929, Golder sold the park to a woman from Norman, Oklahoma, looking for a new start after a horrific tragedy that changed her life.

Golder then went to chiropractic school and later opened a chiropractic office in Sherman, Texas, before moving to South Texas.

The Stevens only ran Pettijohn Springs for three seasons, but they put the park on the map. In those three seasons, they had built Pettijohn Springs into the largest and most popular amusementparkinSouthern Oklahoma and North Texas. But more importantly, fifty years later, the efforts of Chris, Eva, Golder, and Paul Stevenswouldbeginhavinga profound, life-changing effect on thousands of young people from across Oklahoma and Texas and beyond. And that influence continues today, after another fifty years. It has been almost one hundred years since the Stevens built Pettijohn Springs, Amusement Park. But their dream of changing lives and helping young people lives on today.

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