Marshall County History: Pettijohn Springs Pt. XIII At Wits End

After twelve years of major highs and lows, triumph and tragedy, prosperity and devastation, Dora Tubbs sold Pettijohn Springs in May 1950, just before the park's normal opening date. The buyers were two businesswomen from Ardmore named Lynn Gruwell and Mable Ruth Stong. At the time of purchase, Gruwell and Stong reported that the park would not be open for the1950seasonandthatthey would release their plans after January 1951.

Madge Lynn Gruwell was born in Agency, Iowa, on August 14, 1903, to Isaac Oswell and Rilla Nina Gruwell. From a young age, she went by her middle name, Lynn. Between 1908 and 1915, the family lived in Cottonwood Falls and then in Grant, Kansas. Then, around 1920, the family moved to Coweta, Oklahoma. The Gruwell family were descendants of French immigrants.

Following her father's death, Lynn moved to Tulsa with her mother and her brother, Tom Gruwell, who later became a reporter for the Tulsa World and then the United Press Wire Service. It waswhileshewasworkingin Tulsa that Lynn met Mable Ruth Stong.

Mable Ruth was born in Ardmore, Indian Territory, on November 12, 1905, to Harry and Retta Stong. Mable was of German descent. Herfather,Harry,was borninPennsylvaniain1861. During Harry’s youth, his family moved to Tullahoma, Tennessee, where Harry was reared and educated. It was there that Harry met and married Mable’s mother, Retta, in 1896. Shortly after their wedding, Harry and Retta moved to Ardmore, Indian Territory, in 1896 and settled there to stay the remainder of their lives.

Once they settled in Ardmore, Harry went into business with an older gentleman named Louie Will. operating the “Wine Press” store on Main Street. The store sold “church wine,” “grape cider,” and various types of vinegar. Around 1898-1900, Harry Stong built the Stong Building at 106-108 East Main in Ardmore. Over the years, the building housed numerous businesses, including Stong’s. That building is still standing today on East Main.

Mable Ruth graduated from Ardmore High School and then the Texas State College for Women. She returned to Ardmore after college and operated the first Kindergarten in Ardmore. She also taught at Lincoln ElementarySchool. Afterher teaching stints in Ardmore, Mable Ruth spent time as a sorority housemother at the University of Arkansas. By 1932, she was working in Tulsa, where she met Lynn Gruwell.

After meeting in 1932, LynnandMableRuthworked together for three years, but they hated their jobs and were looking for something new. Pooling their money, they bought an old car and headed to the University of Missouri.

However,theydislikedthe regimentation of university life and were again unhappy. They agreed that they had both endured enough schooling and began looking for some other career. Mable Ruth wanted to be famous, and Lynn wanted to never work for someone else.

In 1938, they decided to move to Mable Ruth’s hometown of Ardmore and open a second-hand multigraph shop in Mable Ruth’s father’s building, the Stong Building on Main Street.

The Multigraph machine was first introduced in 1895 by the American Multigraph Company. The machine was initially designed to produce business forms, but it quickly became popular for other types of printing as well. One key feature of the Multigraph machine was its ability to print multiple copies ofadocumentatonce.This was achieved by individually set type or printing plates mounted on a rotating drum. As the drum rotated, ink was applied to the plates and pressed against the paper, producing multiple copies of a document in a single pass.

The Multigraph machine was also highly versatile and could be used to print a wide range of materials, including business forms, letterheads, envelopes, pamphlets, and more. This made it a popular choice for businesses and organizations of all sizes, allowing them to produce high-qualityprintedmaterial quickly and affordably.

Overtime,theMultigraph machine underwent several improvements and enhancements, including introducing new ink colors, improved registration systems, and more. These advancements helped to make the machine even more efficient and effective and solidified its place as one of the most important printing technologies of the early 20th century.

Starting their business was slow and difficult, and theynotmakingmuchmoney as there was little local need for their printing service in Ardmore. Then,oneday,they came to their “wits-end,” and their fortunes turned.

They needed to send a birthday gift to Stong’s cousin at William Woods College, buttherewasnomoneyinthe cash box. So, they illustrated all the campus situations they could think of from their college years onto letterhead and sent the cousin a box of hand-made stationery.

The cousin and all her college friends went “a little mad”overthestationary,and an idea was born. Encouraged by the response, Lynn and Mable Ruth took all the leftovers from the gift box, put them together, and offered the leftovers to a Tulsa businesswomantheyhadmet during their time in Tulsa.

Unknowingly, that woman made Lynn and Mable Ruth famous. All the people she had penned notes to on the funny stationery inundated the Stong-Gruwell headquarters in Ardmore with demand for boxes of the stationary. It was then that “Wits-End” was born. They then began drawing designs that took from silly and crazy everyday situations of “life’s comedy of living.”

By the end of 1939, Lynn and Mable Ruth sold 70,000 boxes of stationery. Their success necessitated hiring more help, and by the end of 1939, they had a staff of six who worked doing the printing, packing and shipping. In addition to their wholesale business, they also added a stationery and gift shop for retail sales.

By the end of 1940, Mable Ruth and Lynn had shipped close to 150,000 boxes of stationery to stores and shops in 43 states. They were famous, and their humorous caricatures of everyday life were a huge hit. With their popularity and fame came money—lots of money.

Because of their newfound notoriety and social status, Mable Ruth and Lynn became involved in numerous social causes. They were active in the local arts scene in Ardmore, the local theater group, art clubs, the garden club and more. Their involvement in social issues included openlycampaigningforsocial causes. One such cause was amulti-countylibrarysystem forCarterCounty. Insupport ofthatcampaign,MableRuth and Lynn placed advertisements in local newspapers announcing their support for the effort. They were very passionate about their community, and they did all they could to help it grow.

Then,in1950,theydecided to enter the amusement park business by buying Pettijohn Springs from Dora Tubbs. After purchasing Pettijohn Springs, Mable Ruth and Lynn had big plans. Without ever announcing what they fully planned, they did indicate they wanted to rebuild someofthefeaturesthatwere destroyed by the fire. And they wanted to keep the pool and picnic grounds going for children and families.

Shortly after purchasing the park, Mable Ruth and Lynn put an advertisement in the Daily Ardmoreite announcing that while the park was not officially open, they invited the public to continue to use the park for outings, picnics or “just to see the beautiful springs, trees, rocks and flowers” with whichtheplaceabounds. The only catch to the offer was they asked visitors to pick up any trash left over after a picnic and to “not molest the flowers, trees and shrubbery.” The pool was closed and not available for use. It still held water and was usually always full, but it was not maintained, cleaned or treated, and it was unsafe to use.

About five months after purchasing the park, Mable RuthandLynnmadeanother large purchase. In October of 1950, they purchased the Ardmore Retail Merchants Credit Bureau, an official branch of the Associated Credit Bureaus of America.

In addition to the park, the womencontinuedtoruntheir “Wits-End” business and the Credit Bureau. Because of this, they never announced their plans for the park, and it never officially opened again. With their other business ventures, Mable Ruth and Lynn never got around to rebuilding or reopening Pettijohn Springs, and in 1954, they put the park up for sale.

In an advertisement for the sale of the park, they stated: “Our plans pooped out, so Pettijohn Springs is for Rent, Lease, Trade or Sale.” They even offered to finance the sale. The sale included all 80 acres of the park. Two four-room houses, a threeroom shotgun house, a tworoom cabin and the pool.

Shortly after they put the property up for sale, a longtime Marshall County resident, Earl Ayres, purchased the park from Mable Ruth and Lynn.

From the time they met in 1932 until Lynn's death in 1992, the two women were inseparable. They lived together and neither married nor had any children. Lynn died in 1992, and Mable Ruth died in 2000.

Next week, a new owner and a new opportunity.