Old Timer Left Rare Newspaper
Anna Mae Byrne may not be as old as many of Dewar's other senior citizens, but she has been around the area just about as many years as any else. Her mother, Mrs. Kate Berkey, was one of the oldest citizens. One of the many keepsakes she left to her children was a weathered old copy of the first edition of The Dewar Telegram, published Thursday, May 7, 1914.
Anna Mae Byrne was born in Strawn, Texas, October 9, 1906, to Joe and Katherine Berkey. Joe Berkey was a coal mining man. When the mines began to open up in Eastern Oklahoma in 1909, he moved to Warden Camp, Oklahoma, in Henryetta. Warden Camp consisted of a couple of rows of company houses that still stand just north of Henryetta's V. F. W.
Mrs. Byrne remembers little about Henryetta. Says Mrs. Byrne, "Mother had a buggy. When she would go to Henryetta, from Warden Camp, to buy groceries I can remember the wheels of the buggy sinking deep in the mud of Henryetta streets."
Some Early History
Dewar was established in early 1900 when the M. 0. & G. Railroad, connecting Muskogee and Henryetta, was built. A depot was built and the settlement was named Dewar, after the section boss, Sam Dewar. The town plat was surveyed and filed for record in the U. S. Clerk's office in Okmulgee, I. T., on February 28, 1907, at 2:00 p. m. Dewar Mine had already opened up in the northwest corner of the town plat. There was a big switch yard at the west outskirts of Dewar, and a spur was built to the Dewar Mine, then to Coalton and on to Okmulgee.
In 1911, Joe Berkey moved his family to the prospering little community of Dewar. Anna Mae was five years old. According to Mrs. Byrne, "There really wasn't too much here. There was a wooden depot down by the railroad tracks, a few company houses, and a lot of tents where people lived. All the roads were dirt, and there was very little business area. The businesses came later as Dewar began to boom from the opening of new coal mines." Her father worked at the Wadsworth Mine.
Phenomenal Growth
In a short period of time, the businesses came to town. From the depot, the business buildings extended on both sides of the street for about three blocks. Says Mrs. Byrne, "Sam Fowler ran the Post Office and a grocery store down by the depot. We had an Airdome Theatre, an indoor theatre, a hardware store, a millinery shop, two drug stores, a bank (where the Senior Citizens building now stands), a newspaper, a bakery, a garage, a Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, several grocery stores, a photographer, and a funeral parlor which was run by John Boyle. The Funeral Parlor was owned by Mr. Buchanan and had a horse-drawn hearse. Buchanan later moved to Henryetta."
Dewar was incorporated in 1915 and was knee-deep in it's "coal boom" days: approximately 16 coal mines were being worked in the near vicinity. The prosperity of Dewar, at this time, can more easily be pictured by a review of the first issue of The Dewar Telegram, May 7, 1914.
From “The Dewar Telegram”
The first issue of The Dewar Telegram was an introductory industrial edition with business news compiled by a firm known as "The Dale Company.” Caleb M. Bales was secured to edit and publish the local publication. The motto of the newspaper was "He That Tooteth Not His Own Horn, the Same Shall Not Be Tooted; The Telegram Toots for Dewar." In a lead story The Dewar Telegram reports:
"Of the number of important towns which bejeweled the broad and productive domain of Okmulgee County, none surpass in natural resources or in charm the fundamental elements and scenic beauty of Dewar, situated fifteen miles from the county seat and about fifty miles south of Tulsa on the M. 0. & G. Railroad bearing toward Muskogee and in the midst of what has and is developing into one of the greatest coal, oil and gas belts in the state.”
“Dewar is indeed, a thriving business point. Its townsite is a natural one on which nature has lavished her gifts unsparingly. It has magnificent location for building sites - the best in the world - and in view of what seems almost inexhaustible supplies coal, as well as natural gas, should become a manufacturing center. The kaleidoscopic view rests upon a landscape as fair as the vine clad hills of sunny Italy, while the balmy air, laden with electrical life, it is fitting to inspire one to all the deeds of the higher life. God in His wisdom wished to create a beautiful spot to meet the desires of nature, and He created Dewar.”
“The Telegram hopes at some future day to see Dewar a city of 50,000 people. Let the citizens take a new life and new vigor, then promises of the future present a rainbow hue and are worthy of a smile. Dewar, three years ago, was nothing more than a cow pasture; today she has a population of over 2,000. There is a payroll in the coal mines alone here of upwards to $100,000 monthly, to say nothing of oil and gas. Dewar's mercantile element is the most thrifty and enterprising, gifted with the elements of spiritual welfare and realize the weight of public spirit.”
“There has been more buildings erected, both business and residence, in the last twelve months than in all the town's past history, and this has been of the substantial kind. The next twelve months promise an ever greater activity in this line than the past twelve. Our population should almost double again before a year rolls around.”
“Dewar is designated to take her place among the important cities of Eastern Oklahoma. Nature has surrounded her with greater resources than any of her neighbors. Aside from the coal, oil, and gas, we will show you rich agricultural areas, capable of producing the finest fruits, vegetables of all kinds, tame grasses, alfalfa, small grain, cotton and corn. The visitor can investigate vast bodies of shale and clay from which brick and sewer pipe, tile, etc., can be made. We have other resources as well; when one sums them all up they begin to realize why Dewar is destined to be one of the big towns and one of the wealthy towns of the state.”
"Most towns are placing their trust to future greatness on just getting population - they say, "people make cities," while we have as the first article of our city making creed, "People with earning opportunities create advantages," we have mines already employing 1,000 men and we believe in getting factories and future developing our coal, oil, and gas fields, as well as bringing in farmers to raise the products our people need for sustenance, is the way to build a city and build it substantially."
“Dewar has as good a school as you will find most anywhere. In the Fall of 1912 they built a substantial two story structure containing four study rooms and a library. So rapid has been our growth in population that the coming summer almost a duplication of this same structure will erected, giving us three more class rooms and an auditorium. The growth of our school almost illustrates the town's growth; two rooms were sufficient at the beginning of 1912, while this fall it will take the entire eight class rooms with eight instructors to properly handle our educational work."
Dewar’s boom days came and went. In the 1930s and early 1940s, the coal mines were winding down, and production was cut at the oil and gas leases. Most of the businesses and buildings are gone, but the memories linger on.
