Friday, September 10, 2010

Mt. Olivet Cemetery (From Chic Silber)


OLIVET1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.


Hi Buckles

I've heard so much about Hugo over the years

but have never been there so I looked it up

I thought that there may be others interested

Hugo


As a railroad hub in the early 1900s, Hugo, Oklahoma was a hotbed of

activity, with a vivid mix of dance hall girls, hustlers and gunfighters, a

Harvey House Restaurant, and at one time, a dozen circuses wintering

nearby taking advantage of the moderate climate and easy rail access.

The Hugo Frisco Depot Museum in the restored former Harvey House

Restaurant captures some of this rollicking past, and Mount Olivet

Cemetery showcases the final resting places for rodeo greats. The

cemetery also features a special area known as "Showmen's Rest,"

which features unique headstones and gravesites for circus owners

and performers.



Clearly the Mount Olivet Cemetery is a main attraction

I'll let the others add all the dark humor

Chic

Posted by Buckles at 9/10/2010 06:27:00 AM

8 comments:

Harry Kingston said...

Mt.Olivet Cemetery is a show in it's self with all the many different markers of show folks.
The pictures here show many but there also is Jess Jessens $10,000 square block of stone and Ted Bowman's sunburst wagon wheel.
If my memory is correct elephant man John Carroll when he died left money for the showman's rest.
When I go to Hugo this is on my list to visit.
If you go to Hugo be sure and get Dudley Hamilton the Kelly Miller winterquaters superintend to give you the tour as he knows all about it.
Harry

10 September, 2010 07:29
Ole Whitey said...

I first went there with Ted Lavalda after Carrie died and he wanted to show me her grave. There were fewer than now but still a number of old show people.

10 September, 2010 10:44
Anonymous said...

And a larger than life Big John Strong memorialized in stone.

Doyle Milson and Ralph Gifford, along with Dudley, can also provide much history, particularly DR Miller's role in developing Showmen's Rest. I believe DR may was the one who had the elephant markers put there to delineate the area.

Bob Swaney

10 September, 2010 10:51
Chic Silber said...

Makes sense to me

"with a vivid mix of dance hall
girls, hustlers and gunfighters"

No question it would become the

breeding grounds for circuses

10 September, 2010 19:59
Ole Whitey said...

The late Don Carson wrote a great piece called "High Grass and Miller Magic" for the Jan/Feb 1969 Bandwagon.

Obert was a Kansas boy and was with several small circuses before lauching his own, and he wintered in places like Springfield, Joplin and Mena before landing in Hugo late in 1942.

Did any other show come out of Hugo before this?

11 September, 2010 11:19
Casey McCoy Cainan said...

I don't think the circuses were there for the moderate climate (Rio Grande Valley is just a little further south and far more moderate) or the easy rail access (Was there ever a railroad show based in Huggo?) I do think initially the Millers got an offer for cheap land and maybe tax incentives to move from where they were and bring some new money into the economy there. Not sure on this, so some one please correct me if they know otherwise.

13 September, 2010 11:03
Buckles said...

The most shows I recall wintering in Hugo the same time was Little Bob at the Fairgrounds, Cole & Walters and Kelly Miller out East of town.
It seems to me that it all began when Kelly Miller closed their season in Hugo one year and just stayed.

13 September, 2010 11:24
Buckles said...

Prior to settling in Hugo they once camped somewhere near Springfield, Missouri for the winter.
D.R. said they were so destitute that every Saturday Obert would present both him and Kelly one dollar for smokes (Obert never drank or smoked) and some jelly beans for their wives.
Obert would then rummage around in garbage cans emptying out wine bottles with hopes of getting enough to doctor a sick monkey.
Frankie Lou Woods once told me that about that time the show closed the season owing her dad (Blackie Woods)something like $15 and over the course of a the following year they would received a letter with a dollar bill until the debt was paid.

13 September, 2010 11:56

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