1919 - 108-110 N Washington (WOW Church) - Ardmore, OK
N 34° 10.473 W 097° 07.642
14S E 672590 N 3783093
The building at 108-110 N Washington St, Ardmore, OK, was built in 1919, as identified by "19 Harold Wallace 19" up on the parapet. Today, it is used by the WOW Church, a non-denominational group.
Waymark Code: WM11M26
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 11/10/2019
Views: 1
But for major alterations, this building could be part of the Ardmore Historic Commercial District on the National Register of Historic Places. Their
Registration Form provides some building details, referring to it as a "garage":
This is a one-story building with a stepped and sloped parapet wall finished with concrete coping. The raised center holds a metal name plate. The upper façade is distinguished by four string courses of soldier bricks with decorative rectangles regularly spaced within those courses. There are roof drains at the sides of the building near the parapet wall. The lower level façade has two store fronts. 108 North Washington is covered with horizontal plastic siding and the 110 North Washington has a transom area. Below the transom is brick infill and covered display windows. This building was once part of a larger lumber yard and it now faces the parking lot on North Washington and is stucco covered brick. The parking side provides consumer access with metal glazed panel doors, metal glazed display windows. There are brick bulkheads and concrete faced sills. Recent alterations to the storefront outweigh the intact and distinct parapet.
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Obviously, there are a few changes here, such as that metal name plate having been removed to reveal this concrete slab bearing the construction year and a name, and the plastic siding on the south side is gone. As for "Harold Wallace", he was a prominent area banker and oil man, born in Texas in 1883, and he organized the Ardmore State Bank (later the State National Bank) in 1908. There's not much available to attach him to this building, but he was active across southern Oklahoma. Given the Ardmore Gas Explosion of 1915, which destroyed or damaged plenty of buildings in the area, it's not unreasonable to assume that Mr. Wallace's money was used when Ardmore rebuilt.
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