The larger-than-life bronze statue of Fred Jones is located on the sidewalk next to the Social Club shop and salon. He faces the former Model T Factory to the south. Fred is depicted standing, in a business suit. His arms are folded across his chest, with the right hand raised a little above the left elbow. Fred's shoes appear to be two left shoes. I'm not sure if this is an inside joke or they just appear this way.
Fred Jones' obituary on his Find a Grave memorial page:
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From the Oklahoma Hall of Fame website: (
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Orphaned at an early age, Fred Jones was born in Georgia but lived with his aunt in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he graduated from Business College. He came to Oklahoma City in 1916 to work in a new and major assembly plant of the Ford Motor Company. Following his service in World War I he returned to the plant and, in 1920, took charge of the Blackwell Ford dealership. He bought the store at Tonkawa in 1921 and a year later sold both dealerships and returned to Oklahoma City where he established a new dealership at 220 West Reno. By 1926, at the age of 34, Fred Jones was the largest Ford dealer in the southwest. As president of Fred Jones Industries, he owned Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealerships in Oklahoma City and Tulsa and the Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Norman. When he died at the age of 79, Fred Jones Manufacturing Company in Oklahoma City was the largest of 29 authorized Ford remanufacturing companies in the nation.
Text on statue base and panels on the wall:
Fred Jones
Fred Jones (1892-1971) is a titan in American automobile history and in the Oklahoma City story. Jones got his professional start in 1916 working across the street from this statue at the Ford Model T Assembly Plant. In 1920, he joined the ownership of his first Ford dealership, and in 1922 he opened his first dealership in Oklahoma City.
Beloved by his employees and affectionately called "the Skipper," he became the largest Ford dealer in the southwest and created the largest Ford-authorized re-manufacturing company in the nation. He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1994. Jones was also a dedicated servant to Oklahoma City, serving in countless community roles. He and his wife, civic leader and arts patron Mary Eddy Jones, are both members of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
Today, Fred Jones' statue looks out over a family legacy that began when he first walked into the Model T Assembly Plant. Jones loved the place where he got his start in the Ford Motor Company. When the opportunity came to acquire the building in 1968, he called it his "Camelot," and he made it the headquarters for his various businesses. In 2016, his grandsons Fred, Boots and Kirk converted the plant and its surroundings into a mixed-use development. This re-imagining has brought life back to the part of Oklahoma City that once captured Fred Jones' imagination. "The Skipper" is pleased.
Sculpture by Paul Moore
Commissioned in 2019 and placed in 2020 by Fred Jones Hall, Boots Hall and Kirk Hall, the grandsons of Fred Jones, in commemoration of the centennial of Fred Jones' first business enterprise.