For The American
The little prairie town of early Moore boasted many fine businessmen who produced prosperous businesses which fed and served the growing community.
After suffering great losses from fires which ravaged an entire side of Main Street, the businessmen found a defense from the fires by building their business structures from cement-type blocks.
One such businessman was P.R. Simms, father of Mildred Simms, who built the block, two-storied structure pictured, the location of which was across the street from the present day fire station. On the bottom story, he operated a barber shop, a jewelry repair shop, and a lunchroom consisting of a soda fountain, counter and high stools ? then called a confectionery. On the second story, he rented rooms to transient peddlers passing through the territory, selling everything from medicinal tonics to pots and pans.
P.R. Simms gave details of how he built the structure in 1910 to a newspaper reporter. According to his account, the building of the block structures was an interesting sight to behold, for the blocks were manufactured on the building site. They were made in a steel machine in which the block makers poured sand, cement and lime.
The lime came in large chunks and had to be "slacked," usually causing workers to be covered from head to toe in lime dust. Being somewhat difficult to manage, the operation often caused burned fingers.
The economics of the building were enough to make business owners of today quite envious. The block makers received $1.50 a day for their labor, and the men who laid the blocks received $2 a day for theirs. The finished blocks themselves were worth about 10 cents apiece, while the sand used to make them cost $35 a truckload. Simms paid $500 each for the two lots on which the building stood ? a price considered to be extremely high in those days. By the time the business building stood complete and ready for use, the total price for its construction soared to $10,000, a very expensive and valuable structure for its time.
The "sidewalk superintendent" of that day stated that the building would not stay up for very long. He proved to be sadly mistaken, however, for it housed numerous businesses in Moore for several decades -- one of which was the Moore Messenger Newspaper.
P.R. Simms' success with the block building captured the attention of other businessmen such as A.J. Smith. Losing his grocery store in the Main Street fire, he consequently hired P.R. Simms to construct a new block grocery store for him, which successfully served the community through two generations of the Smith Family.
One of the first industries of early Moore was the Farmers' Financier Creamery, also constructed with blocks in 1909. Farmers which owned dairy cows brought their cream to the creamery, where it was processed into butter and cheese products and then transported to Oklahoma City by wagon for distribution.
Though the creamery was a vital part of the community's prosperity, it fell, as many industries do, when new and better innovations arrived on the scene.
The new invention which caused the demise of the creamery was the interurban, a vehicle which essentially was a trolley car. Running a route between Oklahoma City and Norman, the interurban stopped in Moore to pick up the cream butter and cheese products to transport them to the city. Because its speed and efficiency far outdid the creamery's wagons, the creamery's business declined into extinction ? overcome by the progress of its time.
