Oologah Historical Society Museum Shows Off Its Latest Find

There's a brand new "find" at the Oologah Historical Society Museum, an ironing board made in wood shop class at Pryor High School in 1917.

The ironing board could still be used if you needed to but I found out, they don't make them like they used to.

Anne Wiggins of the Oologah Historical Society showed off the museum's latest historical donation, an ironing board. After working on it for a few minutes, Anne and I finally get it together.

Based on my own high school and junior high wood shop experiences where my classmates and I struggled to make a functional footstool, this ironing board quite an accomplishment.

"I can't imagine a young man doing that," said Anne Wiggins.

Yeah me either, but there it is on the underside of the board, made by Robert Ellis Card in Pryor 1917 age 13 or 14.

The historical society got their hands on it because Robert Card's son Kenneth donated it to the museum.

My question, why Oologah?

"Because that's the only museum I could think of," said Kenneth Card.

Back in Tulsa I looked up Kenneth Card to find out more about the ironing board. He told me when you look at it you'll see a #1 scratched into it.

"I guess all the boys had to make one and he made the first one," said Kenneth Card.

Card showed me a picture of his dad. He doesn't have a lot of pictures of his dad, but lots of pictures of himself.

Turns out Kenneth Card was a pretty good steel guitar player in his day.

"We played places if you didn't have a gun when you went in there, they gave you one," said Kenneth Card.

Card says Conway Twitty offered him a job once, but he didn't want to live on a bus.

But back to the ironing board story, Kenneth Card said his father was pretty proud of the project and that is why it is in the museum.

You can get a closer look at the ironing board, and all the other wonderful finds at the Oologah Historical Society Museum. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in downtown Oologah.