Owning A Piece Of Pre-Statehood History

An article in the â€œMuskogee Phoenixâ€ from earlier in the week caught News On 6 reporter Rick Wells' attention. The article told of a pre-statehood building in Muskogee's downtown being up

Friday, August 24th 2007, 4:30 pm

By: News On 6

An article in the â€œMuskogee Phoenixâ€ from earlier in the week caught News On 6 reporter Rick Wells' attention. The article told of a pre-statehood building in Muskogee's downtown being up for sale. He reports the building was once home to a hardware store, the YMCA and the Royal Casket Company. Supposedly the YMCA had a big indoor pool, and of course Rick headed to Muskogee looking for it.

The building at Court Street and Main in Muskogee is known to most folks as the Royal Casket building, because that was the last company that was in there. To find out more we stopped in at the chamber to talk to Jonita Mullins.

"The building went up in 1900 after the great fire of Muskogee in 1899,â€ said Muskogee historian Jonita Mullins.

Originally it was the Maddin Hardware store, she says it was probably like the Loweâ€™s of its day. It had everything, building materials, furniture, everything.

The YMCA bought the building in 1914. We heard thereâ€™s a pool in there so we headed into the building to have a look. Inside we found Bill Boies, the building owner.

"We moved in here on January 1, 1963," he said.

He operated the Royal Casket Company out of here for more than 40 years.

"Manufactured and sold thousands and thousands and thousands of caskets," Boies said.

The building he said was much too large in the beginning, but as their business expanded, they grew into it.

"This was an indoor running track the YMCA put in some time after they bought this building in the early teens, I think," Boies said.

But News On 6 reporter Rick Wells was looking for the pool, and he found it, or at least the room it was in. Boies had the pool filled in and covered with concrete. He used the room for warehouse space for caskets.

The auction is September 12th, the opening bid for the building is $25,000. If youâ€™d like to take a look at what you might buy there is a preview on Thursday, August 30, at 11a.m. Everyone is hoping whoever buys the building will restore it.

Watch the video: Piece Of History Hits Auction Block