Broken Arrow Man Buys Antique Village

You have to be careful at auctions. You can end up buying much more than you planned on. That's what happened to Bill Darnell of Broken Arrow. <br/><br/>As News on 6 reporter Rick Wells explains,

Monday, November 13th 2006, 10:52 am

By: News On 6

You have to be careful at auctions. You can end up buying much more than you planned on. That's what happened to Bill Darnell of Broken Arrow.

As News on 6 reporter Rick Wells explains, he went to buy a couple of log cabins and wound up with the entire village.

Welcome to Persimmon Hollow near 71st and Garnett, it's not a real village, but it has a main street, a bank, a jail and a covered bridge. This place looks like a ghost town from the old west, but Bill Darnell remembers it as a place to see antique cars. "When I was a young man I attended the antique swap meets out here, then when Roy Baker bought it he turned it into an antique village."

All these storefronts were turned into shops for antique dealers. People would come here on weekends. When the property went on the auction block last month he showed up to buy a couple of historic log cabins on the grounds, when no one was bidding on the village, Bill Darnell bought it. "It's kind of a tradition in Tulsa to come to Persimmon Hollow Antique Village 35 years ago, I'm just trying to bring that back."

He sees value here. Supposedly the old bank front is from the first African American owned bank in Oklahoma, he thinks, originally in Red Bird.

His plan is to restore all these buildings, he's almost finished with this one and hopes to have dealers in here in December. The rest will take more time. He says the roofs all leak, the stoves are all fire hazards and the wiring is all bad and other than that he's glad he bought it. "My wife doesn't let me out of the house with the checkbook anymore." Imagine that.

Bill Darnell acknowledges there may not be enough polish in the world to make this jewel shine again, but he wants to try. If you're interested he wants to hear from you. Call him at 918-857-6294.