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From YouTube: From City Hall
Description
Ward 7 Councilman Skip Kelly discusses city history with James Johnson, grandson of WJ and Frances Edwards community leaders in the northeast section of Oklahoma City during the 1930's, 40's and 50's.
A
Welcome
to
the
ward
7
show,
and
today,
I
have
with
me
a
very
important
individual
in
northeast
Oklahoma
City
and
also
in
the
city
of
Oklahoma
City.
That
I
have
had
an
opportunity
to
be
friends
with
for
over
30
years.
Mr.
James
Johnson,
who
is
with
the
Department
of
Commerce,
is
that
right,
Jay.
That
is
correct,
that
is
correct
and
you've
had
some
very
unique
positions
with
the
Department
of
Commerce,
which
you
share
with
me
and
our
guests.
Some
of
the
positions
that
you
presently
hold
thanks.
B
A
lot
councilman
is
great
to
be
with
you
today,
I've
been
at
the
Oklahoma
Department
of
Commerce
for
a
little
better
than
20
years
and
I
currently
serve
as
a
project
manager
in
the
national
recruiting
division,
and
the
thing
that
I
do
is
try
to
recruit
new
business
and
industry
to
the
state
of
Oklahoma.
That
is
not
here
or
a
decision
to
locate
or
expand
is
going
to
be
made
outside
of
the
state
of
Oklahoma.
Okay,.
A
A
As
we
talk
about
development,
that's
a
segue
into
another
major
development
in
northeast
Oklahoma
City
that
occurred
back
in
1936
in
1938.
Some
of
the
negotiations
started
as
early
as
1934.
That
was
really
about
a
park
and
I
find
in
here
recently
that
I've
been
a
historical
icon.
That's
part
of
the
family
of
the
the
great
vision
area
of
mr.
A
B
And
I
mumbled
to
the
to
the
fact
that
I
was
one
of
his
grandsons
and
grew
up
knowing
this
person
and
not
necessarily
the
legion
of
things
that
he
did
were
involved
in
worried
present
today,
we
would
characterize
this
person
as
a
serial
entrepreneur.
It
was
just
someone
who
had
the
the
capitalistic
bug
in
his
ear
and
he
saw
fit
to
start
and
run
numerous
businesses
doing
during
his
lifetime
and.
A
A
The
interesting
one
of
the
other
interesting
factors
about
that
and
a
great
benchmark.
Not
only
did
he
see
a
need
for
for
housing
and
when
you
look
at
the
development
of
Edwards
addition,
you
see
some
of
these
same,
the
houses
are
still
standing
on
page
street.
You
know
there's
many
depictions
of
the
development
early
on
that
shows
the
framing
of
some
of
the
houses
and
the
dirt
roads
and
the
houses
that
was
that
was
built
and
I.
Wasn't
too
long
ago,
I
was
driving
over
in
the
area
and
I'm
going.
A
You
know
these
are
the
same
houses.
That's
in
the
book
that
is,
that
was
part
of
the
original
development
trend.
So
you
know
being
humble
as
you
are.
You
know
that
there
was
other
major
developments
that
your
grandparents
made.
One
of
them
was
a
hospital
and
the
need
to
see
that
the
the
was
really
the
first
break
of
the
Jim
Crow
health
care
for
african-americans
in
Oklahoma
City
by
building
a
hospital
in
the
area
right.
B
The
need
for
that
grew
out
of
really.
It
was
very
personally
grew
out
of
an
illness
that
my
my
grandmother
had
and
at
the
time
that
she
succumbed
to
this
illness
in
Oklahoma
City.
She
was
unable
to
get
fair
treatment
in
in
a
hospital
with
the
sort
of
services
that
that
she
needed,
and
she
was
told-
or
my
grandfather
was
told
very
directly
by
the
doctor-
is
that
if
she
wanted
and
needed
to
get
well,
she
would
have
to
seek
service
outside
of
of
Oklahoma
City
because
of
the
segregation
laws
that
were
present.
B
And
it
didn't
take
my
grandfather
a
minute
to
decide
to
fly
my
grandmother
to
the
Mayo
Clinic
in
Rochester
Minnesota,
where
she
spent
a
number
of
weeks,
and
it
was
at
that
time
that
they
decided
together
that
once
she
got
well
and
returned
Oklahoma
City.
It
would
be
their
interest
and
commitment
to
build
a
hospital
not
just
for
african-americans,
but
for
all
to
be
able
to
come
in
that
hospital
was
built
and
opened
in
1948
at
the
corner
of
16th
and
North
East
Grand
Boulevard
in
Oklahoma,
City
and
existed,
and
until
the
early
60s
and.
B
B
I
did
and
again
by
the
age
that
I
was
in
the
late
50s
I
was
able
to
dig
foundation
ditches
for
my
grandfather
in
houses
that
they
were
still
building
at
the
time.
It
was
a
menial
job,
a
job
of
labor,
but
it
got
me
next
to
my
grandfather
and
learned
me,
the
value
of
labor
at
that
time,
and
certainly
some
of
the
beginning
and
fundamental
lessons
that
I
learned
in
life
were
at
his
knee
and
looking
at
what
had
taken
place
over
a
period
of
time.
It
was
a.
It
was
very
enlightening
to.
A
Me
you
know
the
the
history
has
been
very
kind
of
rather
difficult,
because
obviously
your
grandparents
didn't
take
a
whole
lot
of
time
to
to
let
people
know
what
they
were
doing.
It
was
always
somebody
found
out
that
you
know
they
were
doing
this,
and
so,
when
you
look
at
the
all
the
accolades,
your
grandfather
received,
the
you
know
a
very
distinguished
award
as
a
businessman.
A
He
also
received
a
letter
from
from
the
president
in
reference
to
his
development
and
the
the
housing
development
was
one
of
the
first
grants
that
was
that
was
received
by
an
african-american
from
the
Federal
Housing
Administration
square
and
to
to
know
all
of
this
and
still
see
the
the
development
still
standing.
It's
you
ever
wonder
why
they
didn't
make
a
big.
You
know
news
about
everything
that
they
they
accomplished
in
the
dead.
My.
B
A
Moving
on
to
the
next
major
development
was
the
the
school:
yes,
they
donated
land
for
school
to
be
built
in
northeast
oklahoma,
city
and
the
area
that's
referred
to
as
a
twit
sedition
and
the
school
still
stands.
Today.
It's
been
moved
one
or
two
times
and
of
course
the
development
has
been
several
additions
to
the
school,
but
it's
at
woods
elementary
school.
Absolutely
so.
B
And
it
takes
a
special
meaning.
I
did
not
attend
the
school
myself
and
grow,
but
I
had
numerous
friends
that
that
did
and
they
have
gone
on
and
become
very
successful
in
life,
and
you
know
their
fundamental
education
was
provided.
You
know
in
that
instance,
when
a
community
is
being
created
anywhere,
I
mean
there
is
a
need
for
for
education,
and
they
saw
that
and
they
first
met
in
a
one-room
schoolhouse
that
grew
into
a
multiple
room
schoolhouse
and
grew
into
what
exists.
Now,
as
at
Edwards
elementary
school
with
more
than
300
300
students
there.
B
The
idea
of
Edwards
edition
was
not
only
to
have
residential
development,
but
to
have
commercial
development
as
well
as
those
other
things
that
would
that
any
community
would
would
need
councilman
at
the
time
that
Edwards
edition
was
built
in
Oklahoma
City.
This
would
have
been
a
far
stretch
to
come
out
to
and
it
would
be
far
away.
You
know
out
in
the
I,
don't
wanna
say
the
boondocks,
but
it
would
be
far
away
and
the
dirt
roads,
transportation
was
not
out
there.
Water
and
sewer
was
not
out
there.
B
A
I
want
to
thank
your
family.
This
past
year,
we
had
the
opportunity
to
to
delay
some
some
recognition
on
the
walls
of
at
Woods
Elementary
School
in
honor
of
your
grandparents,
and
it
was
a
true
delight
to
to
see
I
think
it
was
Uncle
that
came
from
from
Tennessee
that
had
worked
in
the
area
with
your
grandparents
and
had
remembered
so
much
about
the
history
and
also
to
have
one
of
these
students.
That
was
one
of
the
first
students
and
she
stated
her
family
because
of
the
number
of
children
they
had.
B
Actually
were
kind
of
recruited
to
the
neighborhood
by
my
grandmother.
They
had
such
a
number
in
their
their
family
that
you
know,
school
was
created
around
that
and
my
uncle
that
you
mentioned
was
actually
my
mother's
first
cousin
Reverend
Jael
Edwards,
who
worked
for
my
grandfather
during
the
early
years
of
you
know
his
vocation,
and
so
he
worked
not
only
in
that
addition,
but
in
the
junk
iron
business
that
my
grandfather
and
became
a
successful
preacher
down
in
Chattanooga
Tennessee.
But.
A
B
Is
true
and
it's
one
of
two
churches
that
exist
in
Edwards
addition
today
and
one
part
of
the
Tabitha
Baptist
Church,
actually
was
a
what
we
would
refer
to
today
as
a
commercial
strip
center
and
when
it
ceased
to
operate.
I
think
it
was
in
the
hands
of
my
my
aunt
who
was
able
to
negotiate
a
sale
of
that
land
for
Tabitha's
expansion,
so
it
has
expanded
greater
than
the
house
that
he
was
in
in
its
beginning.
A
Well,
mr.
Johnson
James,
and
we
call
you
JJ,
hey
I,
want
to
thank
you
for
for
sharing
and
I
know.
Through
the
year
we
have
been
trying
to
get
information
as
related
to
the
program
at
Edwards,
to
recognize
your
grandparents
and
and
and
to
think
that
that
we
were
able
to
get
so
much
information
because
of
the
living
of
you
and
your
brother
and
your
mother
and
and
other
relatives
is.
B
On
behalf
of
our
family,
we
would
very
much
like
to
thank
you
for
the
efforts
that
you
have
extended
and
bringing
the
recognition
to
an
extent
down
at
Edward
school
and
just
for
the
profile
in
the
work
of
our
grandparents
during
their
lifetime.
And
you
know
it
started
some
time
ago
and
Councilman
willow
Johnson
was
very
much
involved
in
getting
the
the
neighborhood
cited
on
the
National
Historic
Register
and
before
then
you
know
the
my
grandparents
house
there
at
16th
and
grand
billboard.