Close the Windows

by Toni Hopper

Title

Close the Windows

Artist

Toni Hopper

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

An old two-story building in Ryan, Oklahoma, is almost all gone, as evidenced by the one wall. I photographed this October 20, 2005, and I'm not sure if any of it remains. Many of the buildings along Main Street in this really rural community have been vacant, and many more boarded up. Then there are the ones like this that are barely shells of their once bustling past.
** Titles are tricky - Windows to the Past was obvious, but I wanted something a bit more humorous for this ancient relic of a building. Thus, Close the Windows.


Here's a bit of the infamous history of Ryan - read on, you might be surprised. Credit from Oklahoma History Organization
Ryan is located in southwestern Jefferson County, two miles north of the Red River at the intersection of U.S. Highway 81 and State Highway 32. The town is 11 miles south of Waurika; 115 miles south by southwest from Oklahoma City. It was named in honor of rancher Stephen W. Ryan, an Arkansas native who settled near present Ryan in 1875.

A fire nearly destroyed Ryan in December 1895. The residents rebuilt, and by 1908, the community had 30 businesses, including two banks, a hotel, a cotton gin, two lumberyards, a flour mill, and a cottonseed oil mill. By 1930 the townspeople enjoyed one mile of paved roads, two schools, 300 telephone connections, and a bus line.

Ryan had 1,115 citizens in 1907. The town's population peaked at 1,379 in 1920, and then declined. The 1940 and 1950 censuses reported 1,115 and 1,019, respectively. Numbers dropped to 978 in 1960. By 1980 the town had 1,083 residents, declining to 894 in 2000 and to 816 in 2010.
A notable Ryan native is actor and martial arts master Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris, who was born there on March 10, 1940.

As Ryan entered the 21st century, four Protestant churches and one Catholic church, and two primary and secondary schools were available to the public. The Ryan public schools and the Ryan Nursing Home were the town's major employers. The weekly Ryan Leader, the community's lone newspaper in 2003, originated as the Ryan Record in 1894.


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tags/keywords:
abandoned, building, rural, Oklahoma, deserted, black and white photograph, windows, dilapidated, history, old, 1800s, Main Street, peeling, plaster, wood, weathered, brick, window frames, Americana, architecture, Chisholm Trail, Red River, Jefferson County, rural decay

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August 31st, 2022

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