[OKC Chanel]

Originally Posted by jessaka

I don't recall when living in Texas seeing any towns or cities that I did like as well as Guthrie. I did like Austin, and I remember liking Canton, but maybe it was because they had that big flea market and big trees as I don't recall the town. Well, Victoria was pretty, but I don't remember the city just the neighborhoods, and the other thing I remember was how unfriendly people were and when looking for a place to rent being told that if I wasn't raised in that town forget it.

I would not want to think of Guthrie as part of the OKC metro. Just like I wouldn't want to think of Muskogee as part of the Tahlequah metro. An island to our own I say.

I understand what you are saying. Its horrible to tie in small towns with big cities but Guthrie is very tied to OKC. I am terrible with my OK history, but OKC and Guthrie will be forever tied together...in beauty. Think what Guthrie would be today if it had become the capitol. You would not find the largest prettiest historic downtown in the U.S. Instead you would find an ugly city in your opinion. Guthrie will never be spoiled by OKC even if it is in the metro. It will only thrive from OKCs riches. That is why it looks so good now. 10-15 years ago Guthrie was a ghost town because OKC was in a very bad bad position with the economy to everything. If it gets any treatment by OKC it will only be in a positive way. OKCs locals love Guthrie- Hey it was ours to begin with and we are the ones that really keep it going! The two towns played with history together by tossing around the state seal.

[Synopsis]

Regardless of where it's at, who it's near, or whatever it's undeniably a great city. I'm going to have to visit Guthrie on my next trip to OkC.

[Guthrie Kid]

Taken 7/02/07

[Mattie Jo]

GREAT. I AM WAITING FOR MY NIECE TO SEND ME THE ONES SHE TOOK SO I CAN PUT THEM UP. LOVE THE BICYCLE SHOP. WISH THEY WOULD TAKE DOWN THE BILLBOARD THOUGH.

You must have gone there early in the morning, or you had my zap gun and zapped away most of the cars. LOL.

[Synopsis]

Cool pics of a cool city. Thanks Guthrie Kid.

[big dawg 1]

First, let me say that I have no sour grapes about Guthrie. We discovered where we now live about 25 years ago while on business. After over 2 years of research and several vacations here we sold out, lock-stock-and barrel in Guthrie and moved here. We have never looked back. Our 2 kids have florished here. Our son has a Master's Degree (Rutgers) and is currently working in Boston. Our daughter will begin her Junior year in August at University of Missouri on a full scholarship.

We left Guthrie about 20 years ago. It was a dying town then and in the years since, appears to have died except for antiques and eateries.

Grew up in Guthrie and it used to be a busy little town. Men's' women's, and stores, hardware and appliance stores, Anthony's, Penny's, and lots of others. It was O.K., really. Now you have Walmart.

Got married, started a family - and had to work in OKC to make a decent living. Watched school system as it self flushed. Pretty schools don't make an educational system. Logan county is and always will be a welfare county.

Lots of neat restored old buildings in downtown that for the most part are filled with eateries and antiques. What about the everyday things that people consume? Walmart is not where I would want to shop for all my needs. Now your getting a Super Walmart. WOW!!! That should be a boom for the employment rate - at $6.50 an hour part time. One measure of a towns health is it's newspaper. Guthrie paper used to publish 6 days a week. Someone told me that it is down to 3 days a week. How sad.

We go back to Guthrie every year or so and are always reminded how glad we are to live 350 miles away.

We are now semi-retired and some of our freinds want to know when we are going to move back. We aren't!

[peggydavis]

big dawg, what you are describing is happening to small towns all over, not just Guthrie. The United States is becoming more and more urban, with populations concentrated in bigger cities. Younger people leave the smaller towns because the only good paying jobs are in the bigger cities. Walmart comes to town and all the smaller stores are driven out of business, so then there is no other place to shop.

I live in a small town and like it, but I couldn't live here if I had to make a living. And yes, I shop at Walmart, but if I can buy what I need from a local business I do. Now, you can buy whatever you want on the internet and UPS brings it right to your door, so I don't have to go to the big city to shop.

Change happens. Edmond is almost full and I have noticed more houses going up in southern Logan County. I used to live in Love County and it was definitely a welfare county. Now when I go back I can't believe how much it has changed, all these big houses and horse ranches everywhere. I think it's because of the growth of Dallas. When I moved from Love County, it was for economic reasons, and it looked like nothing was going to get better, just worse. So, you never know.

[Guthrie Kid]

First, let me say that I have no sour grapes about Guthrie.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!

Geeze...I kind of feel sorry for ya....just sort of.......

I wish I was as smart as you and your "Rutgers" educated kido from BOSTON..

Thanks for moving away, myself and others appreciate it.

[Mattie Jo]

About the only thing that I can agree with is that small towns should not allow Walmart to move in. I lived in a small cowtown in CA. It is where I grew up. Walmart came in and pharmacies, hardward stores, clothing stores, etc. all closed, and they were there in the 50s when I grew up. And now we have Walmart with its Chinese goods and now you can't find American products anywhere. Even L.L. Bean sells clothing from China. But I won't get into that. That would be for the political forum.

So what did Paso Robles do? (That is where I grew up.) They had no choice but to put in antique stores, gift shops, etc. and fine restaurants. And that is okay, because I really love those stores.

I found other stores in Guthrie. I bought a nice blouse in the historic district, as well as some hand cream in another store. They had some rather nice gift stores there.

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by OKC Chanel

I understand what you are saying. Its horrible to tie in small towns with big cities but Guthrie is very tied to OKC. I am terrible with my OK history, but OKC and Guthrie will be forever tied together...in beauty. Think what Guthrie would be today if it had become the capitol. You would not find the largest prettiest historic downtown in the U.S. Instead you would find an ugly city in your opinion. Guthrie will never be spoiled by OKC even if it is in the metro. It will only thrive from OKCs riches. That is why it looks so good now. 10-15 years ago Guthrie was a ghost town because OKC was in a very bad bad position with the economy to everything. If it gets any treatment by OKC it will only be in a positive way. OKCs locals love Guthrie- Hey it was ours to begin with and we are the ones that really keep it going! The two towns played with history together by tossing around the state seal.

You make a good point about OkC. I'm a firm believer that the phenomenal revitalization of OkC is also a big reason why Tulsa is trying to mimic the MAPS project in the vision 2025. OkC has probably turned the corner faster than any city I can think of, and it says a lot for the leadership and citizens of that great city. The amazing turnaround is no small accomplishment and the city and its citizens deserve a ton of credit for turning the area into what it has become.