Mr and Mrs Walter Smalling - They owned and operated the Grocery Store and Service Station and Walter was Postmaster of the Mc Queen Post Office which was located in the building with the Grocery Store.
There were a few more houses located in Mc Queen at this time but I don't have the information as to who lived in these houses.
The Railroad ran on the South side of town. The MK&T train came through each weekday going from Altus to Wellington, Texas; each morning around 10:30 A.M., the train would drop off the mail and then in the afternoon, around 3:30 P.M., the train would come back through on it's way back towards Altus and pick up the mail. One of the duties of the Postmaster was to meet the train these 2 times a day.
The train not only carried the mail, but it carried freight and in the summer time it pulled boxcars loaded with wheat. There was a Grain Elevator located on the south edge of Mc Queen next to the railroad tracks.
FAMILIES THAT LIVED IN THE NEAR VICINITY OF MC QUEEN AND THEIR OCCUPATIONS:
Mr And Mrs Bo Wilson - They lived North of the Hwy 62 intersection about � mile and then about � mile East. They were also farmers.
The McQueen School was located � mile North of McQueen on the NE corner of the intersection of Hwy 62. The School had grades 1 through 8. The last year that School was held there was 1937, after which most everyone went to school at Gould. After the McQueen School closed, the building was used by the Church of Christ for their church services for a few years.
At the original site of McQueen (� mile South of Hwy 62) there was a Brush Arbor where in the summer, Bro. Earl Brecheen of Hollis would drive out to the Brush Arbor and hold a Gospel Meeting that would last for a full week. There were those who were baptized during this meeting. This would be done in J W Bell's farm pond located about � mile West of his farm house on the South side of the Hwy. If this was done at night, people would drive their cars down through Mr. Bell's pasture and shine their headlights out on the farm pond, to provide light during the baptism.
When this Gospel Meeting was going on, the wooden pews under the Brush Arbor would be full of people and others would park their cars around the outside of the Brush Arbor, sit in their cars with windows rolled down and listen to the preaching. The Brush Arbor had electric lights wired in it and used yellow light bulbs because the bugs were so bad.
...Some people said, this was the first drive-in church service they ever attended!...
MCQUEEN'S RURAL ROUTE MAIL CARRIER RETIRES AND A NEW MAIL CARRIER WAS APPOINTED AND THE SMALLING GROCERY STORE AND SERVICE STATION WAS SOLD AND MOVED TO A NEW LOCATION ALONG WITH THE POST OFFICE.
Mr Culbert was in ill health and in 1939 he retired from the Rural Route Mail Carrier job. Walter Smalling took the civil service test and got the job as the new Rural Route Mail Carrier for the McQueen Post Office.
At this time, W C (Dub) and Grace Bell purchased the Grocery Store and Service Station from Mr And Mrs Walter Smalling, which still had the Post Office in the building. Dub Bell was appointed the Postmaster and his wife Grace was appointed his assistant.
Shortly after these events took place, Dub and Grace Bell bought an acre of land on the NW corner of Hwy 62 intersection North of McQueen and had Barnes Moving Co. of Hollis to move the Grocery Store building, Service Station and Post Office to the new location on Hwy 62. With the Post Office now moved to it's new location, there was a new sign put up saying McQUEEN, OKLA., at the new location. Now, the town of McQueen had expanded � mile to the North, up on the Hwy.
Next a Garage was built by the Grocery Store and Service Station, for auto repair work. Later a 2 room house was moved onto the back of the 1 acre plot. The Service Station became a Mobile-Magnolia Gas Station with a sign showing the Flying Red Horse.
Operating a Grocery Store and Service Station during this time was a hard job as World War II was going on and there was rationing going on for several items that were sold in this business. Customers had to have ration stamps in order to buy things like sugar, shoes, gasoline and several other items. A business had to collect these stamps from the customers, place them in proper books so they could buy these goods from the wholesalers and restock their business.
Dub and Grace Bell operated the business until 1944, at which time they turned the business over to John and Nadine Bell and at this same time the Post Office was moved across the Hwy to inside the Perdue Grocery and Service Station. Mrs Ruth Perdue became the new Postmistress. After about a year, John and Nadine Bell closed the Bell's Grocery and Service Station and a short time later, the buildings and the house were sold. Since that time, the property has been occupied as residential property.
The Perdue's ran their business for a few more years, then sold it to Mr and Mrs Med Young, who ran the business for a few more years, then they closed it down.
Somewhere in this time frame, the McQueen Post Office was closed and the rural mail route was divided up between the Gould and Duke, Okla. Post Offices.
