Celebrate a blast from the past with old telephone on display at LeFlore County Museum
The Hotel Lowrey in Poteau was built in 1922, and it’s days as being a hotel are long gone. However, the building which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Buildings is still standing tall today, as the LeFlore County Museum.
It was in the mid 1960s the hotel closed and was sold and later was taken over by the county and housed county offices. During that transition, county workers as well as volunteers were clearing out the inside déco,r and one such item being taken out of the building were wall phones that graced the walls of the hotel guest rooms.
It was in the mid 1970s when Poteau attorney Ted Knight came into the iconic building just to see what was being done. He noticed a pile of old telephones that were going to be discarded. He asked the workers what was going to happen to these phones and discovered that they were just going to be thrown away. So he asked could he have one. So, he took one and held on to the phone for just the right moment.
Knight’s wife Sharon is a board member of the LeFlore County Historical Society (LCHS) and noticed a photograph of one of hotel rooms depicting how the guest rooms at the hotel looked when it was in full operation as a hotel. In the photo, it shows a phone hanging on the wall, a phone identical to the one that Ted had collected when he visited the hotel many years earlier. When Sharon told her husband about the photo, they decided it was time to give the phone to Poteau resident Bob Lowrey, the great nephew of W.W. Lowrey and a great supporter of the LeFlore County Museum. He often visits and tells great stories about the iconic building.
Lowrey was so excited and honored to be presented with the phone that will be displayed at the LeFlore County Museum.
The phone has come a long way over the years, from having them in hotel rooms, mounted on our walls at home and pay phone booths to having access to a phone anywhere at any time.
“The LeFlore County Historical Society is pleased that to have one of the original phones that was in the building,” said David Deaton” LeFlore County Museum director. “It’s a great way for us to preserve history of Poteau and LeFlore County.”
If anyone has any artifacts from the Hotel Lowrey or any business that was in downtown Poteau contact the LCHS at (918) 647-9330.
The Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays Through Saturdays and after hours by appointments.