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Pierce & Harvey Buggy Company Building

11 SW First St., Afton, OK
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In 1911 this building was built by the Pierce & Harvey Buggy Company just in time for cars to start replacing buggies It is located just west of the Palmer Hotel. The building has lasted longer than the buggy company, in fact Pierce apparently left the company in 1913 according to a notice in the November 27, 1913 edition of the Afton American newspaper. The plaque above the awning says:

Pierce & Harvey
19 Buggy Co. 11

The building has been modified at some point in time. There was a large and ornate cornice just below the roof line and a full width sign board just above the entry door and and ground level windows. A second set of three large windows were located behind the awnings in this photo. The large garage door is not original to the building and has replaced both the ground level and upper level windows in that bay.

The company held a grand opening at their new building on June 9th and 10th of 1911. That event featured music, a free lunch comfortable seats, and a prize of a $45.00 saddle. Oh yeah, they also had "a rest room for the ladies". I guess the guys were on their own if nature called.

The partnership apparently started in 1907 but the business wasn't incorporated until 1910 in Miami, Oklahoma. After incorporating they soon established branch stores in Welch and Afton. The company didn't build buggies, rather they bought them from establish buggy builders. They had originally intended to pursue only the buggy and harness business but by 1912 they added a wide range of farm equipment.

That was then, fast forward to 2016 and the sign out front of the 1911 building said:

Bassett's Grocery
Since 1922
Parking in Rear

But even that enterprise ran out of steam in February of 2009 when Tommy Bassett, the third generation of the Bassett family to run the store closed up shop and retired. There's a Bassett's Grocery ghost sign around the corner towards the back of the building. A side note is that Bassett didn't start the business from scratch, instead he bought the Hudson and Kemple Grocery store, which apparently was only a year or so old. I don't know if the Hudson and Kemple store was in this building or not. In their ads they say it was "1st door south of the Post Office".So the question is, was the post office in the building between the buggy shop and the Palmer Hotel back then?

I had misidentified this building as the 1911 buggy shop, it is located on Route 66 at Locust Avenue, about a half block from the actual buggy shop. Still this building is somewhat notable for having housed what was reportedly the worlds largest collection of matchbooks, until 2003 when there was a serious fire. The building has been rehabbed to some extent and seems to be now used for storage.

AA smaller one story building on the east side has been torn down.

Photo(s): 2009, 2016