Antique Photo Auto Car Garage Page Belcher Tulsa Enid Tonkawa Oklahoma

Description

Here is a
fantastic
antique photo showing an automobile garage in Tonkawa Oklahoma. what is great about this photo is that it shows a young Page Belcher. The back says the photo is from 1912, however I believe it to be from the 1920s. The information written with the photo was written by E. R. Roley in 1985. It says "A garage in Tonkawa Okla. about 1912. Emmett Wells is mechanic closest to camera. He owned the shop. Page Belcher a U. S. Representative from Enid Oklahoma was having mechanical work done. He is the man in the dress suit. Man in car is unidentified." One of the cars appears to be a Ford. I'm unsure of the others. Some slight damage to the photo as is shown in my pictures. The photo is in a cheap frame but would look fantastic in a nice frame and mat. The photo measures 6" by 8"
Great piece of Oklahoma history.
Shipping will be inside the US. Thanks
Belcher was born in
Jefferson
in northern Oklahoma to George Harvey Belcher and Jessie Ray.
[1]
He was educated at
public schools
in Jefferson, and
Medford, Oklahoma
. Belcher attended
Friends University
, a
private
non-denominational
Christian
university in
Wichita
,
Kansas
. He served in
World War I
, then returned to Oklahoma and enrolled at the
University of Oklahoma
in
Norman
where he studied
law
[2]
and played for the 1918
Oklahoma Sooners football team
.
[3]
Following his graduation from OU, he was admitted to the
bar
in 1936 and began his legal practice in
Enid
.
[2]
In 1934, he was elected county clerk of
Garfield County
, served on the Enid Board of Education,
[4]
and as secretary to U.S. Rep.
Ross Rizley
in 1941. From 1951 to 1953, Belcher was the last representative of Oklahoma's now-defunct 8th congressional district, then represented
the 1st district
until 1973.
[5]
After his home in Enid was drawn out of the district during a mid-decade redistricting in 1967, Belcher moved to
Tulsa
, the heart of the 1st. Belcher was a member of the Agriculture Committee and its wheat subcommittee for his entire congressional tenure, eventually rising to ranking Republican on that committee, and worked on the Arkansas River Navigation System.
[6]
Belcher did not sign the 1956
Southern Manifesto
, and voted in favor of the
Civil Rights Acts of 1957
and
1960
,
[7]
[8]
and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965
,
[9]
but not the
Civil Rights Acts of 1964
and
1968
.
[10]
[11]
Belcher usually skated to reelection, as the Tulsa area was (and still is) very friendly to Republicans. However, in 1958, he was nearly defeated due to discontent over the
Eisenhower administration
's farm policy. He didn't face a credible challenge again until 1970, when former
Johnson administration
official
James R. Jones
held him to only 55 percent of the vote. With Jones priming for a rematch in 1972, Belcher announced that June that he was retiring due to age and health.