It all started when Cinnamon Carter’s sixth grade reading class was assigned the book The Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Now, the class at Ballinger Junior High School in Ballinger, Texas, is on a mission to discover more about their own town’s history, which is, coincidently, tied to Ardmore’s.
A student brought in a picture of a statue in the Ballinger City Park that none of the kids or teacher had ever known existed.
The statue is of an Indian made of metal, standing on a rock base with the words “A Friend.” It was called the Palacine Indian, named after the Palacine Oil Company that originally had the statue.
The students began working researching online and interviewing citizens of Ballinger to find out what happened to their town’s statue, where it came from and if there are any similar statues left somewhere.
They found out that the statue came from Ardmore in 1939 and that similar ones used to dot southern Oklahoma, in connection to Wirt Franklin’s gas stations.
Palacine Indian statues were once located at Turner Falls and the former Franklin gas station in Ardmore, now home to BancFirst.
The class has already made contact with many people who remember the statue and hope to find out more about the statue’s history.
They know that Elmer Shepherd of Ballinger frequently visited his relative V.A. Grissom in Ardmore. Shepard was either given or bought one of the statues, which he placed in the Ballinger City Park.
It fell victim to vandals and was reportedly thrown into the creek that runs through the park, although no sign of it has been seen since.
Also, the statue at Turner Falls is rumored to have been used for scrap metal during World War II.
They have not found out what has happened to the other statues, but their research so far makes them believe they were destroyed.
The students plan to make a book based on their research so that the history is recorded for the future, said Carter.
