Published: April 24, 2009 10:54 pm      

History comes to life

A longtime interest in history now has a former Pauls Valley man on a mission to give some at-risk kids a little glimpse of their own community’s past.

J.L. Courtney is originally from PV but now works for the state Department of Juvenile Affairs office in Oklahoma City.

Courtney has for some time been organizing tours throughout the state as a way of giving some of these kids, considered delinquent in the system, a better sense of their own home’s history.

Working with local Juvenile Affairs officials, one such tour came recently here in Pauls Valley as a small group of kids from the PV and Wynnewood areas got the chance to learn more about their heritage while also performing some community service.

“I wanted some of these kids to know about it,” Courtney said, referring to the area’s history.

“I thought it would be nice for these kids to know about some of this history; to know about the history of their town or area.”

In this particular case the group of juveniles considered at-risk got a history lesson while also picking up some trash along the way as part of their community service.

Led by local historian Mike Tower, the first part of the tour provided the kids with plenty of history on Smokey Row, a four- to five-block area on PV’s present day Santa Fe Avenue that represents a rich part of Pauls Valley’s pioneer history.

Then came a walking tour of what was once called Cherokee town, a small grouping of early day pioneers living next to the Washita River southeast of Pauls Valley.

“It was just a little community with a few houses on this ridge. All that’s left today is a cemetery,” Courtney said.

“You can still see the wagon ruts where it crosses the river.”

Courtney’s personal interest in history hasn’t always been the case, especially when he was a young boy.

“I was born and raised in Pauls Valley, and I didn’t know that much about its history when I was young,” he said.

“I hated history when I was growing up.”

That changed when he later met some historians and some Chisholm family members. He began learning more about the routes of the old Chisholm cattle drives.

“I’ve been keenly interested in history the last 14 or 15 years.”

With his interest in history sparked, and his work with juvenile offenders, Courtney combined the two and began forming these tours all over the state more than a decade ago meant to provide the kids with some insight into the history of the areas where they live.

“I was trying to combine a little history with community service,” Courtney said.

“It’s a nice way to include our local kids who need to do this service anyway.”