Temple School photos, sports teams, and area families are at the heart of the Temple Museum, which focuses on the history of Temple, Oklahoma, and Cotton County. The museum includes artifacts from Native Americans and the story of the B&O Cash Store, which was once a hub for shopping "everything from birth to death" in the region. Harold Powell bought the nearby blacksmith shop in 1978 with the dream of turning it into a museum. In 1999, Mr. Powell and some neighbors started the Temple Museum Association. They raised money and built the museum in a building next door to the Post Office on South Commercial Street. Temple, founded in 1902, celebrated its centennial in September 2002.

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Before: The building before the murals were painted.

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Exhibits

The B&O Cash Store put Temple on the map in the early 1900s. People came from 80 miles around by wagon and horse and buggy to shop at the "world's largest country store'' started by Temple brothers Bob and Otho Mooney. The museum will include photographs, catalogs and artifacts to bring to life booming times that the store brought to Cotton County.

The Blacksmith Shop, first built by blacksmith Ed Kloeckler in 1903 on the site directly east of the current city hall. The wooden building burned in 1920. The metal blacksmith shop that replaced it will remain in tact at the center of the museum, including some tools of a wheel right, who once occupied the space.

Geneaological information on local families is available in files organized and cross referenced by last name in special files in the Temple Museum. Residents and former residents are invited to share their family information here or to come by and browse.

Newspapers published in Cotton County are available for researchers and the general public.

The Board

The Temple Museum Association is run by a board of Temple area residents, including Harold Powell, Lois Powell, Tab Lewis, Nadine Gibson, Jay Driskill, Mary Spannagel, Charles Sparks, Billie Jeffrey and Richard Glenn. If you're interesting in joining the board contact Mr. Powell at

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