The Renaissance Neighborhood History Project

Texas Circulation Managers Meeting:  L.E. Gillett, P. F. Fincher and L. W. McFetridge with a cigar. In 1913, twenty year-old Lyle W. McFetridge began what would become a lifelong career in the newspaper business. He started selling papers on the street downtown and then working in the mail room of the Tulsa World. He had four years under his belt when he was called to serve in the U.S. Army for World War I. In the spring of 1918, McFetridge deployed to France and served in the 141st Field Artillery Unit. He earned the rank of Corporal and returned home after Armistice Day on the Eleventh hour of the Eleventh day of the Eleventh month. McFetridge married Miss Mildred Lois Hughes on Christmas Eve of 1919. They started their life together at a home in the Riverview Neighborhood. In 1923, they purchased a lot in the new Pilcher-Summit Addition of Tulsa.  Recall from THIS post, the Pilcher-Summit Addition was established in 1920 and included the land between what is now Eleventh to Th

The Signal Addition, where the property at hand is located, was established in 1923 by Miss Pearl May Alexander.   Miss Alexander was the daughter of Mr. C. P. Alexander, one of the largest property owners in Tulsa in the 20’s and 30’s.  He probably arranged for his daughter to have the property in her name since, according to the 1920 Census, she was 31 years of age and unmarried.    Mr. Jack Edmond Stegall bought a number of lots in the Signal Addition, possibly for development, but also, it turned out, for himself.    He purchased nearly the entire east side of Evanston Avenue between Twelfth  and Thirteenth  Streets. Jack Edmond Stegall Jack Stegall was one of those men who lived in the early 20 th century and blazed his own path.   According to his  granddaughter: “My grandad was a real self-made man. He was a cowboy, surveyed for the railroad, carpenter, house builder, cabinet maker and, most impressive, an antique clock hunter and repairer thereof.”   Born and raised in Texas,