NOW YOU KNOW
Nye Family Movers Family Business Set the Record as Bartlesville Movers by Debbie Neece, Bartlesville Area History Museum Indian Territory was pretty much a lawless land in 1878; Bartles, Johnstone and Keeler were in deep trading competition; subscription schools were being founded; and the discovery of oil was just under the surface, about to erupt. That very year, Missouri-born, 22-year-old John Wesley Mikels and his cousin rode horseback 2,000 miles in search of adventure. They found themselves in Indian Territory and in need of a permit to work in the area. In 1880, Mikels joined seven other young men who traveled by wagon over dirt trails to Claremore where they purchased a work permit from the Indian Agent. Mikels attempted two land runs, worked on several area ranches and carried mail by team from Coffeyville to Pawhuska before marrying Miss Barbara Iseli and settling at Jacob Bartles’ north settlement to manage Bartles’ Hotel. In 1900, when Bartles moved north to establish the town of Dewey, Mikels moved close to the newly arrived railroad and built the two story woodframe Piazza Hotel at the southwest corner of Keeler Avenue and Third Street (currently Frank Phillips Blvd.). However, Mikels
44
b Monthly | MARCH 2020
was not a stand still type of guy. In 1901, he sold the Piazza Hotel and made an oil fortune in the Cleveland area. The twenty-room Piazza Hotel joined the National Hotel (later called the Right Way Hotel) as lodging opportunities for railroad visitors and oil boom prospectors. The Piazza had a full-service barbershop, Bingham’s laundry service and a peanut vending machine on the lovely wrap-around porch, which offered perfect across the street viewing of the 1907 statehood shooting of Ernest Lewis … but that’s a story for another time. There have been periods of housing shortages in the Bartlesville area so hotels played an important role in the settlement of Bartlesville. Some early Bartlesville buildings were constructed of native stone or brick; however, the majority of the structures were lumber based, allowing easy relocation and repurpose. In 1908, Elmer Elsworth and Ella May Nye came to Bartlesville and increased the population with their five sons and two daughters (Loren, Clarence, Earnest, Raymond, Orville, Nellie and Lucille). Elmer was recognized as a pioneer businessman as he entered the house moving business upon his arrival and contin-
