Museum Broken Arrow: A Place for Memories

from BA City Magazine February/March Issue

Making A Difference: Helping Hands Around BA

Museum Broken Arrow Adding New Display

Museum Broken Arrow board member and former Rodeo rider Roger Love said great things are on the horizon in 2020 for the already terrific museum.

“We have started putting in a new display upstairs reflecting back on the way life was in Broken Arrow’s heyday,” he said. “The display will reflect the beginning up to now.”

The Museum has been enjoying an upswing in visibility and community involvement as of late, and Love said he believes that will continue to grow.

“A lot of things are getting ready to jump off. The more people realize the museum is there, the more exciting it is. Local people really play a big part in it. Long-time Broken Arrow people who have moved away and don’t keep up with what’s going on, but when I mention it to them they becomes very interested,” he said. “We had our 45th class reunion there this past June, and a lot of former classmates that don’t really keep up on Broken Arrow were very interested. As we walk back down memory lane and see something, we reflect on a moment and that brings a lot of joy and smiles.”

Love said that everybody has their own story about their experience with their hometown, and “when you walk through the museum you’ll see something you know from Smitty’s or Ben Franklin or Murray’s Five and Dime.”

“Places like the old Hamilton’s coffee shop, someone will say ‘I remember going in there with grandpa or dad.’ It’s fun to hear those stories then you move on, shift gears, and turn pages,” he said. Rodeo, of course, played a big part in Love’s life, and in Broken Arrow as a whole. He said that both rodeos and the local cowboys that rode in them contributed to the zeitgeist of the area.

“The rodeo here in Broken Arrow used to be really big. At one time, the Rooster Day rodeo was one of the bigger rodeos around, and you had cowboys here in Broken Arrow that were some of the toughest going down the road then. When the Rooster Day rodeo came about, it was wall-to-wall cowboys and everybody was trying to jockey for a position. That was just a way of life back then — and a fun way of life,” he said. “In that era, everyone was trying to go to the next rodeo. Out there on Lynn Lane, where the Roundup Club used to be, were some of the best rodeo stories and horse stories you’d ever want to hear.”

As a board member of the Museum Broken Arrow, Love said he would like the organization to further explore the historic rodeos and cowboys.

“Broken Arrow produced some pretty good cowboys; everybody was glad to call Broken Arrow home. You’d see a cowboy with a rodeo bag and he was glad to let it be known that he was from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.” he said. “You had some good cowboys come through here, and some even went on to win the PBR, and on and on. If you stop to talk to them, they will mention Broken Arrow in their travels. “

The Museum Broken Arrow is located at 400 S. Main Street in downtown Broken Arrow. by Roger Moon

Museum Broken Arrow board member Roger Love during his rodeo days.