Tour the Town – The Hotel DeVann, J.M. Yocum’s Popular Hotel.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Claremore, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, January 1894. Source: Tulsa City-County Library. Wichita Avenue (JM Davis Boulevard), Catalayah Avenue (Lynn Riggs Boulevard), Missouri Avenue. First Street, 2nd Street (Patti Page Boulevard), 3rd Street (Will Rogers Boulevard), 4th Street. The DeVann was, most likely, the 3-story “hotel” on Lot 6, Block 61.

J. Matthew Yocum, was Proprietor of the Hotel DeVann, Claremore, Oklahoma, in 1894. Yocum who had married May Rogers, October 9, 1892,[1] was the son-in-law of Clem Vann Rogers and brother-in-law of Will Rogers.

The Claremore Progress, September 8, 1894, advertised, “The Hotel DeVann. J.M. Yocum. Proprietor. Near the Frisco Depot (on the west side of Claremore). Our table is [supplied] with all that the market affords. Free hack to and from all trains carrying passengers. McDaniel & Walkley, LIVERY FEED AND SALE STABLES. In connection with the Hotel DeVann.”[2]

In the spring of 1895, J.M. Yocum had “his popular hotel, the DeVann, papered downstairs and in the halls, which [added] greatly to its appearance.”[3]

“Ben Scovel, of Coffeyville, and Miss Lenora Armstrong, of Coody’s Bluff, were married at the Hotel DeVann …, Clerk LaHay officiating.” [4]

The Hotel DeVann became “more popular than ever under the management of mine Host and Hostess, W.R. Gaddis and wife.”[5]

Newly married B.R. Bracefield and wife, from Tulsa, spent a few days at the Hotel DeVann using this hotel as their honeymoon retreat.[6]

James Latta was not so fortunate. He died, December 6, 1895, at the Hotel DeVann after a long and serious illness. “The deceased was aged 60 and had resided in the Cherokee nation for the past quarter of a century. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church and highly esteemed by all who knew him.”[7]

Shockingly, on Saturday, January 18, 1896, the Hotel DeVann met its demise, in Claremore, Indian Territory’s, first big fire. The Claremore Progress reported the devastating event.

“Claremore’s First Big Blaze. Popular Hostelry – The Hotel DeVann – No More. $18,000 Worth of Property Destroyed – It has Come at Last. Six Buildings Now in Ashes.

“A little before two o’clock Saturday morning last, a good portion of our population was aroused by the repeated firing of firearms in the business portion of our town. (The firing of repeated gunshots was the customary fire alarm of the times.) The lower end of town was all lit up and every businessman started with the fear that it might be his place of business.

“When the Progress man arrived on the scene the fire was well underway. The three buildings west of the DeVann were all ablaze, and the Hotel DeVann was well underway. Hundreds of willing workers were removing the goods from the Hotel DeVann, W.W. Chambers’ building and Davis Hill & Co.’s general merchandise store.

“A stand was taken to confine the fire to the Hotel DeVann and the five adjoining buildings, and by active work and a liberal supply of water. The effort was successful and the Davis Hill & Co’s store building on the corner, the LaHay building, the barbershop, the butcher shop, the Trilby restaurant, and the Hotel DeVann sample room were saved. Had the fire got hold of these buildings, Halsell’s big brick would have been in great peril, and a good part of the business portion of the town would undoubtedly have been burned down. While the loss falls heavily on those burned out, the town can congratulate itself that it is no worse. The lack of wind helped the firefighters, there being hardly a breath of air stirring. The workers succeeded in getting out only a little over $300 worth of furniture from the Hotel DeVann. W.W. Chambers succeeded in getting out nearly all of his goods, and Davis Hill & Co. had all their goods, furniture and machinery out as everyone expected to see their building go at any moment.

“The losses as far as we can learn will foot up about $10,000 with only $2,500 insurance. They are made up as follows: W.R. Gaddis, furniture in Hotel DeVann, $3,500. Insurance $1,000. About $300 worth of furniture saved. C.V. Rogers, Hotel DeVann, $3,000, insurance $1,500.  Teece Chambers, two-story building on the corner of Front and Second streets, $800, no insurance. Joe Chambers, two-story building and marble shop $650; stock of goods, $350, no insurance. W.W. Chambers, two-story building and annex to Hotel DeVann, $700; goods not saved $50; cash $500; no insurance. Davis Hill & Co., damage to goods by removal $200, no insurance. Robbins & Patterson, marble patterns and tools $400, no insurance. Uncle Joe Teague, who slept in the Teece Chambers building, had all his belongings and goods burned up, he barely escaping with only the suit on his back. The total loss foots up $10,300, with insurance of $2,500.

“NOTES: Nobody was hurt. The homeless were well taken care of by our citizens. The fire emphasizes our need of better means for fighting fire. Everything was moved out of the City Barbershop and Trilby restaurant. Several of the boarders lost part of their clothes and little trinkets that they had in their rooms. Several of the boarders at the DeVann made their toilet out in the night air with all nature gazing upon them. We nominate Tom Patterson for the chief of the fire department which we hope to see Claremore organize at once. Joe LaHay was the first one aroused in the DeVann and the whoops he let out soon awakened even the heaviest sleeper. While Uncle Joe Teague’s losses did not run up into the thousands, he lost everything he had. What more could a man lose?

“It took Bob Hill all the next day to get his goods back in shape in his building, but he felt good to think he had a place to put them. Dr. Linn saved enough of his shoes from the wreck to supply all those who left the DeVann in such haste that they forgot theirs. Everybody was wearing them.  The origin of the fire is a mystery, by what we can glean it is likely to remain such in spite of the many theories advanced. There seems to be no doubt that it first originated in the second story of the Joe Chamber’s building which was unoccupied at the time. Carpenters had been at work there on Friday and when they quit, locked it up and it is not known that anyone was in there afterward.

“C.W. Fort, adjuster for the Home Insurance Co., of New York, and J.W. Hoffman, adjuster for the London and Lancashire Insurance Company, were in our city Wednesday and adjusted the insurance on the Hotel DeVann and furniture.  The claims were paid in full, C.V. Rogers receiving $1,5000 and W.R. Gaddis $1,000. Mr. Hoffman also represented the Pennsylvania Fire and Springfield.

“Uncle William Chambers loses his all by the fire, with the exception of his small stock of goods. He had no insurance on his building and had stowed away in the second story of his building about $500 for safekeeping. In the excitement of moving out, he forgot that a few days previous he had taken the money out of his trunk and hid it upstairs. He would have had plenty of time to have gone and got it if it had occurred to him.

“The burning of the Hotel DeVann is a severe loss to our town as well as Mr.& Mrs. W.R. Gaddis, under whose uniting management it had become recognized as one of the best-kept hotels in the Territory. They had spared no money in furnishing it throughout in an elegant style, and the almost total loss of their goods, together with being thrown out of the business just at present is a severe loss to them that all regret.  It is sincerely hoped that they will soon be established in a new brick hotel here, which our town is sadly in need of.”[8]

By Christa Rice, Claremore History Explorer

Sources:

All newspaper sources below are accessed through, The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.

[1]Wertheim, Arthur Frank, and Barbara Bair, Editors. The Papers of Will Rogers, Vol. 1, November 1879 – April 1904. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman. 1996. Page 138.

[2]Kates, A. L. Claremore Progress. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 2, No. 31, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 8, 1894, Claremore, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc181861/).

[3]Claremore Progress. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 3, No. 11, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 13, 1895, Claremore, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc182920/).

[4]Claremore Progress. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 3, No. 11, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 13, 1895, Claremore, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc182920/).

[5]Claremore Progress. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 3, No. 36, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 12, 1895, Claremore, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc181978/).

[6]Claremore Progress. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 3, No. 41, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 16, 1895, Claremore, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc182877/).

[7]Claremore Progress. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 3, No. 44, Ed. 1 Saturday, December 7, 1895, Claremore, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc182099/).

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8505904/james-eudorous-latta James Eudorous “Jim” Latta. Birth 9 Jan 1827, York County, South Carolina. Death 6 Dec 1895 (aged 68), Claremore, Rogers County, Oklahoma. Burial Woodlawn Cemetery, Claremore, Rogers County, Oklahoma. Memorial ID 8505904. Spouse Harriet Ann Sheldon Latta (1833-1915). Children James Gardner Latta (1863-1934), Dwight Hitchcock Latta (1867-1915), Amanda M. Latta Hanley (1870-1942), Thomas A. Latta (1872-1931).

[8]Claremore Progress. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 3, No. 50, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 18, 1896, Claremore, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc182824/).