POND CREEK—Jack Drennan loves that he’s referred to by the customers in his store as “the hippie on the 60.”
He and his wife Terry own Pond Creek Antique Mall in downtown Pond Creek along U.S. 60.
The 3,500-square-foot east side of the building currently owned by Joey Hayes once served as the home of Brown’s Dry Goods in the 1970s and 1980s.
Prior to that, town historian Candy Wilson Kent said many businesses inhabited the space known as “Lot 5,” including Dewell’s City Meat Market (whose brick building replaced wood frame in 1901) and merged in 1906 with Decker’s Cash Department Store to become The Leader Store, which was a dry goods, millinery, clothing, shoe, and grocery business all-in-one. It is believed that C.S. Watson Hardware used that east side of the building for decades, perhaps through the Great Depression and World War II, before Brown’s.
No one still living in town is quite sure what other businesses have operated in there in between times until Hayes bought it; all that notably remains from the early 1900s is the original ceiling of century old pressed tin.
Scrapping for a living
Jack’s grandparents lived in Medford, his dad and uncle graduated from there, and many of his Drennan relatives still reside in the area. As a teenager growing up in Southern California who once surfed for school credit, he remembered visiting Northwest Oklahoma where there isn’t much to do.
Fast forward three decades, Jack and Terry (a native of St. Louis who grew up in California as well) were married and running an antique shop in Big Bear Lake, Calif. They decided to relocate to Oklahoma to be near his dad and aunt in Enid.
Jack recalled how he was drawn to antiquing while working as a glazier 25 years ago—one who removes glass from structures and fixtures then disposes the remaining metal—and seeing potential in the scrap yard.
“That’s how I got started. I found stuff that was being scrapped,” he said. Then he got to thinking about the vinyl records he had and the light bulb went off in his head.
The couple owned and operated Mud Hen Antiques from 2000 to 2004 near the San Bernadino Mountains and National Forest before closing shop and making their way to the Sooner State to live and work. In Medford was an antique shop called Joy’s (which closed in 2010) and the Drennans thought “we could do this.”
So, they opened an antique shop on the south side of Broadway in the middle of downtown Pond Creek. Two doors down Hayes had bought the old Brown’s Dry Goods building and invited the Drennans to relocate into one side. Hayes used the other side for his hardware and architectural antique business called Hayes & Co. Antiques and Salvage.
“It took one day to move,” Jack said, adding it was easy to carry everything from the old shop to the new shop.
Antiquing in a small town
Since 2012, the Drennans have been selling antiques out of Pond Creek, which is located at the crossroads of U.S. highways 60 and 81 in Grant County and yields plenty of traffic.
Truckers and travelers alike see the sign out front that touts “Antiques up to 50% off” and end up turning around to have a look inside.
“We’ve been told this is ‘where the good stuff is,’” Jack commented, adding snowbirds (retirees who migrate to warmer climates in the winter) typically stop twice a year, once on their way from the East Coast such as Virginia and then again on their way back home from New Mexico or Arizona.
There is something for everybody, Terry said, from jewelry, Vaseline dishware that glows in the dark under black light, salt shakers, and rocks for the rockhounds to collectible artwork, vintage furniture, and the rockstar of the shop: vinyl records.
“Records are what holds us up,” Jack said. “Records have brought so much joy into our life.”
He said the records are really what pay the bills and keep the store going; thus, it’s important to Jack to have the rock ‘n’ roll vibe in the store, noting his favorites are Led Zepplin, AC/DC, and the iconic Sammy Hagar whom he met at a show in Newkirk five years ago. A photograph of that encounter hangs on the wall in the music section of the store.
The Drennans’ eyes light up when someone drops off a crate full of record albums when cleaning out a house—“It’s like Christmas,” Jack said. He’s also proud of the rare 1960s photograph of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix among other American music finds.
They are equally thrilled when someone comes in with historical mementos pertaining to Pond Creek or Medford. One shining example is the boot tool in the glass case dated 1895 that is clearly stamped as coming from a Pond Creek business that existed around the time of the Great Land Run.
Being a store owner in a small rural town could have its drawbacks, but Jack and Terry feel positive their antique shop is helping their community thrive. They’re located next door to Pond Creek’s grocery store and across the street is the local Methodist church’s thrift shop. Not far down the highway are two restaurants, a motel, and a convenience store.
“It’s the most amazing thing catering to tourists,” Jack said. “We love the small town.”
Pond Creek Antique Mall, 133 W. Broadway, Pond Creek, is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (580) 532-1532.