Last week I received a call for information about the Tonkawa NYA during the early 1940’s. It is good that we can learn about the history of our community and document it before it is forgotten.
During the depression of the 1930’s there were federal programs to help the people. One of the programs was the National Youth Administration (NYA) to train boys between ages of 16 and 24 who could pass the aptitude test. Classes being taught were in sheet metal work, pattern making, welding, radio operation, foundry and forge, electrical, aviation and auto mechanics, woodworking and industrial sewing.
War was progressing in Europe in 1939. Activity in the NYA training was increased due to the possibility of America becoming involved. The need for radio and code training became an urgent priority. A Tonkawa native, Roy (Friday) Fitzgerald was one of Oklahoma’s administrator of the youth program. He envisioned the abandoned Tonkawa Ricks Hotel, that was built during the Three Sands oil boom, as a center for a radio training center. The upstairs could be living quarters and the ground floor could be used for classrooms. The Ricks Hotel was built on the site that is now the Tonkawa Historical Society’s Centennial Park. The building burned in May, 1976.
Tonkawa was awarded the Radio Training Unit and it officially opened in the converted Ricks Hotel in January, 1941. Eighty young men were enrolled. Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor the enrollment rose to 240 youth. Additional sleeping quarters were made available in the National Guard Armory. The one year radio program was intensified to six months. Tonkawa received one hundred Navy recruits for training. More dormitory quarters were needed and the Sipe building on South Main Street was remodeled to house these men.
By February, 1942, the enrollment had reached 450 young men and 100 young girls. Girls were now accepted and they proved to be apt students. Pan American Airways hired their first woman radio technician and she had been trained in Tonkawa. Several women trainees were hired by a bomber plant in Michigan. By July, 1943, the NYA program was cancelled. It had served
By July, 1943, the NYA program was cancelled. It had served its purpose of providing job training for employment during the depression and for world War II. The NYA code equipment was moved to Northern Oklahoma Junior College (now NOC) to be used in training ...
