Oklahoma Exhibition Hall

Oklahoma Exhibition Hall

50th Anniversary Badge

50th Anniversary Badge

The Oklahoma Territory “took off” after the Civil War, aided by the“Run of 1889,” when Indian lands were opened to settlement, and the declaration of Statehood in 1907.

Bogy Johnson was possibly the first Jew in the new territory. He married an Indian woman.

Jews moved into small towns in Eastern Oklahoma and became Oklahoma’s urbanites — peddlers, salesmen, and shopkeepers.

The 1880 U. S. Census only showed about 100 individual Jews in Oklahoma, with no indication of an organized Jewish community.

At first, most Jews lived in lived in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Tulsa Oil Field, Vintage Postcard

Tulsa Oil Field, “Often Grubstaked by Jewish Investors,” vintage postcard

Curator’s Note: These Oklahoma exhibitions are outlines of the Jewish History in each area. Please contact us with more information about these and other Jewish Pioneers in these places: JMAWcurator@gmail.com

Early Jewish Pioneers of Chickasha, Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of Enid, Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of Muskogee, Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of McAlester, Hartshorne & Wilburton, Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of Ardmore, Ada, and Lehigh in South Central, Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of Lawton, Apache, and Carnegie in Southwest, Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of Ponca City, Tonkawa, Pawhuska, Perry, and Blackwell in North Central Oklahoma

Early Jewish Pioneers of Bristow, Norman, Stillwater, Purcell, Tecumseh & Seminole in Central Oklahoma