Oklahoma Exhibition Hall
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, “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
