Jewish Pioneers of Ardmore, Ada, and Lehigh in South Central, Oklahoma
Ardmore
Ardmore had the first Jewish Community in the Oklahoma Territory, formally organized in 1890.
Admore Centennial Seal
Sam Daube was born in Germany in 1859 in Germany. He came to the United States in 1877, first working in New York City and then Texas. He arrived in Ardmore, Oklahoma in 1885, where he opened the Westheimer & Daube Store with his brother, David Daube, and Max Westheimer. They also successfully raised white-faced Hereford cattle on the thousands of acres of they owned. Daube was also a cotton broker prior to Oklahoma’s statehood (1907).
Jake Bodovitz was another early Jewish settler in Ardmore.
Temple Emeth functioned between 1907 and 2004.
Ardmore Oklahoma on busy day downtown, vintage postcard
Ada
The Katz family had department store in Ada, the tribal headquarters of the Chickasaw Nation.
Henrietta Katz married Ben Levine of the Dixie Store.
Ada, Oklahoma, Auto Jamboree, vintage postcard
Lehigh
Ben Byers had a store in Lehigh.
Source
- Henry J. Tobias, The Jews of Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980).
Regina Merwin is curator of this Ardmore, Ada, and Lehigh exhibit.