Summit, One of Oklahoma's All Black Towns

Muskogee County is the home of two communities in the "All Black Towns of Oklahoma" exhibit at the Three Rivers Museum during the month of February. The exhibit consists of fifteen separate panels. They were created by the staff at the Oklahoma Historical Society. "All Black Towns" means communities formed and operated after the Civil War by recently freed African American.

Each panel contains text and images telling the stories about the birth, prosperity and, in some cases, the demise of each of Oklahoma's black towns. Surviving towns include Boley, Brooksville, Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lima, Red Bird, Rentiesville, Summit, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee and Vernon.

Summit is one of the two All Black Towns located in Muskogee County. It is among the communities still being operated as originally planned.

It is uncertain when Summit became a center of settlement for African Americans. It was in the Summit vicinity that the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad planned to establish a depot and railroad division headquarters in 1872. Major John Foreman prevented those plans from fully developing when he poured a barrel of salt into a well.

The MKT railroad tracks passed the community on the west side. The railroad left an old wooden box car on a siding in January, 1887. Two men used it to establish a telegraph station at Summit. They lived and slept in the box car, too.

At one time there was a collection of livestock holding pens and a platform for shipping purposes. A fire on August 2, 1902 destroyed most of the pens. The railroad primarily used the platform and pens for shipping farm production during the summer harvests.

The United States Post Office established service for the community in 1896. Mark L. Minter was the first postmaster. He took office on May 18 of that year.

The paving of Jefferson Highway during the 1910's opened up transportation for Summit residents. This initially improved commercial prospects for the town. In the long term, however, townsmen found greater employment in Muskogee.

Jumping ahead thirty years, the town school received a Works Progress Administration grant in 1940. The $13,782 grant funded the construction of an addition and improvements. The grant authorized the employment of twenty-six men to work on the Summit school project.

As the economic opportunities drew employment to Muskogee, Summit's population began to dry up. A wolf hunt conducted there in 1948 illustrates how rural the area was becoming.

Summit is beginning to improve after a long decline. The town is now being led by Mayor Greg Smith. He is working to bring more businesses into town. At the same time, he continues working to improve services offered by the city. He is building on the success ten years ago that created Summit’s new civic center.

Bootie's Restaurant is a major business enterprise in Summit today. It is located at 6303 Oktaha Road. This is the Old Oktaha Road that a segment of US 69 bypasses. I found the owner to be congenial and cheerful last spring. The menu provides a full list of meals for all tastes. The owners constantly work to improve their building.

The All Black Town of Taft will be the subject next week. In the meantime, celebrate Black History Month with a visit to the Three Rivers Museum.