Oklahoma’s all-Black towns formed a unique chapter in American history as African Americans created and governed their own communities in numbers unmatched elsewhere in the nation. These towns grew after the Civil War as former slaves of the Five Civilized Tribes settled together for protection and economic security, and when tribal lands were allotted, many Indian freedmen chose land beside other African Americans, creating prosperous farming communities that could support towns. After the land run of 1889 opened more land to non-Indian settlement, African Americans from the Old South came to the new territory for free land, and Edwin McCabe founded Langston, encouraged settlement in his all-Black town, and even envisioned an all-Black state. Although that dream was never realized, many such communities were established on the rich topsoil of the new territory and state. They prospered until the 1920s, then gradually declined under Jim Crow voting restrictions, the Great Depression, and movement from farm to city after World War II, though a few still survive as a legacy of economic and political freedom. Boley was founded by T.M. Haynes on land owned by Abigal Barnett, a Creek freedman, and Lake Moore, vice president of the Ft. Smith & Western Railroad, wanted a depot there because he believed African Americans were capable of governing themselves. Named for retired railroad official J.B. Boley, the town was founded in 1903 and incorporated in 1905, and it prospered. The Boley Progress began publication in 1905, and the paper and advertising campaigns attracted many residents. By 1911, Boley had more than 4,000 citizens, or 25,000 with surrounding areas, and supported many businesses, including two banks and three cotton gins. Booker T. Washington visited and called it “the most enterprising and in many ways the most interesting Negro town in the United States.” The town supported two colleges, the Creek-Seminole college and the Methodist Episcopal college, and it had its own electrical generating plant, water system, and ice plant. Around 1912, the Masonic Grand Lodge completed a majestic Masonic temple that was then the tallest building between Okmulgee and Oklahoma City. Like many rural towns, Boley suffered through the 1920s and 1930s, and by World War II its population had fallen to 700. At the dawn of a new century, the town was hopeful again, with a downtown business district designated a National Historic Landmark, jobs provided by the John Lilly Correctional Center, Smokarama, and the Boley Public School System, and the oldest African-American community-based rodeo held there every Memorial Day weekend.