Historical Marker Program

Clearview

Okfuskee County
Location: on ground of Clearview School in Clearview
Coordinates: 35.398074, -96.190880
Material: Other (Interpretive panel)
Sponsor(s): Oklahoma Historical Society
Topics: Ethnic Diversity; Government; Mass Communication; Territorial Period, 1861–1907; Urban Development

Clearview is one of 13 All-Black towns, out of more than 50 that once existed, remaining in Oklahoma. While Tullahassee is reportedly the oldest, most were established between 1889 and 1907 as African Americans sought security and control of their own destiny in a segregated world. Clearview was founded in 1903 along the tracks of the Fort Smith and Western Railroad. J. A. Roper, Lemuel Jackson, and John Grayson platted the townsite and formed the Lincoln Townsite Company to attract settlers and advertise settlement.