Lasker
A group formed in Russia in the 1870's
to train Jewish people to farm land in America, Am Olam, was the
founder of Lasker in 1884 or 1885, depending on whose story one
goes by. This group saw agriculture as a way to get out from the
unrest going on in Russia at the time. The colonies they founded
stressed a utopian farming movement with a philosophy of "back
to the land". Because of their determination, Lasker was
moderately successful.
Michael Helprin was the head of the
Montefiero Agricultural Aid Society and an avid supporter of the
Am Olamites. He wrote later that Lasker was founded in April of
1885 by 17 emigrants, and their land was about 9 square miles.
By the spring of 1887, the population had increased to 200 people.
The other story of Lasker's beginnings
states that it was started in 1884. Gabriel Davidson and Edward
A. Goodwin published an article titled "The Jewish Covered
Wagon" in a 1932 issue of "The Jewish Criterion".
They said that the colonists who settled here had originally planned
to settle at the Montefiore Colony in Pratt County. However, there
was no land available, so they got covered wagons and traveled
over the plains of southern Kansas to find a new spot for their
colony. Davidson and Goodwin claimed that the new colony site
was 40 miles from Ford City. That claim and the 1884 date are
disputed by others due to what the land and post offices records
show. Those records say that Lasker was actually 6 to 10 miles
from Ford City, and that the homestead claims were made in 1885
and 1886.
Davidson and Goodwin also claim that
Lasker ceased to exist in 1886 because a land company bought large
parcels of land for irrigation purposes in the area from the colonists.
Again, this is highly unlikely because the land records show that
the land was still in the hands of the colonists.
Accounts written by Michael Helpern
and the Ford City newspaper show that Lasker was booming in 1886-1887.
It also became the home of colonists who had lived at Montefiero,
but moved to Lasker in May 1886.
It really isn't known why Lasker died,
but the years of 1888-1891 were extreme weather years, and land
records show that many claims were sold during those years. These
were claims of both the Jews and the Gentiles. By 1891, there
were no Jewish landowners in the area of Lasker.
Jewish Colonies in Kansas set
up by Agricultural Aid Societies
Beersheba (Hodgeman) |
Gilead (Comanche) | Hebron (Barber)
| Lasker (Ford) | Leeser
(Finney) Montefiero (Pratt)
| Touro (Kearny)
Sources
Douglas, Donald M. "Forgotten
Zions: Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Kansas in the 1880's."
Kansas History 16 (Summer 1993): 108-119.
Harris, Lloyd David. "Sod
Jerusalems: Jewish Agricultural Communities in Frontier Kansas".
Masters Thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1984.
