Colony is a town in northeastern Washita County,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, United States. The population was 136 at the 2010 U.S. census, a decrease of 7.5 percent from 147 in 2000. It was named for the Seger Colony, founded in 1886, which taught modern agricultural techniques to the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes that would be resettled in the vicinity. Colony is east and north of

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.Boothe, Wayne. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Colony."
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History

John Seger, a native of Ohio and a Union veteran of the Civil War, was hired in 1872 to work as a mason/carpenter to build housing and other structures for a school for Native American children at the Darlington Agency. Later, he began a colony for Native Americans with

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

Indians, who were joined later by several Cheyennes. By the following year, Seger's colony had over 500 inhabitants. Seger began teaching modern agricultural methods as well as brick-making. By 1892, the colony had also built an industrial arts school, with the Native Americans providing the bricks and cutting stone for all the buildings. William De Lestinier opened a store near the school with government permission, even before the

Land Run of 1892 The Land Run of 1892 was the opening of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation to settlement in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. One of seven in Oklahoma, it occurred on April 19, 1892, and opened up land that would become Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Washita ...

. After the opening, a group of settlers, led by Zack King, created a townsite west of the school and obtained a post office named Seger. De Lestinier moved his store to the new site. In 1895, the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

founded a mission at the colony. In 1896, a new post office named Colony opened, and the town took that name. The colony continued to grow and had an estimated population of 300 by 1911. The Dutch Reformed mission closed in 1912 and the Seger Indian school closed in 1932.

Geography

Colony is located in Seger Township (T10N R14W), Washita County, Oklahoma. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 147 people, 64 households, and 49 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 79 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 80.27%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 10.20% Native American, 4.76% from other races, and 4.76% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 5.44% of the population. There were 64 households, out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 4.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.9% were non-families. 20.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.62. In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.1% under the age of 18, 2.7% from 18 to 24, 21.8% from 25 to 44, 26.5% from 45 to 64, and 27.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.3 males. The median income for a household in the town was $26,912, and the median income for a family was $27,426. Males had a median income of $26,071 versus $16,250 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $18,106. There were 15.1% of families and 17.2% of the population living below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 23.5% of under eighteens and 21.6% of those over 64.

Notable people

* Yvonne Kauger, a Justice of the Oklahoma State Supreme Court, grew up in Colony and graduated from high school there. * Dale Mitchell, two-time

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

All-Star outfielder for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

and

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

References

External links