Early Oklahoma businessman
This article was written with the assistance of ai software*
On February 16th, 1938, JB Collins was interviewed and told his life story to Robert H Boatman in Lexington, OK.
This was part of the Works Progress Administration’s Indian-Pioneer History Project for the state of Oklahoma.
John Bell (J.B.) Collins stated that he was born in Tennessee on October 24, 1860, and married 15 year old Leta Ellen in 1890. Their baby boy died as an infant the following year when Leta was 16.
Did the couple decide to make a fresh start somewhere new? Possibly, because in 1894, they made the journey to the Indian Territory, spending a year in Ardmore before settling in Lexington in 1895.
Lexington was where John Bell and Leta started their business. Situated near the east bank of the South Canadian River, about a mile east of Purcell, Lexington was renowned as a “border town” in the Indian Territory during the 1890s.
At first, Lexington was a small town that had three stores and five saloons, and most people described it as a rugged frontier settlement. John said it was filled with roaming Indians and outlaws.