Smithville

Historical marker location:

Smithville, Oklahoma

( Marker is on U.S. 259, 1 mile north of State Highway 4, on the right when traveling north.)

Marker installed: 1995

Town's original name was Hatobi, but it was renamed in 1890. A nearby salt lick inspired the name of Big Lick Presbyterian Church, founded in the 1830s. The Folsom Training School was established here in the early 1920s.

The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 was one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. The massacre, which occurred in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Black residents and the destruction of much of the district.