Gilead, Kansas

One of seven Jewish farming communities founded in the 1880s in Kansas, Gilead is in the Gyp Hills on the banks of the Salt Fork River, three miles south of Evansville. A dozen Romanian Jewish families settled the town in March 1886. A few years later, Gilead was no longer in operation. Although the residents of Gilead did receive initial support, Gilead was not, unlike other Jewish settlements in Kansas, a utopian society in which the land and equipment were owned by sponsoring organizations; the residents owned the land. Nearly every resident of Gilead belonged to the orthodox Jewish faith. By 1895 there were no Jewish residents still in the area.

Hebron was a neighboring Jewish settlement that had been settled prior to the founding of Gilead. The town of Hebron grew into a community of 300, among which were Russian, Romanian, Polish, and Hungarian Jews. In 1884, the Montefiore Agricultural Aid Society sent six Russians to inspect the farmland near Medicine Lodge, Kansas. After inspecting the region entirely on foot and finding land that was considered suitable, about 30 families made up the colony of Hebron, Kansas. The colony did so well when it was first founded that the society decided to start a second farming community. Thus Gilead was established.

During the 1880s, there was a mass migration to the United States of Jews from eastern Europe and Russia, in part to flee from religious persecution. Aid societies were established to help the new immigrants adjust to life in the United States. Am Olam, the Hebrew Emmigrant Aid Society, and the Montefiore Agricultural [Page 282]Aid Society were a few of the groups that aided the new immigrants. Most of the Jewish immigrants had not been farmers in their homelands; rather, they tended to have lived in villages and towns and worked as merchants. These Jewish migrants tended to include a high proportion of intellectuals. There were only a few Jews who had been farmers in their native countries.

The expectation in the 1880s was that the best way these Jewish immigrants could fit within the United States was to take up agriculture as a profession. Most had no idea what was involved in farming. As late as the early 20th century, many viewed farming as the most important industry in the United States. The recent arrivals hoped not to replicate their experiences in being treated harshly and persecuted; rather, they wanted to fit in. By taking up farming, the Jewish migrants believed they would be assimilated and face little persecution.

Despite their best efforts, the town was not a success. There were several reasons for the failure of Gilead. Prior to the establishment of the town, Kansas had had a relatively rainy season, making the land more fertile. The following year, a 10-year drought began. A second reason for the demise of Gilead was that the soil was low in nitrogen and high in evaporation. The poor soil added to drought conditions that made for bad farming. Wheat and sorghum could be grown in times of good rainfall, but farmers found it difficult to continue in drought years, when the hard soil made plowing a challenge.

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