Historical Marker
Dr. J.E. Wright
Pittsburg County · Oklahoma
Erected by Oklahoma Historical Society, 1995
In 1887, the year the plaque has Wright moving on to South McAlester, Savanna emptied. Coal had made it one of the larger towns in Indian Territory, a Katy railroad stop in the Choctaw Nation lined with company rows of two- and three-room houses. Then explosions in mines Number One and Number Two killed six miners, and afterdamp, the gas a blast leaves behind, killed a dozen men who went down to recover them. The Savanna Coal Mining and Trading Company closed the mines and hauled the miners' houses away to Lehigh.
What the plaque says
Dr. J.E. Wright J.E. Wright, D.D.S., opened first permanent dental office in the Indian Terri- tory, Savanna, 1885. He practiced as itinerant dentist at Tishomingo Academy, Stonewall, Johnsonville, and White Bead Hill before settling in Savanna. Moved to South McAlester, 1887. Co- founder of the Indian Ter- ritory Dental Assn. Oklahoma Historical Society 212-1995
Where it stands
34.82278, -95.85000 · Directions
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