Shortly after the inception of Prague, Oklahoma, in 1902, Frank “Squire Vlasak assessed the diverse demography and economic opportunity of the frontier town and made a decision. Vlasak, a Czech immigrant from Bohemia, realized his ethnic group comprised only about thirty percent of the overall population and therefore would find it difficult, if not impossible, to dominate the agricultural village economically, socially or politically. Thus, in order to prosper in their new home, he realized that he and his ethnic kinsmen must adapt to their situation. Aided by the relative isolation of the frontier setting and lack of discrimination, Vlasak led the Prague Czechs in a rapid accommodation with the majority population of non-Czech, native-born whites that proved beneficial to both parties. Frank Vlasak accomplished this, and, indeed, became one of the leading citizens of the new Oklahoma town while maintaining his identity as a Czech and his influential position within his ethnic group. How he did this, is the story that follows. After years of struggle and disappointment, years of grinding poverty and want and with no hope for a better future in their motherland, Frantisek Vlasak, his wife, and young children finally decided to leave the tiny village of Bykosi, Bohemia, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – the land of their parents, grandparents, and forebears. The Bohemian family sold most of what they owned and bought one-way tickets to the United States and the promise of a better life. In 1866, the Vlasaks and their three young arrived in New York City. Here, they set up a new home in the bustling financial capital of the United States. However, their time in the huge port city proved short. Hearing of better opportunities inland, they first migrated to Ohio and then to Nebraska, joining the thriving Bohemians (commonly referred to as Czechs) already living in the state. After several years of modest success in Nebraska, the Vlasaks relocated to South Dakota where they were able to acquire farm land.1 When the Vlasak’s two sons, Frantisek Jr. (called Frank) and Vincent reached maturity they found cheap land in South Dakota in short supply. In early 1891, the two brothers and their wives, along with their sister, Fannie, and her husband, Frank Koutnik, bid their parents farewell and trekked to Waterloo, Iowa in search of their own land. No sooner had they entered the town when they learned of a land run to be held on the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation in distant Oklahoma Territory. Jumping at the opportunity for land ownership, the three young families quickly decided to participate in the run. The three families immediately packed their few belongings and left for the new and booming town of Oklahoma City, where they discovered that the land run was still six months away. Determined to joust for the valuable land, the three siblings waited for their opportunity. Although conversant in English, their native tongue drew the young immigrants into contact with other ethnic Bohemians also waiting for the prospect of inexpensive land.2 After poring over the map of the proposed land run, this group of Czechs resolved to try and claim land close to one another in the hopes of forming a Czech farming community. At noon on September 22nd of 1891 when the gun sounded for the start of the land run, the Czechs, along with about twenty thousand others, raced their horses and wagons as fast as possible in expectation of acquiring prime acreage.3 Unfortunately for Frank Koutnik, his horse died only four miles into the run slightly south and several miles west of his hoped-for destination. A frustrated Koutnik had no other option but to claim the area under his dead horse. Although saddened by the mishap of their brother-in-law, the Vlasak brothers strove forward and staked desirable plots in the southeast corner of what later became Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Other Czechs joined the Vlasaks in the area and almost overnight a small community of Bohemian farmers sprang into existence.4 These families, with names such as Barta, Hrdy, Sestak, Bontty, and Provaznik, primarily settled in the townships of North Creek and South Creek. The immigrants quickly cleared and tilled the land and built temporary shelters. The United States established mail service on the southeast corner of Frank Barta’s homestead and, within two years after the land run, there were about fifty Czech homesteads in the area known as the Barta Post Office.5 A smaller group of German immigrants established a colony directly north of the Czechs’ in North Creek Township. However, despite the efforts of both Czech and German immigrants, white native-born Americans comprised the bulk of those involved in the land run. Many times someone quicker to the spot interrupted the Czechs’ attempt to settle together.6 For example, the 1891 land run claims of Czechs Frank Barta, Frantisek Mastena, Frantisek Souva, and Vincent Martinek surro