Kemp

History

The incorporated town of Kemp, Oklahoma is located in the southern part of Bryan County, Oklahoma and was originally settled in the 1880s with the name of Warner Springs. The town was renamed Kemp, Indian Territory, in 1890 after prominent Chickasaw Legislator Jackson Kemp. The town is also in the southeast corner of Panola County of the Chickasaw Nation. It became part of Bryan County with the Statehood of Oklahoma in 1907. The post office for the town of Kemp was established October 20, 1890. The town was surveyed and staked out August 8, 1901, and town lots were sold October 20, 1905. Board sidewalks lined Main Street of Kemp in the early years. The First Bank of Kemp, several grocery stores, a pharmacy, barber shops, livery stables, a hardware store, a blacksmith shop, a butcher shop, cafes, and even a hotel made the business district of the town. However, when the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (later the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf) located three miles west of the town in 1912, many of the businesses including the bank located there in Kemp City, later renamed Hendrix, and the town of Kemp began its decline. The last store in the town closed in 1980. Many girls of Chickasaw Indian descent from the area attended Bloomfield Academy, an Indian girls’ school located three miles northwest of Kemp operated by the Chickasaw Nation from 1852 until 1911. During the early years of Kemp, the other children would attend school in the one-room log school house called Warner Springs School, located just south of town. A larger frame school building was built around 1907. A brick building was later built that burned around 1940 and was replaced by a rock school building. The first Kemp High School graduating class was in 1932 and the last class to graduate was in…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• ACHILLE ES
  Elementary · Achille · 242 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• ACHILLE HS
  High · Achille · 67 students · 11.2:1 ratio