[6] In the spring of 1849, Horse and a group of Black Seminoles founded a settlement near modern-day Wewoka.

[6] Seeking safety and autonomy from the Creek Nation, they established a community located at the falls of a small stream, lying in the fertile lands between the North and South Canadian Rivers.

Brown, an employee of the federal government led Seminole refugees from Leroy, Kansas to Indian Territory.

In 1866, after the Confederacy surrendered, the United States government required the Seminole Nation to sign a new treaty, which required them to emancipate their slaves, give freedmen who wanted to stay in the territory full rights as citizens, including voting in the tribe.

Brown led the refugees back to Wewoka, here he built himself a house and established a trading post.

Freedmen settled in Wewoka along with the Seminole and Elijah Brown was the only legal white settler in the town.

The trading post had several subsequent proprietors before it was bought by two Seminole brothers, John Frippo Brown and A. J.

[1][7][b][c] During the existence of the Seminole Nation as a political entity, the federal government was required by treaty to make payments directly to qualified tribe members.

A popular sight was the pay wagon, accompanied by several armed Seminole light horsemen who rapidly unloaded the gold bullion, silver coins and paper money, and make a mad dash from the train station to the Wewoka Trading Company building, where it was delivered to A. J.

Brown kept the bulk payment in the company vault until he distributed it directly to the proper recipients.

The Seminole National Council ordered that decreed that the lots could be sold only to American Indians.

[1] The city developed around the house that Andrew Jackson Brown and his wife Mannie Lou built at 11th Avenue and Muskogee.

The historic downtown received a face lift of new sidewalks, streets, lights and flowers.

According to the demographic comparison, the number of households is decreasing, but the income of those living in Wewoka is increasing.

[10] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.8 square miles (12.5 km2), all land.

The drive from Wewoka to the nearest major metropolitan area Oklahoma City is a little over one hour.

Agriculture was a major component of the Wewoka economy, with important products being cotton, peaches, peanuts, pecans, and Silvermine variety of corn.

Although the population declined significantly during and right after World War II, it began to stabilize later in the 20th century.

Major employers in the city have included Wewoka Brick Company, the Wewoka Packing Plant, the Oklahoma Clothing Manufacturing Company, Lillian Russell (dress manufacturing), Acker Industries (steel products), and Plasteck Central (aircraft parts).

[14] Along with the associated 1400-acre wildlife refuge which surrounds it,[18] the lake offers boat docks and ramps; primitive campsites as well as RV sites; equestrian trails and facilities; and, other amenities.

[19] In 1941, as part of the New Deal projects of the Works Progress Administration, Marjorie Rowland Clarke won a federal commission from the Section of Painting and Sculpture′s projects, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department to paint a mural for the Wewoka post office.

It is housed in a native stone building that initially served as the Wewoka Community Center, after it was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1934.

The museum offers educational courses both on site and on the road (both in Oklahoma and in other parts of the United States.

[21] Vance Trimble, a Pulitzer Prize winning news reporter, editor and author, donated an extensive collection of research materials he used in writing his book, Alice & J. F. B., a biography of Seminole chiefs Alice Brown Davis and John F. Brown.

Sorghum is not an agricultural crop of the Wewoka area; a small patch is grown for this celebration.

Past Sorghum Day parade marshals include actor Ken Curtis, best known for his portrayal of Festus Haggen on the long-running CBS western television series Gunsmoke.