Poster advertising Settlement Wechsler.

Jewish Agricultural Colonies

The Russian Jewish Farmer Settlement Wechsler, an agricultural colony, was located in Burleigh County, Dakota Territory, north of Bismarck. It was founded by the St. Paul, Minnesota rabbi, Judah Wechsler, in 1882 in an attempt to aid Jewish refugees escaping persecution in Europe. His congregation had become overcrowded with new immigrants, and he sought a way to relieve the burden on the community. Wechsler obtained a land grant, and eleven families settled there along with Wechsler. Unfortunately, the area did not have soil suitable for farming, and the group had little farming experience. Although at its height the settlement was home to fifty-five families and 1,400 acres of cultivated land, the poor soil, drought, and prairie fires spelled ruin for this experiment. By 1901, the settlement shut down.