J. M. Hall

James Monroe Hall (1851–1935) came to the town of Tulsa in what was then known as Indian Territory. James and his brother, Harry C. Hall, operated a tent store that had followed the route of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad and selected the site where the road would stop at Tulsa. They initially selected a site where the railroad crossed what would become Lewis Avenue and pitched a tent for the store there. This location was just inside the boundary of the Cherokee nation. When the Halls discovered that the Creek Nation had less restrictions on the activities of white merchants, they moved the store a couple of miles west to what would become First Street and erected a more permanent wooden building.

Early life James Hall (often called J. M.) was born on a farm in Marshall County, Tennessee, near the town of Belfast, on December 4, 1851. He graduated from Union Academy in Marshall County, Tennessee when he was seventeen years old.

Hall moved to Oswego, Kansas about 1868, and then moved to a site near McAlester, Indian Territory in 1874. There, he was in charge of a general store connected to a coal mining company. He also married his first wife, Lula Pigg, with whom he had three children: Juanita, Lena and Hugh. J. M. remained in McAlester for three years until the store was sold, then returned to Oswego and entered the grocery business until January, 1882. He then moved to Vinita, in Indian Territory, where he operated a store that sold supplies to men working on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. Haworth would serve until Charles William Kerr arrived in 1900 as the first permanent Presbyterian minister in Tulsa.

In 1889, J. M. Hall, Jay Forsythe, R. M. Bynum and Joe Price bought the site occupied by the Presbyterian Mission Day School from the Presbyterian Board for $1,050. They held the title until Tulsa was incorporated, then deeded the property to Tulsa for use as a school. In 1906, the mission building was razed and the property became the site of Tulsa High School.

Hall was one of the organizers of the Commercial Club in 1902. This club was a forerunner of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. He served as club president in 1904. Hall remained an active member of the club until 1932, when he was granted an honorary life membership.