Stone Gardens: Pioneering Fort Snith Jewish couple interred on south side of combined faith cemetery on Lexington Avenue

Ben Wolf (April 30, 1847 – August 20, 1916) and Zippie Oppenheimer Wolf (July 29, 1859 – November 21, 1923) were central figures in the vibrant Jewish community of Fort Smith, whose lives intertwined with the city’s commercial and cultural growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Ben, born in Bavaria, Germany, immigrated to the United States in 1868, settling in Fort Smith by 1880. Zippie, born Elizabeth Oppenheimer in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to German immigrant parents Henry (1807–1870) and Brunette Hirsch Oppenheimer (1823–1884), joined Ben in Fort Smith after their marriage on June 22, 1879, in Sebastian County.

Together, they built a family and a legacy tied to the city’s bustling mercantile scene and its historic Jewish community.

The couple made their home in Fort Smith Ward 2, where they raised their children--Mae, born in 1880, Herbert, born around 1885, and Estelle, who tragically died in infancy (1882–1883).

The 1880 U.S. Census captures the young family with two-month-old Mae, while the 1900 Census shows a household that included Mae (20), Herbert (15), Zippie’s brother Fireto Oppenheimer (36), and a servant, Eckart Wolf (21).

By 1910, Mae and Fireto had moved out, but Ben and Zippie remained in their Fort Smith home, a constant in the city’s evolving landscape. Their shared journey also included international travel, as evidenced by their 1905 return from Bremen, Germany, aboard the Friedrich der Grosse, suggesting business or personal ties abroad.

Ben was a dry goods merchant who co-founded the Mayers and Wolf Mercantile at 301 Garrison Avenue, a key commercial address in Fort Smith’s historic downtown, laid out in 1838 by the city’s founder, John Rogers.

This two-story brick building, completed in 1896, served as a retail hub for textiles, clothing, and household goods, catering to Fort Smith’s diverse population, including Native American communities.

Around 1910, the business transitioned into the Wolf and Pollock Store, with Ben partnering with a new associate, Alfred Pollock Sr., while maintaining operations at the same location. The building, later known as the Ben Wolf Emporium, featured a decorative parapet, iron trim, and a vault door in use since 1913.

It remained a significant site, later housing the Fort Smith Light and Traction Co. and, in the 2020s, Lux Haus, a furniture store that preserved its historic pinewood floors.

As Jewish immigrants, Ben and Zippie were deeply rooted in Fort Smith’s Jewish community, which established the Hebrew Cemetery Association in 1871 and the United Hebrew Congregation.

Their commitment to this community is reflected in their burials in the Jewish Cemetery at Lexington Avenue and South H Street, a National Register of Historic Places site. B

Ben passed away in 1916 at age 69, followed by Zippie in 1923 at age 64, leaving behind a legacy of commerce and community in Fort Smith.