Early Jewish pioneers to Palestine favored the creation of a bi-national state - one Jewish, the other Arab.
Settlers here saw themselves as following the nationalist tradition of Jewish pioneers who helped build the state of Israel.
It was later renamed to honor Henry Heppner, a Jewish pioneer who opened the first general store there in 1873.
Jewish pioneers were mostly young single men like Solomon Jacob Spiegelberg, who left Westphalia as a teenager in search of a better life.
Despite their small numbers, Jewish pioneers and their descendants rose to prominence in New Mexico territory and after it became a state in 1912.
Towns and railroad sidings were also named for Jewish pioneers, although these names have largely vanished from maps.
"The Jewish pioneers went from west to east," Mr. Wilson said.
In July 1920, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine with a group of 130 Jewish pioneers.
In 1909, Jewish pioneers established the first cooperative farming village (kibbutz), Kvutzat Kinneret.
A history of Jewish pioneers in the American West.