Kemp is a town in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, Kemp had a population of 126.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Kemp had a population of 126. The median age was 41.0 years. 17.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 21.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 100.0 males age 18 and over.
There were 54 households in Kemp, of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.3% were married-couple households, 24.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 24.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 82 || 65.1%
|-
| Black or African American || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 29 || 23.0%
|-
| Asian || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Some other race || 2 || 1.6%
|-
| Two or more races || 13 || 10.3%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 3 || 2.4%
|}
2000 census
As of the census
The post office for the town of Kemp was established October 20, 1890. The town was surveyed and staked out August 8, 1901, and town lots were sold October 20, 1905.
Board sidewalks lined Main Street of Kemp in the early years. The First Bank of Kemp, several grocery stores, a pharmacy, barber shops, livery stables, a hardware store, a blacksmith shop, a butcher shop, cafes, and even a hotel made the business district of the town. However, when the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (later the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf) located three miles west of the town in 1912, many of the businesses including the bank located there in Kemp City, later renamed Hendrix, and the town of Kemp began its decline. The last store in the town closed in 1980.
Many girls of Chickasaw Indian descent from the area attended Bloomfield Academy, an Indian girls’ school located three miles northwest of Kemp operated by the Chickasaw Nation from 1852 until 1911. During the early years of Kemp, the other children would attend school in the one-room log school house called Warner Springs School, located just south of town. A larger frame school building was built around 1907. A brick building was later built that burned around 1940 and was replaced by a rock school building. The first Kemp High School graduating class was in 1932 and the last class to graduate was in 1968, when the school lost its accreditation during the mass consolidation efforts of the state in the late 1960s. The mascot for the school was the Kemp Tigers. Most students in the area now attend school at Achille, Oklahoma. The rock school building is owned by the town and serves the area as the Kemp Community Center.
There are two active churches in the town: the Kemp Baptist Church and the Kemp Church of Christ.
Most working adults are employed in either Durant, Oklahoma or in Sherman-Denison, Texas. Most adults seeking higher education attend Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, or Grayson County College, in Denison, Texas.