Le Flore County, Oklahoma

Cities and Township History

Arkoma lies just across the state line from Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the intersection of Oklahoma State Highways 9A and 112. In 1908 the Ft. Smith, Arkoma and Southwestern Railroad Company applied for incorporation to build a railroad through the area but failed to lay the tracks. By 1911 a town had been organized on the property of Capt. James Reynolds, a Civil War veteran who intermarried into the Choctaw Nation. He amassed a small fortune in Indian Territory and in 1890 built a castle in the nearby town of Cameron. Reynolds developed Arkoma as a suburb of Fort Smith, platted the town, constructed rent houses, and induced the Fort Smith Light and Traction Company to build tracks and run a regular interurban route to the new community. Reynolds named the town because of its relation to the Arkansas-Oklahoma border. A proposed Ft. Smith, Arkoma and Wilburton Railway Company (chartered in 1912), which would build a sixty-mile line from Wilburton to Arkoma, never materialized. Its promoters had hoped to establish a manufacturing industry at the townsite. In 1917 the streetcar service discontinued. By 1918 the town had a general store and by the 1930s a brick plant, but Arkoma has always served as a residential community for workers commuting to Fort Smith. In 1936 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a school building, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 (NR 88001398). In 1946 Arkoma incorporated, and by 1950 the population stood at 1,691. The number of inhabitants increased to 1,862 in 1960 and to 2,098 in 1970. The town's first high school opened in the 1970s, with its first graduation occurring in 1975. In 2000 the population was 2,180, and 422 students enrolled in the prekindergarten through twelfth grade Arkoma school system.

Bokoshe (bM-kM-´sh ) is on State Highway 31, seven miles west of Panama. The original settlement in the Choctaw Nation existed north of the present town and was also called Shake Rag. Bokoshe was a Choctaw word meaning "little creek" and refers to a nearby Bokoshe Creek. In 1886 the Post Office Department designated a post office called Bokoshe, with William Sanner as postmaster. In 1895 ten coal miners worked at a strip pit near the community. The coal industry has been associated with the town for more than a century. In 1900 the population stood at 153. In 1901 the Ft. Smith and Western Railway laid tracks into the area to take advantage of the region's coal deposits. For the same reason, in 1903-1904 the Midland Valley Railroad constructed a line from Arkansas to the Bokoshe mines. The town moved from its earlier location to the intersection of the railroads. In 1904 the Bokoshe Smokeless Coal Company and the Henderson Smokeless Coal Company opened mines nearby. The 1910 population increased to 483, and in 1911 the town had a telephone connection, a bank, two hotels, several retail outlets, a cotton gin, and a flour mill. By 1916 at least six coal mines surrounded the town. The Bokoshe Chronicle, the Choctaw Herald, and the Bokoshe Enterprise had reported news to the town, but all were defunct by 1920. The presence of cotton gins and livestock brokers reflected a flourishing farming and ranching economy. The 1920 census reported 869 residents, declining to 715 in 1930. As coal mining slowed in other portions of Oklahoma, the Bokoshe mines seemed to fare better, and local miners held key positions in the state's United Mine Workers of America labor union. In 1932 eight mines operated, some just part-time, near the town, employing approximately ninety-nine miners. These operations also increased the possibility of mining disasters, and the area mines had at least one fatal accident in the 1930s, the 1940s, and the 1950s. In 1940 the population was 690, and it continued to decline, the census registering 431 in 1960. By the 1960s the Lone Star Steel Company had the only slope mine at the town. In 1965 the town dedicated a new waterworks system, partially funded by federal grant money. In the 1970s the area's coal industry had a resurgence. The Garland Coal Company opened a mine in 1975, and the Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) Steel Corporation initiated a new mine in 1979. By the end of the twentieth century almost all of Oklahoma's coal came from strip mines, with mos of the region's slope mines closing.

Cameron is located on State Highway 112, eight miles northeast of Poteau. In 1933 noted geologist Charles Gould speculated that the town may have been named for former Indian Territory mine inspector William Cameron. In the mid-1930s the Federal Writers' Project, using local residents as sources, claimed that the name honors James Cameron, who in 1886 did preliminary work for the railroad company that built through the area. By the time James Cameron came to this region of the Choctaw Nation, a small settlement of nearly forty people had already formed. The Fort Smith and Southern Railway laid tracks in the area in 1886-87, although the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway (SL&SF, or Frisco) bought the railroad in February 1887 and completed the line. In 1888 the Post Office Department established the Cameron post office, with William Green serving as postmaster. James Reynolds, a successful rancher and entrepreneur, moved to the community in 1890, building the town's most recognizable home, constructed in the form of a castle. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. In 1893 Reynolds established the Cameron Institute, sponsored by the Presbyterian Church and serving students of any denomination from the primary.In 1895 the U.S. government divided Indian Territory into three judicial districts, with the central district conducting its courts at Atoka, Antlers, Cameron, and South McAlester. This selection made Cameron a growing, active town, and it applied for incorporation under Arkansas law in 1898, after the Curtis Act passed. By 1900 the population stood at 316. That year the federal government moved its court to nearby Poteau. In 1901 Cameron had a hotel, several retail stores, three doctors, three cotton gins, and a blacksmith. By 1910 the population had declined to 206, and in 1911 the businesses consisted of a bank, five general stores, three doctors, a drugstore, one cotton gin, and a blacksmith. Cotton dominated the area's agriculture, but fruit and potato farmers also prospered. Coal mining existed on a limited basis, with the Williams Coal Company leasing a mine from the Cameron Coal and Mercantile Company in 1913. Strip mining occurred later in the twentieth century. In 1923 the first successful natural gas well was drilled near Cameron in the Cameron Field. Before the year ended, there were seven producing wells, and by 1930, ten. The 1930 population of 233, declined to 203 in 1940. In 1932 the town still supported a cotton gin and a cotton oil company. In the 1950s the Peerless Coal and Coke Company operated in the area. The population remained around 200 until the 1970 census, when it rose to 311. In 1980 the Frisco abandoned its Le Flore County tracks. In that year the population reached 365 and then declined to 327 in 1990. Natural gas extraction continued at the end of the twentieth century. The Williams School, built by the Works Progress Administration and situated northwest of Cameron, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, as is the Jenson Railroad Tunnel, northeast of the town. In 2000 there were 520 students enrolled in prekindergarten through high school, and the town's population was 312.  level to high school. The school continued into the early twentieth century

Howe is situated immediately west of U.S. Highway 59, eight miles north of Heavener and seven miles south of Poteau. The Choctaw Nation settlement was originally known as Klondike. After the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf Railroad (bought by the Kansas City Southern Railway in 1900) laid tracks through the area in 1895-96, the residents renamed the town for Herbert Howe, a director of the railroad. In 1898 the U.S. Post Office Department established a post office in the community. That same year, the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (leased to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company in 1904) also built tracks to the town. In the 1890s coal mining had emerged in the area, and beginning in 1899 the Mexican Gulf Coal and Transportation Company (MGC&T) built one hundred coke ovens west of Howe. After this company experienced financial problems, the Degnan and McConnell Coal and Coke Company purchased their assets. The local mines that the MGC&T had owned continued in operation, but the ovens were shut down. After World War I began, coal was once again in demand, and the Howe-McCurtain Coal and Coke Company reopened the ovens. In 1900 Howe's population stood at 626, and the economy hinged on coal, coke, cotton, and potatoes. In 1901 the town had the Howe Herald newspaper, four doctors, four drugstores, several general and grocery stores, a cotton gin, and a hotel. By 1910 the population declined to 538, but it rebounded to 711 in 1920. Residents supported a bank, two cotton gins, and two hotels. Other local newspapers in the early twentieth century included the Howe Eagle and the Western Star. In 1932 the Lincoln Coal Company worked the mines and also manufactured coal briquets. The 1930 population of 692, declined to 640 in 1940. In the post-World War II decade gas stations and a few retail outlets comprised the businesses, with the Dawes Brothers Coal Company as the only registered mining entity in the area. In 1949 the U.S. Corps of Engineers completed the Wister Dam west of town for flood control and recreation. In 1960 the population had fallen to 390. In 1961 a devastating tornado struck the town and the neighboring village of Reichter, killing thirteen, injuring fifty-seven, and destroying more than fifty residences. In 1967 the Howe Coal Company signed a thirteen-year contract to supply the Japanese steel industry with coal produced from the region's mines. Agriculture remained an economic constant. The 1980 population showed an increase to 562. In 2000 the population was 697, and the school system enrolled 346 students in grades prekindergarten through twelve.

LEFLORE  Located in western Le Flore County, approximately twenty-five miles southwest of Poteau, Leflore initially existed as a dispersed rural settlement in the Choctaw Nation. The community's center was a school for Choctaw students. In 1886-87 the Fort Smith and Southern Railway, soon purchased by the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, laid tracks through the area, erecting a small station at LeFlore. In 1887 the Post Office Department designated the first post office. The town's name reflects the prominent Le Flore family and may have specifically been chosen to honor Millie Le Flore. The present community lies on County Road E1460. In 1901 the estimated population stood at fifty, and the town had a doctor, general store, gristmill, and cotton gin. It also supported two dealers in livestock, indicating that ranching served as a prevalent economic industry. In 1902 Leflore was surveyed and platted under the direction of the Dawes Commission, with the Department of the Interior approving the survey. By 1911 the town had an estimated population of 450, with businesses including a bank, telephone connections, a drugstore, and two hotels. In 1918 the approximate population had declined to three hundred, but three livestock dealers operated. In 1946 the significant businesses included a general store, a grocery and feed store, and a blacksmith. By 1955 a service station had been added. In the 1960s, as the county experienced growth due to the construction of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System and Talimena Scenic Drive, the incorporated towns began a frenzy of annexation, hoping to reap the benefit of sales taxes and state funds. Many communities that were not already incorporated did so, including Leflore.

In 1927 the company ambitiously established Pine Valley, one of the largest lumber towns in the American South. Pine Valley offered a large hotel, general store, drugstore, post office, barbershop, doctor, school, boarding house, movie house, ice plant, jail, churches, and over one hundred houses. There was even a segregated section for African American workers. In the early 1900s Dierks also had mobile company towns consisting of entire buildings that were transported into an area on railroad cars, unloaded to serve the workers while they cut all of the surrounding timber, and then loaded back onto the railroad cars and moved to a new location.

Poteau, the Le Flore County seat, is located near the county's center, about twelve miles west of the Oklahoma-Arkansas border. In the early eighteenth century a band of French explorers entered this region and established trading posts, trafficking with the area's American Indians in furs and hides along the river they named Poteau. Their description of eastern Oklahoma, as well as their maps, somewhat accurately depicted the area. The French word, Poteau, translates into English as "post" meaning 'military post" or outpost. The town is situated in the valley between the scenic Cavanal and Sugar Loaf mountains. U.S. Highways 59, 270, and 271 serve the Poteau area. U.S. Highways 271 and 59 share a common route through the town. Poteau is the southern terminus of State Highway 112, whose northern terminus is the Oklahoma-Arkansas border near Arkoma and entire length is thirty miles. Most of the Choctaw who removed to the West in the 1830s arrived by boat on the Arkansas River. They disembarked a few miles west of Fort Smith at a point they called Skullyville. Skullyville became the town where they received federal annuity payments. It also served briefly as the Choctaw Nation's capital. A few of these new citizens traveled the thirty miles due south to establish residency in the present Poteau area. They were the vicinity's only inhabitants until the mid-1870s. Three white families had moved there by 1879. In 1886-87 the Fort Smith and Southern Railway, soon purchased by the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, laid tracks through the area on its route to Paris, Texas. Its line included a station at Poteau. In 1896 Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad (acquired by the Kansas City Southern Railway in 1900) initiated service through town. In 1887 a post office was established, and in 1898 the community incorporated. Poteau's location and the advent of rail service assured its becoming the region's principal city. Poteau's greatest growth occurred between 1900 and 1915. In that interim, the population expanded from 1,182 to approximately 2,500. Coal mining served as the vicinity's earliest and most successful industry, and cotton production was sufficient to command a gin. Other twentieth-century industries have included hotels, and the manufacture of wood products such as chairs, glass bottles and cylinders, and bricks. Several other smaller businesses and retail outlets served the residents. By 1930 the population stood at 3,169 and increased to 4,428 by 1960. Several newspapers have reported local news, including the Poteau Leader, the Poteau News, the Poteau Herald, the Poteau Journal, the Poteau Sun, the Poteau Valley Times, and the Poteau News and Sun. In 1926-27 the county constructed its present courthouse. In 1927 Poteau residents elected Nora Shaw as one Oklahoma's first woman mayors. In 1933 Poteau Junior College opened and in 1973 became a four-year state college, two years after it became Carl Albert State College. In 1950 the Le Flore County Memorial Hospital, later the Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center, opened. In 1955, after the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas) decision (1954), Poteau became the first state school district to announce that it would integrate. Veterinarian John Montgomery, a graduate of the Tuskegee Institute, spearheaded the integration policy and led the area's civil rights movement. In 2000 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. In the 1950s Robert S. Kerr established a ranch outside of Poteau, and after his 1963 death, in 1978 the family donated it to the state. It later became the Kerr Conference Center and Museum.

Spiro lies on U.S. Highway 271 on the dividing ridge between the Arkansas and Poteau rivers. The town is located three miles south of the Arkansas River, seventeen miles southwest of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and ten miles west of the Oklahoma-Arkansas border. Many of the early Choctaw who arrived in the Indian Territory in the 1830s by steamboat remained near their point of debarkation and founded the town of Skullyville. The name roughly translates into "money town," referring to the federal annuities paid there. Other Choctaw remained nearby, creating agricultural areas, including the site of present Spiro. Skullyville soon developed into a prosperous regional town and served briefly as the Choctaw capital. In 1895-96 the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad (acquired by the Kansas City Southern Railway in 1900) laid tracks through the vicinity and established a station at present Spiro. In 1898 the company connected Spiro directly with Fort Smith. This led to Skullyville's decline, with most businesses and residents relocating to Spiro. It became the area's principal town. In 1898 the Post Office Department designated a Spiro post office. There are several versions of the community's naming. One claims that "Spiro" was the first postmistress's maiden name. The second suggests that it was named after the father-in-law of a Fort Smith merchant, and the third that Spiro was the maiden name of a Fort Smith banker's mother. In 1900 the population stood at 543. Even before the railroad arrived, cotton served as Spiro's economic base. In 1901 the town had three cotton yards, a cotton gin, five hotels, a bank, and a wide variety of professional and retail services. By 1910 the population had grown to 1,173, and there were three cotton gins and two banks. The population declined to 969 in 1930, and in 1932 the town still shipped cotton and grain, with two gins and four gristmills operating. Timber and livestock were also major industries. By 1950 the population had rebounded to 1,365. Early-twentieth-century newspapers included the Spiro Gazette, Spiro Times, and Spiro Tribune. The Spiro Graphic reported to the town at the beginning of the twenty-first century.  One of the state's most renowned and important archaeological sites, the Spiro Mounds (Caddoan, A.D. 850 to 1450), is located near the town. In 1978 the Spiro Mounds Archaeological State Park opened an interpretive center, becoming a tourist attraction and a local source of income. In 1974 the town initiated construction of Kiamichi Vo-Tech branch (later the Kiamichi Technology Center-Spiro). The Spiro Mounds, the Choctaw Agency-Walker Station, and Tucker School, all in the Spiro vicinity, have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Wister is located in central Le Flore County and in the northern portion of the Ouachita National Forest near Lake Wister, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created between 1946 and 1949. U.S. Highways 270 and 271 pass through the town. McAlester is located fifty-five miles almost due west, and the Oklahoma-Arkansas border lies twenty miles east of Wister. Within a few decades of the 1830s Choctaw removal from Mississippi to Indian Territory, the population in the future Le Flore County area had greatly increased. By the second half of the nineteenth century the Choctaw and the whites who joined them had developed an economy that required railroad services. In 1866, after the Civil War, a treaty between the Choctaw Nation and the federal government permitted railroads to build through the territory. They became an integral part of the economy, transporting coal, timber, livestock, farming, and other products, as well as passengers. The Post Office Service designated a Wister post office on June 30, 1890. The town is a namesake of Gutman G. Wister, an official of the now defunct Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad. The town existed before the post office. In 1886 a hotel and other buildings in the vicinity served workers building the Fort Smith and Southern Railway (soon purchased by the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway) through the vicinity. From 1889-90 the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (leased to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway in 1904) laid tracks from Wister to McAlester and in 1898 from Wister to Howe. The circumstances of Wister's establishment were similar to those of most Le Flore County towns fortunate enough to have a railroad. In 1900 the population was 313, climbing to 498 in 1910. In 1911 the town had a bank, a cotton gin, a gristmill, a sawmill, a hotel, and several retail outlets. The New Era, the Wister News, the Wister Record, and the Wister Informer have reported the local news. By 1930 the population stood at 761, and the town still had a cotton gin, gristmill, and sawmill. The coal and timber industries supported the area's economy throughout most of the twentieth century. In 1950 the population was 729, but it declined to 592 in 1960 before resurging to 927 in 1970. One hundred years after Wister's first post office opened, the population stood at 956 in 1990. In 2000 the population was 1,002, and the school district enrolled 525 students from prekindergarten through high school.