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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Choctaw County, Oklahoma.
The Choctaw Nation moved into the area now occupied by Choctaw County in 1831-1832, as a result of their forcible removal from their homeland in the Southeastern United States, under the Indian Removal Act. The US wanted to extinguish Native American land claims in the Southeast to enable development by European Americans. It offered land in exchange in Indian Territory.
The U.S. Army had already established Fort Towson in the western area in 1824, and took on the mission of protecting the newcomers from other tribes. In 1837, the Chickasaw were also removed, and settled the area around Doaksville, which was adjacent to the fort. Both the town of Fort Towson and Doaksville served as the capital of the Choctaw Nation. Doaksville became a ghost town after the Civil War. In 1848, the Presbyterian church established a mission, which still exists and is now known as Goodland Academy.
The St. Louis and San Francisco Railway built a line through the town of Hugo in 1902, stimulating commercial development of the town as a regional center. Before statehood, the area of Choctaw County was part of Jackson, Kiamichi, Cedar, and Towson counties, Choctaw Nation. It included two of the three administrative super-regions comprising the Choctaw Nation: the Apukshunnubbee District and the Pushmataha District. When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, Choctaw County was created and Hugo was named as the county seat.
In October 2011 the U.S. Navy announced plans to honor Choctaw County with the naming of a ship. The Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) will simultaneously honor the three American counties named Choctaw County, in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. "I grew up in Choctaw County, Miss., where people work hard to raise their families and provide for their children," Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said in announcing the plan. "I chose to name JHSV after Choctaw County to honor those men and women who represent rural America." USNS Choctaw County will bear hull number JHSV-2.
Adjacent Counties
- Pushmataha County
- McCurtain County
- Red River County, Texas
- Lamar County, Texas
- Bryan County
- Atoka County
Cities, Towns & Communities
- Apple
- Boswell
- Fallon
- Fort Towson
- Frogville
- Gay
- Grant
- Hamden
- Hugo (County Seat)
- Messer
- Nelson
- Rufe
- Sawyer
- Soper
- Spencerville
- Swink
Links
National Register of Historic Places
