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Official Website
History
Originally occupied by the Quapaw tribe, the Quapaw ceded the area to the U.S. Government soon after the Louisiana Purchase in 1818. During the late 1820s and 1830s, the area was given to the Creek and Seminole tribes after their forced removal from the southeastern United States. An agreement between the two tribes resulted in this area being part of the Seminole Nation, located west of the Creek Nation.
In 1866, these tribes were forced to cede the area to the Federal Government for siding with the Confederacy during the American Civil War. The area became part of the Unassigned Lands and was opened for white settlement on April 22, 1889.
After the passage of the Organic Act in 1890, Cleveland County was organized as County 3 and Norman became the county seat. For a short time, Cleveland County was known as Little River County, until an election in 1890. The voters selected the name Cleveland in honor of President Grover Cleveland over the name Lincoln.
During the 1870s, many Texas cattlemen wanted to drive their stocks north to the railways in Kansas in order to ship their beef to markets in Chicago. The Arbuckle Trail was an east branch of the Chisholm Trail. The trail crossed the Red River at Thacker Ferry and ran north to Fort Arbuckle and then to what is now Norman and then northwest to what is now Kingfisher where it re-joined the Chisholm Trail.
Adjacent Counties
Communities
- Etowah
- Hall Park
- Lexington
- Moore
- Noble
- Norman (County Seat)
- Oklahoma City (part)
- Purcell (part)
- Slaughterville
Links
National Register of Historic Places
Cleveland County Historical Society
