Beggs, OK

Beggs is an Okmulgee County city about 31 miles south of Tulsa and 13 miles northwest of Okmulgee, with 1,179 residents in the 2020 census. Alternate U.S. 75 and State Highway 16 run through the city, while U.S. 75 is about four miles east. Beggs lies within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and the city’s school, city hall, and downtown routines serve the ranching country around it. The highway and rail alignments give Beggs a regional reach beyond its population.

Beggs began as a Frisco railroad stop in 1899, when vice president Charles Hoffman Beggs selected the site for a depot and stock pen. Its post office opened in 1900, and the city government was established in 1902. Hog, cattle, and horse ranches shaped the early economy; oil discovered west of town in 1918 brought a boom that peaked before 1926. The city’s history also follows the forced removal of Muscogee people to Indian Territory after the 1832 treaty, and Muscogee citizens remain part of Beggs today. Beggs is an Oklahoma railroad town where ranching, oil, highways, and Creek Nation history meet.