Eagletown, OK

Eagletown is an unincorporated community on the Mountain Fork River in McCurtain County, roughly six miles west of the Arkansas line along U.S. 70. The 2020 census counted 404 residents. This is one of those Oklahoma places whose present-day footprint is modest while its earlier role was enormous: Eagletown became the first permanent Choctaw settlement in Indian Territory and remained important during the years of Choctaw national sovereignty. The river, the highway, and the old settlement site still give the place its basic shape.

The story starts with a ration point on the Mountain Fork, where a major group of Choctaw arrived in 1832. Missionary Loring S. Williams established Bethabara on the river's west bank, then organized a church, opened the area's first school, and secured a post office by 1834. Eagletown grew into a trading center along the Military Trace and later served as the Choctaw Nation's Eagle County seat. Statehood ended that county role in 1906. Today the community is in the Eagletown Public Schools district, and the Gardner Mansion three miles west is a National Register reminder of the surrounding history.