Howe, OK

Howe is a Le Flore County town on U.S. 59 between Heavener and Poteau, a place whose history began inside the Choctaw Nation. The original settlement was called Klondike. When the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad laid tracks through the area in 1895–96, residents renamed the town for railroad director Herbert Howe; a post office opened in 1898, and another railroad reached Howe that year. The 2020 census counted 625 residents. The surrounding roads still follow the old valley routes.

Coal and coke shaped Howe around the turn of the twentieth century. The Mexican Gulf Coal and Transportation Company built 100 coke ovens west of town in 1899, and later operators reopened them when demand rose during World War I. Cotton, potatoes, and agriculture also supported the local economy. Today farms and highways do most of the visible work, with Poteau and Heavener providing larger services. Howe's streets sit on the old railroad alignment, linking a Choctaw settlement, an industrial boom, and a present-day agricultural town.