Antlers, Oklahoma
Encyclopedia
Antlers is a city in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
-Administrative History:* Ca. 1000-1500: Caddoan Mississippian civilization at Spiro Mounds* 1492-1718: Spain* 1718-1763: France* 1763-1800: Spain* 1800-1803: France* 1803–present: United States...

. The population was 2,552 at the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

. It is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Pushmataha County.

Geography

Antlers is located at 34°13′52"N 95°37′15"W (34.230986, -95.620911). According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 2.7 square miles (7 km²), all of it land.

The historic center of Antlers—not counting its newly expanded city limits—straddles at least two watersheds
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

. Rain falling in the northeast part of town drains into creeks flowing northward directly into the Kiamichi River
Kiamichi River
The Kiamichi River is a river in southeastern Oklahoma. A tributary of the Red River, its headwaters rise on Pine Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains near the Arkansas border...

. This soil is rocky, with bedrock
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...

 near the surface. Water falling elsewhere in the town drains into creeks draining southward into Beaver Creek, which flows to the Kiamichi River. This soil is sandy. Standpipe Hill—which overlooks downtown Antlers—stands considerably higher, and features picturesque views to the north into the Kiamichi River valley.

Fact sheet

The city has three hotels: Sportsman Inn & Suites, Budget Inn, and the newest, Hiway Inn & Suites.

There four schools, total: Brantly Elementary (Grades K-3, Vegher Elementary (Grades 4-5), Obuch Middle School (Grades 6-8), and Antlers High School (9-12).

Until 2008, Antlers was home to the only red light in Pushmataha County. Even now, it has the only two traffic signals in the entire county.
[This is only partly true. Before 1958 Antlers had two traffic signals. In about 1960 a big truck ran under the light and knocked it down. Instead of replacing the light they just put up a 4-way stop. And now, some 50 years later, Antlers once again has two traffic lights. In 1958 the Lu Lodge Motel and Log Cabin Cafe were located on the southeast corner, Jimmy Maple's Chevrolet dealearship was on the northeast corner, and the Mobil station was on the northwest corner.]

History

Evidence exists of prehistoric activity within the city limits of present-day Antlers. Arrowhead
Arrowhead
An arrowhead is a tip, usually sharpened, added to an arrow to make it more deadly or to fulfill some special purpose. Historically arrowheads were made of stone and of organic materials; as human civilization progressed other materials were used...

s are found periodically at sites throughout the town. Most of the prehistoric sites are atop hills, which the prehistoric inhabitants found the most healthful.

Antlers and the rest of the Kiamichi River
Kiamichi River
The Kiamichi River is a river in southeastern Oklahoma. A tributary of the Red River, its headwaters rise on Pine Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains near the Arkansas border...

 valley fell within the realm of the American Indian culture based at Spiro Mounds
Spiro Mounds
Spiro Mounds is an important pre-Columbian Caddoan Mississippian culture archaeological site located in present-day eastern Oklahoma in the United States. The site is located seven miles north of Spiro, and is the only prehistoric Native American archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public...

. The Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....

 based there controlled a large portion of what is now southeastern Oklahoma and adjacent states.

More recently, nomadic Caddo Indians roamed the area. Rarely establishing permanent settlements, they were highly mobile and hunted and fished across the region.

The area that is now Antlers was granted to the Choctaw Indians in 1832 by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek
The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was a treaty signed on September 27, 1830 between the Choctaw and the United States Government. This was the first removal treaty carried into effect under the Indian Removal Act...

.

During the 1880s the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway
The St. Louis – San Francisco Railway , also known as the Frisco, was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central U.S. from 1876 to 1980.-History:...

, more popularly known as the “Frisco", built a north-south line through the Choctaw Nation
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...

, connecting Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...

 with Paris, Texas
Paris, Texas
Paris, Texas is a city located northeast of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex in Lamar County, Texas, in the United States. It is situated in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods. Physiographically, these regions are part of the West Gulf Coastal Plain. In 1900, 9,358 people lived...

. The railroad paralleled the Kiamichi River throughout much of its route in present-day Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. Train stations were established every few miles to aid in opening up the land and, more particularly, to serve as the locations of section houses. Supervisors for their respective miles of track lived in the section houses to administer the track and its right-of-way. These stations also served as points at which the trains could draw water.

The site of Antlers was selected for a statione due to the existence of a freshwater spring. Adjacent stations were established at Davenport — now Kellond, Oklahoma
Kellond, Oklahoma
Kellond, Oklahoma is a settlement and former railroad station in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. Kellond is located approximately three miles northwest of Antlers, Oklahoma on Oklahoma State Highway 2.- History :During the 1880s the St...

 — to the north, and Hamden, Oklahoma
Hamden, Oklahoma
Hamden is a community in northern Choctaw County, Oklahoma, seven miles southeast of Antlers, Oklahoma.A United States Post Office was established at Hamden, Indian Territory on March 31, 1894 and operated until May 15, 1924. Hamden is on the boundary separating Choctaw County and Pushmataha...

 to the south.

The sparsely populated area, at that time known as Jack’s Fork County of the Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...

, was home to Choctaw Indians who farmed or subsisted on the land.

Few roads or trails existed. Transportation was provided by the Frisco Railroad, which offered six trains per day (three in each direction) until it closed to passenger traffic during the late 1950s. It continued freight operations until 1981, when it closed altogether and its rails were removed. The loss of passenger rail coincided with the construction of several highways linking Antlers to other communities, including U.S. Highway 271, Oklahoma State Highway 7, and Oklahoma State Highway 2. The southern section of the Indian Nation Turnpike
Indian Nation Turnpike
The Indian Nation Turnpike is a toll road in southeastern Oklahoma. It is the longest tollway in the state.-Route description:The Indian Nation turnpike is built to parkway-like design standards, omitting a center barrier and left-hand shoulders for a slightly mounded grassy median that is flush...

, which has an interchange at Antlers, opened in 1970.

Antlers was given its name due to the presence of large antlers, or the horns of bucks
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, nailed to nearby trees, ostensibly to mark the site of the spring. A United States Post Office was established at Antlers' Indian Territory on August 26, 1887. According to early settler Colonel Victor M. Locke, Jr., a hunter was encamped at the spring at present-day Antlers early one autumn and killed a “magnificent buck.” He nailed its antlers on a tree close to the spring as a challenge to other hunters, who followed suit. Railroad officials later designated their new station stop as “Antlers” in recognition of this prominent local landmark.

American settlers from the United States lived in Antlers and surrounding areas at the discretion of the Choctaw government, which afforded the settlers no protections or government services of any kind, and during the 1890s the U.S. government acted to provide a minimal level of support. It established Recording Districts throughout all Five Civilized Tribes
Five Civilized Tribes
The Five Civilized Tribes were the five Native American nations—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—that were considered civilized by Anglo-European settlers during the colonial and early federal period because they adopted many of the colonists' customs and had generally good...

 of the Indian Territory. Antlers became Record Town of Recording District #24, which covered almost all of present-day Pushmataha, Choctaw and McCurtain counties. American citizens living in this area now had the rudiments of a justice system available.
To support the needs of a Record Town, a United States Court was established at Antlers. A large wooden courthouse was built to accommodate the justices, lawyers and courtroom facilities necessary, and Antlers became home to a small government outpost. During the waning days of the Indian Territory the Republican Party was in power in Washington, D.C., so the justices, sheriffs, deputies, and court clerks were all Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

. Local residents, being from former Confederate States, were almost all Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

.

In order to prepare for Oklahoma's statehood, the United States Government surveyed and plotted every town of significance. Antlers was surveyed in 1901 and a townsite
Townsite
A townsite is a legal subdivision of land for the development of a town or community. In the historical development of the United States, Canada, and other former British colonial nations, the filing of a townsite plat or plan was often the first legal act in the establishment of a new town or...

 of 182 acre (0.73652852 km²) was mapped. Once the area was included in a state, residents could establish formal ownership of their homes and property.

Upon the advent of Oklahoma's statehood on November 16, 1907, the Choctaw Nation and the Indian Territory ceased to exist. Antlers lost its prized status as a United States Court town and the complexion of the town’s population changed as those who worked in the “cottage industry” which had arisen to support the Court left in pursuit of other employment.

Antlers’ then served as local resort town
Resort town
A resort town, sometimes called a resort city or resort destination, is a town or area where tourism or vacationing is a primary component of the local culture and economy...

, as it is a gateway to the Kiamichi Mountains
Kiamichi Mountains
The Kiamichi Mountains are a mountain range in southeastern Oklahoma. A subrange within the larger Ouachita Mountains that extend from Oklahoma to western Arkansas, the Kiamichi Mountains sit within Le Flore, Pushmataha, and McCurtain counties near the towns of Poteau and Albion...

, and many tourists came to fish, hunt, and relax in the town and nearby mountains. Many came from Paris, Texas
Paris, Texas
Paris, Texas is a city located northeast of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex in Lamar County, Texas, in the United States. It is situated in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods. Physiographically, these regions are part of the West Gulf Coastal Plain. In 1900, 9,358 people lived...

.

Sustained growth occurred for several decades, until April 12, 1945, when Antlers was devastated by a powerful tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

. Moving southeast to northwest, it destroyed stores and homes in a wide swath, including stores and shops at the south end of High Street.

Sixty-seven residents were killed, and over 300 injured. Antlers High School was established as a makeshift morgue to receive bodies. The most significant destruction occurred in the 300 block of East Main Street, where the large and historic St. Agnes Academy for Choctaw Indians was destroyed. Miraculously, only two lives were lost: nuns who were killed by a falling chimney
Chimney
A chimney is a structure for venting hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the...

. All of the students survived.

U.S. Army troops were dispatched from Camp Maxey
Camp Maxey
Camp Maxey was a World War II infantry training camp named in honor of Samuel Bell Maxey.Located just north of Paris, Texas, it opened on July 15, 1942 under the command of Colonel C.H. Palmer...

, Texas, a World War II-era Army base located between Paris and Arthur City, Texas
Arthur City, Texas
Arthur City is an unincorporated community in Lamar County, Texas, United States.The North Lamar Independent School District serves area students.Its US Postal Service ZIP Code is 75411.-External links:* * - Lamar County Station...

. The troops assisted with rescue, maintaining law and order, and clearing rubble.

Meteorologists have since retroactively categorized the Antlers tornado as an F5 on the Fujita Scale
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...

, the most powerful. Local residents believed there were two tornados striking the town, as two funnels were claimed to have been seen. The Antlers tornado funnel measured a half-mile wide at its base, and the two funnel clouds observed locally were within the larger one. The Antlers F5 was so powerful that it could be clearly heard, as well as seen, four miles (6 km) east of town at the Ethel Road crossroads, and as far north as Kosoma.

After 1945 the town paralleled the growth experienced by the United States at large. With the advent of universal electrical service most homes came to have air-conditioning, and later almost all had televisions. Social relations changed at this point as individuals and families found their entertainment indoors, rather than outdoors or downtown.

The biggest change of the post-war years occurred in 1975, when R.C. Pruett opened East Town Village on the eastern outskirts of Antlers. In doing so, he mirrored a trend seen in almost every town across the country — major retailers relocated from historic downtowns to larger facilities on their outskirts. Pruett’s grocery store was a new one, but within a few years merchants began deserting Antlers’ historic downtown for East Town Village or other locations, or closing altogether.

At the same time, Antlers residents began shopping at Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

, which offered greater variety and lower prices than Antlers' local merchants were able to offer, and to this day many of its customers come from Antlers.

In recent years there has been an effort to declare Antlers a “Main Street USA” site.

Due to a series of arson and fires beginning in the 1970s, Antlers lost a number of its stores, changing the character of its downtown. The buildings which remain are sturdy brick buildings with antique facades. In recent years merchants have been removing the 1960s-era awnings and other structures returning the buildings to their original states.

During recent years the Antlers Frisco Depot and Antlers Spring
Antlers Frisco Depot and Antlers Spring
The Frisco Depot and adjacent Antlers Spring are historic sites in Antlers, Oklahoma. The sites are a part of the National Register of Historic Places, in which they appear as a single entry.-Establishing the Railroad:...

 have been added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, in recognition of their contribution to the architecture and history of the town. The architecture of the depot, built in 1913 with separate waiting rooms and toilets for white passengers and black passengers, pays homage to an earlier era in which racial inequality and lack of civil rights was institutionalized into the design of public buildings.

More information on the history of Antlers may be found at the Pushmataha County Historical Society
Pushmataha County Historical Society
The Pushmataha County Historical Society is a historical society devoted to collecting and preserving the history of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma...

.

Climate



Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,552 people, 1,068 households, and two families residing in the city. The population density was 931.1 people per square mile (359.6/km²). There were 1,260 housing units at an average density of 459.7 per square mile (177.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.13% White, 1.84% African American, 14.93% Native American, 0.08% Asian, 0.31% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 4.70% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.76% of the population.

There were 1,068 households out of which 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 17.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 22.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 78.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 72.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $17,594, and the median income for a family was $22,684. Males had a median income of $23,958 versus $16,688 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $11,285. About 28.9% of families and 31.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 42.7% of those under age 18 and 23.2% of those age 65 or over.

Notable residents

  • Eugene M. Bradley - namesake of Bradley International Airport
    Bradley International Airport
    Bradley International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located in Windsor Locks on the border with East Granby and Suffield, in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is owned by the State of Connecticut....

  • Nicole DeHuff
    Nicole DeHuff
    Nicole Renee DeHuff was an American actress.-Early life:DeHuff was born in Antlers, Oklahoma and raised in Rattan, Stringtown and Gillham, Arkansas. She began her acting career by earning a bachelor's degree in drama from Carnegie Mellon University...

     - actress
  • Charles C. Stephenson, Jr.
    Charles C. Stephenson, Jr.
    Charles C. Stephenson, Jr. is a petroleum industry executive and philanthropist. He was born in Antlers, Oklahoma, the son of a successful grocer. He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.-Education:...

     - energy company CEO
  • Freeda I. White - Singer/Songwriter

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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