Before 1820, Southern Oklahoma was mostly inhabited by scattered plains Indian tribes until treaties with the federal government ceded lands to the Choctaw Nation, one of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Choctaws moved west of the Mississippi to their new home beginning in 1832 on the difficult trek known as the “Trail of Tears.” Throughout the following decades, the land transitioned from Indian to white ownership, as the Chickasaws purchased the right to establish districts in Choctaw land, later forming the Chickasaw Nation with its own government and counties.
Over time, the increasing presence of white men, such as ranchers from Texas utilizing the permit system for grazing, led to a blend of populations and the gradual erosion of Indian land rights. As railroads and settlers flooded into the area, tensions and conflicts arose, culminating with the Curtis Act and Dawes Committee which all but dismantled communal land ownership, allotting individual plots to tribe members.
Ardmore emerged as a significant settlement in the Chickasaw Nation, becoming the Carter County seat at Oklahoma statehood in 1907. The discovery of oil in 1913 greatly impacted the county’s economy, transforming it industrially and socially. Carter County’s history reflects a complex tapestry of expansion, indigenous resilience, and the evolution of community through adversity.