Preservation
Hochatown has hundreds of years of history to document and record. Our most urgent need is to record the history of the last surviving generation of Original Hochatown. Many are now in there in 80s and 90s.
1719 French explorer, La Harpe, commands a French outpost on the Red River and makes contacts with Choctaw Indians at his trading post.
1819 While “loitering to collect some curious plants,” botanist Thomas Nuttall is separated from his research companions and is lost in the Kiamichi Mountains. He is obliged to lodge with squatters in the Indian Territory until he could be returned to Fort Smith by a military contingent.
1820 Congress designates the southeast quadrant of Oklahoma (Indian Territory) to be occupied by the Choctaws.
1825 White settlers are removed from what is to become the Choctaw Nation.
1830 The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek provides ownership of the lands in the area to the Choctaws in exchange for their land east of the Mississippi.
1831-32 The Trail of Tears brings Choctaw Indians from their Mississippi and Alabama homelands to Indian Territory. The Hocha clan settles in the valley of the Mountain Fork River, hence named Hochatown.
1878 Jackson F. McCurtain becomes Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation.
1889 Unclaimed Indian lands are opened to whites for homesteading.
1894 U.S. Post Office established for Hochatown OK.
1899 American historian, H.B. Cushman, publishes History of the Choctaw… and explains the method of keeping time. We call it Hochatime. Time is marked “not by figures, but by days, sleeps, suns and moons. The seasons beginning and ending by the equinoxes.
1907 Hochatown, Indian Territory becomes Hochatown Oklahoma.
1913 Hochatown platted with approximately 175 families in the community.
1914 Hochatown school is built and serves students through the 8th grade.
1931 Hochatown Union church is built. Denominations take turns using the building for services. All denominations use it for weddings and funerals.
1937 Beavers Bend State Park is established as part of the federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program to put young men to work during the Depression.
1958 Flood Control Act of 1958 authorizes construction of Broken Bow Lake.
1959 Prohibition is repealed in Oklahoma.
1964 A.C. Kincaid’s general store and Hochatown post office are closed. Kincaid operated it for more than forty years.
1964 Hochatown School is closed. Students mostly transfer to Eagletown, DeQueen or Broken Bow.
1960s Hochatown Union Church and Hochatown Cemetery are relocated to higher ground (current day Hochatown).
1966 The last of the original Hochatown families is moved out as the waters crept up the steps of their home.
1975 Forest Heritage Center is built at Beavers Bend State Park.
1993 Hochatown residents attempt to incorporate and are blocked by Broken Bow.
2007 The City of Broken Bow strip annexes sections of Hochatown along Hwy 259.
2010 McCurtain County Historical Society publishes a fundraising cookbook. The first recipe is how to make moonshine whiskey. “Set up your still near a free running creek…”
2015 Hochatown attempts to incorporate the community. The City of Broken Bow files an “emergency” annexation. The citizens of Hochatown, seeking to protect their right to incorporate filed a lawsuit in the District Court of McCurtain County.
2019 The Judge ruled in Hochatown's favor. Broken Bow appealed the ruling. The case is currently awaiting a ruling from the Oklahoma Appeals Court. In the meantime, we encourage you to donate to the legal fees fund and join our effort by signing up below. HHA is a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
2020 Help us preserve the Hochatown Cemetery records. Photographs are needed to document gravestones via Find a Grave.
What talents and resources can you help with? Talent we can use today includes things like:
Choctaw history collection
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) history collection
Oral history collections
Document scanning and transcribing
Genealogy and ancestry help
Grant writing
Fundraising
Event planning
Social media, writing, editing, publishing, blogger
Graphic design
Website design, maintenance, and optimization
Attend or serve on the Hochatown cemetery board
Fulfill Find A Grave photo requests for Hochatown Cemetery
Data mining
PowerPoint and/or short video production
Join us in preserving our cultural heritage. Volunteer for Hochatown.