Murray County, Oklahoma: History
The area now occupied by Murray County was part of the land granted to the Choctaw Nation by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1820. The Chickasaw received part of the land under the Treaty of Doaksville in 1838. The area became part of the Chickasaw Nation in 1855. There was an extended conflict before the U.S. Civil War between the Plains Indians and the newly arrived Choctaws and Chickasaws. The U.S. Army built Fort Towson (1824), Fort Washita (1842), and Fort Arbuckle (1851) to protect the Chickasaws. After the conflict between the tribes was settled, various bands of outlaws moved in and continued to create law enforcement problems.
Sulphur began developing in the 1880s around the springs for which it was named. The springs encouraged the building of bathhouses and spas. Several were established by the time that a post office was established in 1898. The Sulphur Springs Railway (acquired by the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway in 1907) arrived there in 1902, and the 1904 establishment of Platt National Park, with headquarters at Sulphur, spurred the expansion of services for health-seekers. Other visitors were drawn to the park and to nearby Turner Falls, making Sulphur one of the state's earliest recreational centers.
Until statehood, the area of the present-day county was a part of Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation. Murray County was created when the Chickasaw Nation was disestablished immediately before Oklahoma statehood. Sulphur was declared as the county seat.