Finley is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Pushmataha County, Oklahoma Pushmataha County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 11,572. Its county seat is Antlers. The county was created at statehood from part of the former territory of the ...

, 10 miles northeast of

Antlers Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on males ...

. A

United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

was established at Finley, Indian Territory on April 30, 1903, and was named for Sidney W. Finley (1869-1914), local merchant and first postmaster. Finley was originally called Cedar Church, then Old Cedar Church, the name of a longstanding Choctaw Indian Methodist congregation established there during

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

days. The

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

took its name from nearby Big Cedar Creek—then known as Cedar Creek. The

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

appears to have waned during the latter days of the

Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United St ...

, probably giving rise to the opportunity to rename the settlement after its first postmaster. At the time of its founding, Finley was located in

Jack's Fork County {{More footnotes, date=July 2022 Jack's Fork County, also known as Jack Fork County, was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation's Pushmataha District, or ...

, a part of the

Pushmataha District Pushmataha District was one of three administrative super-regions comprising the former Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. Also called the Third District, it encompassed the southwestern one-third of the nation. The Pushmataha District was na ...

of the Choctaw Nation. Finley successfully retains its status as a cohesive community, long after losing its school. It hosts cemetery clean-up days and community dinners in its community center. It continues to have a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

and store.Weekly Finley column, ''Antlers American''.

References

Unincorporated communities in Oklahoma Unincorporated communities in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-geo-stub