Hamden 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 ...

in northern Choctaw County,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, United States. It is seven miles southeast of Antlers. 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 U. ...

was established at Hamden, Indian Territory on March 31, 1894 and operated until May 15, 1924.George B. Shirk, ''Oklahoma Place Names'', p. 96; Post Office Site Location Reports, Record Group 28, National Archives Hamden is on the boundary separating Choctaw and Pushmataha counties, and residents of the community live in both. During the 1880s the

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, more popularly known as the “Frisco”, built a line from north to south through the Choctaw Nation of the

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

, connecting

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

with Paris, Texas. 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 Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

. These stations also served as points at which the trains could draw water. The site of Hamden was selected because of its proximity to a local creek. Adjacent station stops were established to the north and south. The sparsely populated area, at that time known as Kiamitia County (Kiamichi County) of the Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory, was home to

Choctaw Indians The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

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. Hamden, in its commercial heyday, boasted a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

, store, school and churches, in addition to numerous homes. Residents continue to live in the area. The only local landmarks are a community center and the foundations of the old cotton gin, located near the railroad tracks and creek.

References

Unincorporated communities in Choctaw County, Oklahoma Unincorporated communities in Oklahoma Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-geo-stub