Petros 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 ...

Le Flore County LeFlore County is a county along the eastern border of the U.S state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 50,384. Its county seat is Poteau. The county is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area and the name honors a Choct ...

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 located approximately two miles south of

Heavener, Oklahoma Heavener is a city in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,414 at the 2010 census, an increase of 6.7 percent from 3,201 at the 2000 census.

and one mile north of the

Poteau River The Poteau River is a 141-mile (227 km)U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 3, 2011 long river located in the U.S. states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. It is the only riv ...

History

A post office was established at Petros,

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 ...

on January 21, 1898; it closed on March 30, 1901. At the time of its founding, Petros was located in Sugar Loaf County, a part of the

Moshulatubbee District Moshulatubbee District was one of three administrative super-regions comprising the former Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. Also called the First District, it encompassed the northern one-third of the nation. In some historic records it is ...

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 ...

. The community was also known as Petross Mill, and was first known as Petros Cut. The name is Greek for rock, and was named by Greek immigrants working on the Kansas City Southern Railroad, who cut solid rock for the railroad's right-of-way.

Dierks Forests Dierks Forests, Inc., known until 1954 as the Dierks Lumber and Coal Company and originally known as Choctaw Lumber Co., was a timber harvesting and processing company primarily in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Starting with a purchase of forest in 1903 i ...

sited a wood planing operation in Petros. At one time, the settlement was on the line of the

Kingston and Choctaw Valley Railroad The Kingston and Choctaw Valley Railroad (K&CV) was a short-lived industrial railway serving the lumber industry in the later days of Indian Territory, in what is now Le Flore County in the State of Oklahoma. Twelve miles in length, it ran from T ...

, which extended from Thomasville in the south north through Petros and Heavener to rail connections at

Howe, Oklahoma Howe is a town in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 802 at the 2010 census, a gain of 15.1 percent over the figure of 697 recorded in 2000. ...

References

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