Coalgate is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Coal County,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, United States. The population was 1,967 at the 2010 census, a 1.9 percent decrease from the figure of 2,005 recorded in 2000. The town was founded in 1889 in the

Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American reservation occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. At roughly , it is the second-largest reservation in area after the Navajo, exceeding t ...

Indian Territory 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 States, ...

as a coal mining camp named Liddle. The name changed to Coalgate on January 23, 1890.Clark, Orville Verdell
"Coalgate,"
''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', Oklahoma Historical Society. Accessed July 1, 2015.

History

Coalgate was founded in 1889 as a coal mining camp named Liddle in

Atoka County Atoka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,143. Its county seat is Atoka. The county was formed before statehood from Choctaw Lands, and its name honors a Choctaw Chief named ...

, a territorial-era county in the

Pushmataha District Pushmataha District was one of three provinces, or districts, 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 named ...

of the

. It was named for William "Bill" Liddle, a superintendent for the Atoka Coal and Mining Company, who had arrived in the fall of 1888 to locate a site for a new coal mine. The Southwestern Coal and Improvement Company, a subsidiary of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (MK&T) developed the site. A tent city sprung up, followed by company-built houses. Work on the mine started January 2, 1889, and the first shipment of coal left Liddle on April 17, 1889. The town name changed to Coalgate on January 23, 1890. The new name was taken from the steel gate or "coal gate" that separated the trains from the coal mines north of town. Coalgate incorporated under the laws of Arkansas on November 25, 1898. It was platted and approved by the Secretary of the Interior on December 16, 1903. Coal County was created at statehood in 1907. Initially, Lehigh, Oklahoma was designated as county seat. However, a special election held on June 2, 1908, moved the seat to Coalgate. A new charter was approved on June 16, 1914. Coalgate had grown to a population of 2,921 by statehood in 1907 and in one year the population had increased to 3,500. The city had at least 65 merchants plus carpenters, doctors, veterinarians, and as many as seven attorneys and three newspapers. The streets in the downtown area were bricked in 1912. In 1911, the

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

''Coalgate Record Register'' was first published in Coalgate. Robinson Publishing Company took over publication of the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

in 1988."About us"
''Coalgate Register'' (accessed March 15, 2010) It has a circulation of 2,300. Coalgate was the site of the very first bank closing performed by the

State of Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northeast, Arkansas to the east, New Mexico to the west, and Colo ...

when the International Bank of Coalgate was closed on May 21, 1908, and Herman C. Schultz, acting as an Assistant State Bank Commissioner, liquidated the bank, paying off all depositors in full and returning the excess to the bank's shareholders. During the May–June 1917 tornado outbreak sequence, at 4 p.m. on June 1, 1917, Coalgate was struck by an F4 tornado. The Westward school building and over 200 homes were destroyed. At least 11 people were killed. The city prospered until the 1920s, when the coal mines closed because of worker strikes. Since this time agriculture and manufacturing have become the leading industries. From 1921 to 1923, local cotton crops were destroyed by a

boll weevil The boll weevil (''Anthonomus grandis'') is a species of beetle in the family Curculionidae. The boll weevil feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19 ...

infestation, and all five banks in the county closed. Coalgate's population peaked at 3,009 at the 1920 census and has never recovered. Coalgate survived the Great Depression, although many of its businesses did not. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt's election, various Federal programs, such as the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

(CCC),

National Youth Administration The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal agency sponsored by Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. It focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. ...

(NYA), and

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA), helped buoy the city's struggling economy. The onset of World War II brought a temporary respite to the coal industry. However, these mines closed by 1958.Milligan, James C
"Coal County,"
''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', Oklahoma Historical Society. Accessed July 1, 2015.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (1.27%) is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 2,005 people, 830 households, and 498 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 947 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 74.26%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.80%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 16.26% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 1.25% from other races, and 6.93% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.89% of the population. There were 25 households, out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.9% were non-families. 37.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 3.07. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.2% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 22.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.7 males. The median income for a household in the city was $19,419, and the median income for a family was $26,367. Males had a median income of $23,438 versus $16,429 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $10,572. About 21.7% of families and 28.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 33.5% of those under age 18 and 22.6% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

There are four main highways that run through Coalgate. There is

U.S. Route 75 U.S. Route 75 is a north–south U.S. Highway that runs in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is located at the Canadian border near Noyes, Minnesota, at a now-closed border crossing. From this point, the highway ...

running a concurrently with

Oklahoma State Highway 3 State Highway 3, also abbreviated as SH-3 or OK-3, is a highway maintained by the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Traveling diagonally through Oklahoma, from the Panhandle to the far southeastern corner of the state, SH-3 is the longest state highway ...

, going north–south.

Oklahoma State Highway 43 State Highway 43 (SH-43 or OK-43) is a state highway in Oklahoma, United States. It runs 65.3 miles west-to-east through Coal, Atoka, Pushmataha and Pittsburg counties. Route description SH-43 begins at US-75/ SH-3 in Coalgate, the seat o ...

runs east out of Coalgate after a T-intersection with U.S. 75/State 3.

Oklahoma State Highway 31 State Highway 31 (abbreviated SH-31) is a state highway in Oklahoma. It runs 132.6 miles in an irregular west-to-east pattern in the southeastern part of the state. There are two spur highways branching from SH-31, SH-31A and SH-31B. Route de ...

also passes through northern Coalgate, in a northeast–southwest direction.

Notable people

Josh Brecheen Joshua Chad Brecheen (, , born June 19, 1979) is a Native American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Oklahoma ...

(1979–present), Choctaw citizen and U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district since 2023. * Percy Lee Gassaway (1885–1937), American politician and a U.S. Representative from Oklahoma, born in Waco, TX, Sponsored a birth control education bill in 1936. *

Patrick J. Hurley Patrick Jay Hurley (January 8, 1883July 30, 1963) was an American attorney, Republican Party politician, military officer, and diplomat. He was the 51st United States Secretary of War from 1929 to 1933 in the cabinet of Herbert Hoover and a ke ...

(1883–1963), American general, Secretary of War, and diplomat, was raised near Coalgate.

Notes

References

External links

City of Coalgate

Coalgate Public Library

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Coalgate
{{authority control Cities in Coal County, Oklahoma Cities in Oklahoma County seats in Oklahoma Coal towns in Oklahoma Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma