Garvin is a town in

McCurtain County McCurtain County is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, its population was 30,814. Its county seat is Idabel. It was formed at statehood from part of the earlier Choctaw Nation in Indian ...

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 177 at the 2020 census, down from 256 in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

History

Garvin began as a trading post 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 ...

, approximately southeast of the present community bearing the same name. A post office named Garvin was established at the trading post on February 19, 1894. James W. Kirk, owner of the trading post, was the first postmaster, and chose to name the post office "Garvin", after his father-in-law, Isaac L. Garvin, who had been chief of the Choctaw Nation from 1878 to 1880.Coleman, Louis. "Garvin." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.
Accessed October 4, 2016. At the time of its founding, Garvin was located in Bok Tuklo County, a part of the

Apukshunnubbee District Apukshunnubbee District was one of three provinces, or districts, comprising the former Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory. Also called the Second District, it encompassed the southeastern one-third of the nation. The Apukshunnubbee District was ...

of the Choctaw Nation. In 1902, the Choctaw Land Commission selected a new site along the railroad that was being constructed across what would become

. The site, which would reclaim the name Garvin, was halfway between Valliant and Purnell (later renamed

Idabel Idabel is a city in and the county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 6,961 at the 2020 census. It is in Oklahoma's southeast corner, a tourist region known as Choctaw Country. History Idabel was established ...

). The new Garvin began to develop rapidly. The first newspaper to serve that part of the country was the ''Garvin Graphic'', which began publishing in 1903. A school opened in September 1904, with an enrollment of 50 students. 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 (); ...

began operation in the same year. In 1905, Garvin had a telephone system. The town had a population of 800 in 1906; 15 stores had opened by then and several professional people (e.g., doctors and lawyers) had established practices. Statehood caused the dissolution of the Choctaw Nation as a political entity, replaced by the creation of several counties of the new state of Oklahoma. Garvin fell within the boundaries of

. Idabel was chosen as the county seat, although Garvin then had the larger population. Its economic base was forest products, because of the dense forests in its vicinity. The town had several

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wo ...

businesses, creating job opportunities. There was a large sawmill, a veneering plant, a barrel hoop plant and a barrel stave plant. Whole logs could be shipped to other markets over several miles of a tramway that led south toward the Red River. Garvin's population rose to a peak of 957 in 1910, then dropped to only 293 at the 1920 census. Garvin never regained its previous growth. Meanwhile, its local rival Idabel had surged ahead to a 1910 population of 1,493 and continued growth, with a total of 3,067 residents in 1920.

Geography

Garvin is in southwestern McCurtain County along

U.S. Route 70 U.S. Route 70 or U.S. Highway 70 (US 70) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. It is a major east–west highway of the Southeastern, Southern and Southwestern United States ...

, which leads southeast to Idabel, 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 ...

, and northwest to Millerton. According to the

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

, Garvin has an area of , of which , or 0.1%, are water. It is approximately south of the

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

, an east-flowing tributary of the Red River.

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 143 people, 53 households, and 39 families residing in this town. The population density was . There were 57 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 88.11%

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 ...

, 9.09% Native American, and 2.80% from two or more races. There were 53 households, out of which 34.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.5% 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, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.4% were non-families. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.15. In the town, the population was spread out, with 33.6% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $29,375, and the median income for a family was $30,833. Males had a median income of $23,125 versus $19,375 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 town was $11,633. There were 8.3% of families and 10.0% of the population living 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 16.3% of under eighteens and 27.3% of those over 64.

Notable people

Blanche Barrow Blanche Barrow (born Bennie Iva Caldwell; January 1, 1911 – December 24, 1988) was the wife of Buck Barrow, the older brother of Bonnie and Clyde, Clyde Barrow. He became her second husband after his release from prison after he was pardoned ...

, born Bennie Caldwell, married to

Buck Barrow Marvin Ivan "Buck" Barrow (March 14, 1903 – July 29, 1933) was a member of the Barrow Gang. He was the older brother of the gang's leader, Clyde Barrow. He and his wife, Blanche, were wounded in a gun battle with police four months after th ...

, who was the brother of Clyde Barrow (

Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut "Champion" Barrow (March 24, 1909May 23, 1934) were American outlaws who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, committing a ser ...

) * Jack Ridley, aeronautical engineer, USAF test pilot and chief of the U.S. Air Force's Flight Test Engineering Laboratory

Notes

References

External links

''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' - Garvin
{{authority control Populated places established in 1894 Towns in McCurtain County, Oklahoma Towns in Oklahoma