Gore is a town in western Sequoyah 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. It is part of the

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the List of municipalities in Arkansas, third-most populous city in Arkansas, United States, and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County, Arkansas, Sebastian County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the pop ...

-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 977 at the 2010 census, an increase of 15 percent over the figure of 850 recorded in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. Gore claims to be the " trout capital of

", with great fishing in Lake Tenkiller, the

Illinois River The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...

, and the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

History

This community began as a small settlement in

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, ...

known as Campbell, named for Dr. W. W. Campbell, who, along with Joe Lynch, operated a ferry across the Arkansas River between Campbell and Webbers Falls. Tahlonteskee, the capital of the Western Cherokee from 1828–1839, was near here, just two miles to the north of town. In 1829, John Jolly, chief of the Cherokee Nation–West, built a home in this area. The settlement was also known as Illinois Station or "Illinois Station, Campbell Post Office." It became a stage stop on the route between Fort Gibson and Fort Smith. A post office designation of Campbell was assigned to Dr. Campbell's store in 1888. Also in 1888, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (later the Missouri Pacific Railway) built a rail line through the settlement.Larry O'Dell, "Gore". ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.
Retrieved April 3, 2012. By 1909, the town had a bank, two lumber companies, a flour mill, a cotton gin, two hotels, and numerous retail outlets. The town changed its name on October 22, 1909, in honor of Oklahoma Senator Thomas Gore, who was serving as one of Oklahoma's U. S. senators immediately after statehood. A fire destroyed most of the business district in 1909. Gore had a population of 319 by the 1910 U. S. census. The town almost got a second rail line in 1917 when Congress approved construction by the Webbers Falls Railroad of a bridge over the Arkansas from Webbers Falls. However, that railroad was instead scrapped in 1918.

Kerr-McGee The Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an American energy company involved in oil exploration, production of crude oil, natural gas, perchlorate and uranium mining and milling in various countries. On June 23, 2006, Anadarko Petroleu ...

built the Sequoyah Fuels Corporation uranium mill on a tract located east of Gore to convert uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride (UF₆). The UF₆ plant was bought by General Atomics in 1988, and closed in 1993.

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 850 people, 368 households, and 257 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 416 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 68.59%

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 ...

, 0.12%

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 ...

, 24.71% Native American, 0.12% from other races, and 6.47% 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 0.82% of the population. There were 368 households, out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% 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, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 26.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.78. In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.9% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 21.9% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 18.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $27,266, and the median income for a family was $37,000. Males had a median income of $28,125 versus $27,188 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 $16,059. About 15.2% of families and 16.6% 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 18.2% of those under age 18 and 21.1% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Agnes Cowen (1927–1999), member of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council * Thomas Gore, for whom the town is named, is claimed to have been an atheist * Joshua Morrow of ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in the fictional Genoa City (named after the real-life Genoa City, Wiscon ...

'' briefly attended school at Gore. * Steve Owens, Gore is the birthplace of 1969 Heisman Trophy Winner. * G. Steven Rowe, Attorney General for the State of Maine is from Gore."Resume aside, Rowe focused on next job"
'' Portland Press-Herald'', May 13, 2010. * John Whisenant, Professional basketball coach was born and raised in Gore.

Notes

References

External links

Town website

''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' - Gore
{{authority control Towns in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma Towns in Oklahoma Fort Smith metropolitan area Cherokee towns in Oklahoma Oklahoma populated places on the Arkansas River