Checotah

History

The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (also known as the MKT or Katy) established a railhead on the old Texas Road in 1872 that became the site of present-day Checotah. Although it was named "Checote Switch" for Samuel Checote, a later mapmaker spelled the name as Checotah. The town was chartered by the Creek Nation in 1893. The Dawes Commission held its first meeting here. Checotah was on the route of the Jefferson Highway established in 1915, with that road running more than from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Geography

Checotah is located in northeastern McIntosh County at an elevation of northeast of the intersection of Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 69. I-40 leads east to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and west to Oklahoma City, while US 69 leads north to Muscogee and south to Eufaula. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which , or 0.71%, are covered by water. Eufaula Lake, a reservoir on the Canadian River, is the largest-capacity lake wholly within the state of Oklahoma and is to the west of Checotah.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  252
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  211
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  164
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  141
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  134
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  123
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  122
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  115

Most recent

• M 2.67 — 2026-08-13
  5 km NE of Wardville, Oklahoma
• M 2.55 — 2026-08-09
  4 km ENE of Wardville, Oklahoma
• M 2.94 — 2026-08-09
  4 km ENE of Wardville, Oklahoma
• M 2.69 — 2026-08-08
  4 km ENE of Wardville, Oklahoma
• M 2.5 — 2025-08-31
  12 km E of Crowder, Oklahoma
• M 2.65 — 2024-10-28
  14 km WSW of Quinton, Oklahoma