Tuskahoma, Oklahoma - History

History

A United States Post Office was established at Tushka Homma, Indian Territory on February 27, 1884. On October 28, 1891, the spelling changed to Tushkahomma. On December 6, 1910 the official spelling changed to its present rendering, Tuskahoma. The community has also been served by post office locations at nearby Council House, Oklahoma (1872–1880) and Lyceum, Oklahoma (1896–1900). Council House was located at the Choctaw Capitol Building and Lyceum was located at the former Choctaw Female Academy.

Tuskahoma is a compound word meaning “red warrior” in the Choctaw language.

Tuskahoma was designated as (political) capital of the Choctaw Nation in 1882 when an Act of the Choctaw Nation dated October 20, 1882, established the community as the permanent seat of government. The Nation’s first capital after the Trail of Tears was at Nanih Waiyah, two miles east of Tuskahoma. Afterward, during a time of constitutional experimentation, it had changed back and forth from Nanih Waiyah to Doaksville, Skullyville, Fort Towson and Boggy Depot. Its wartime capital during the American Civil War was Armstrong Academy, also known as Chahta Tamaha.

Following from the Choctaw Nation’s decision to seat its government permanently at Tuskahoma was its decision to build a building appropriate to the task. A spacious Choctaw Capitol Building was completed in the fall of 1884. It was two stories, brick, with a garret under its French mansard roof. Many called it the finest building in the Indian Territory. It included large rooms for the Senate, House of Representatives, and Supreme Court. Also included was an Executive Office for the Principal Chief, or Governor, of the Choctaw Nation, five smaller rooms for the national officers, and five committee rooms. It was heated by numerous fireplaces.

Almost immediately a bustling town sprang up by the Capitol building. Several hotels, boarding houses, barber shops, stores, blacksmith shop, photographer’s tent, and homes were built. But when the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway built its tracks through the Kiamichi River valley in the mid-1880s they were placed two miles to the south of the Capitol. Business flocked to the vicinity of the new Tuskahoma railroad station and the Capitol precinct was abandoned, except during sessions of the government.

One twist of history altered Tuskahoma’s prominence. The Choctaw Nation constitution directed the constitutional officers, such as Principal Chief, National Secretary, National Treasurer, National Auditor and National Attorney to reside “at or near the seat of government”, but this provision was never enforced. During the National Council’s first session in its new Capitol the principal chief of the day, J.F. McCurtain, proposed building five homes on the site to accommodate the national officers but this was never done.

In addition to serving as a government center, Tuskahoma was also intended to be a cultural center of some significance by providing a home for the Choctaw Nation’s national girls school. Tuskahoma Female Academy opened in 1892 at nearby Lyceum, Oklahoma with Peter J. Hudson serving as superintendent. The academy, also known as the Choctaw Female Academy, occupied a classical-style two-story colonnaded building. It burned in 1925 and was not rebuilt. ] From that time forward Tuskahoma’s role as a center of education ceased.

Tuskahoma’s new site along the railroad prospered, and became a vibrant community and trading center. Banks, hotels, stores, churches, a school, and numerous homes lined its commercial district and residential streets. Its importance began to wane during the middle and later years of the Twentieth Century, as commerce transferred to nearby Clayton, Oklahoma or elsewhere.

Prior to Oklahoma's statehood Tuskahoma and the Choctaw Capitol Building were in located in Wade County, Choctaw Nation.

More information on Tuskahoma may be found in the Pushmataha County Historical Society.