Muskogee

City and seat of Muskogee County, in east-central Oklahoma; population (1990) 37,700. Muskogee lies on the Arkansas River near its confluence with the Verdigris and Grand rivers, 72 km/45 mi southeast of Tulsa.

Originally a fur-trading station, in 1874 Muskogee became the administrative centre for the Five Civilized Tribes (the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole) after they were forced by the Removal Act of 1830 to move to ‘Indian Territory’ in Oklahoma from their original homelands in the southeast. Today this busy railway junction and port city processes and ships potatoes, cotton, and grain, and is a commercial hub for livestock and dairy producers. Oil is refined and petroleum products are distributed. Among the goods manufactured locally are iron, steel, wood products, glass, and clothing. Muskogee is the site of Bacone College (founded 1880).