Historic Sallisaw

This portion of Oklahoma that is now Sequoyah County has been a possession of four nations; Spain, France, Cherokee Nation-Indian Territory and the United States. Sallisaw, the county seat, is situated at the southern edge of the famed Cookson Hills and is located on two trunk line railroads and served by U.S. Highway 59 and 64 as well as Interstate 40. Sallisaw derived its name from the French word “salaison” meaning salt provisions. Salt deposits along the streams in this area furnished salt used by buffalo hunters and early settlers to preserve meat. Evidence of old salt kettles is still found in the county.

March 17, 1886, is commonly given as the date of establishment of Sallisaw. It was on that date the Missouri Pacific Railroad, then known as Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railroad, was completed into Sallisaw where three pioneer families were living. The community was incorporated in 1886 under the laws of the State of Arkansas in which the town was located at the time of its establishment. The railroad provided and economic opportunity for farmers to market their agricultural products, mainly cotton. Sequoyah County continues to be seen as a rural agricultural community. In 1919, the City of Sallisaw adopted a charter providing for a managerial form of government that continues to the present time.

Sequoyah's Cabin

Even before the U.S. Government forced the vast majority of the Cherokee people to walk the “Trail of Tears” from their homelands in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, some members of the tribe realized the inevitable and migrated to new homes west of the Mississippi.

Among these was the noted Cherokee intellectual, Sequoyah. Inventor of the Cherokee alphabet and one-time publisher and editor of the nation’s newspaper, Sequoyah settled on a peaceful farmstead in eastern Oklahoma where he lived for several years until his untimely death while on a journey of exploration to Texas.

Today, Sequoyah’s original cabin is preserved in a stone memorial building. The surrounding park area, once his original homestead, tells the story of this unique and significant individual.

Now maintained by the Oklahoma Historical Society, Sequoyah’s Cabin is located three miles north and seven miles east of Sallisaw, Oklahoma on State Highway 101. The park is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. There is no admission charge, but donations are encouraged.

March 17, 1886, is commonly given as the date of establishment of Sallisaw. It was on that date the Missouri Pacific Railroad, then known as Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railroad, was completed into Sallisaw where three pioneer families were living. The community was incorporated in 1886 under the laws of the State of Arkansas in which the town was located at the time of its establishment. The railroad provided and economic opportunity for farmers to market their agricultural products, mainly cotton. Sequoyah County continues to be seen as a rural agricultural community. In 1919, the City of Sallisaw adopted a charter providing for a managerial form of government that continues to the present time.

Pretty Boy Floyd

Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd (February 3, 1904 – October 22, 1934 buried in Akins, Oklahoma) was a notorious American bank robber. He was romanticized by the press and also by folk singer Woody Guthrie in The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd.

Floyd was born in rural Georgia on February 3, 1904. His family moved within a year to Oklahoma, where they worked a farm that never seemed to generate much cash. At the age of seventeen Floyd married Wilma Hargrove. The popular history says that Floyd committed his first crime when he struck down a sheriff’s deputy who had been rude to Wilma. Contemporary sources agree that Floyd simply needed a way to make ends meet.

Time magazine dated October 22, 1934, mentions a robbery of $350 in pennies from a local post office as his first known crime. Floyd was known for giving back to the people some of his stolen cash. Floyd would hide between crimes in towns near the one in which he had grown up, protected by the locals. The popular legend says that people did this out of love for his generosity and their hatred of the banks, which were foreclosing on many farms in the area.

After narrowly escaping capture by the FBI several times, Floyd was killed on October 22, 1934, when FBI agents shot him near East Liverpool, Ohio. Floyd’s body was placed on public display in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. His funeral was attended by between twenty and forty thousand people, and remains the largest funeral in Oklahoma history.