Love County

Love County has a rich historical significance to Oklahoma and the nation. Carved from the Louisiana Purchase and acquired from the Choctaw Nation by the Chickasaw Nation, the county was named for the Loves, a prominent Chickasaw family. Early settlers influenced how the frontier area would be shaped. The area supported early-day commerce, numerous ferry crossings, and some of the first trading posts in the Indian Territory. Cattle ranchers, such as Bill Washington, controlled large Indian land holdings. The Arbuckle Trail, near Overbrook, was laid out by Jesse Chisholm of Chisholm Trail fame. Cotton was the major crop grown from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, contributing to the greatest inland cotton market in the world.