McClain County, Oklahoma

McClain County, Oklahoma
McClain County Courthouse Purcell, OK, 23SEP2014
Location in the U.S. state of Oklahoma
Oklahoma's location in the U.S.
Founded	1907
Seat	Purcell
Largest city	Newcastle
Area
• Total	580 sq mi (1,502 km2)
• Land	571 sq mi (1,479 km2)
• Water	9.6 sq mi (25 km2), 1.6%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	38,066
• Density	60/sq mi (23/km²)
Congressional district	4th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	mcclain-co-ok.us

McClain County is a county located in south central Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 34,506. Its county seat is Purcell. The county was named for Charles M. McClain, an Oklahoma constitutional convention attendee.

McClain County is part of the Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Chickasaw tribe began moving into this area in 1837, when the land had already been assigned to the Choctaws by the U.S. government. In 1855, the area became part of the Chickasaw Nation, after the two tribes officially separated. The present McClain County became part of Pontotoc County, Chickasaw Nation and remained such until Oklahoma attained statehood. Few Chickasaws lived here because of hostilities with western tribes (e.g., Kiowa). Major Richard Mason established Camp Holmes (also called Camp Mason) in 1835, near the present city of Lexington, while negotiating a treaty between the western tribes and the newly arrived Choctaws. Federal troops abandoned the camp in August 1835, after the Treaty of Camp Holmes was signed.

Auguste Pierre Chouteau built a trading post at the Camp Holmes site, but it closed after Chouteau died in 1838. Randolph Marcy is credited with bringing the California Road through this area in 1849. The U.S. Army built Camp Arbuckle in 1850 to protect the road, but the troops were withdrawn to what is now Garvin County, Oklahoma in the following year.

Jesse Chisholm also operated a trading post in this area around 1850. A group of Delaware Indians occupied the former camp, then known as Beaversville, but left before the outbreak of the Civil War.

Montford T. Johnson, a rancher, moved to this area after the Civil War. He and Jesse Chisholm, who acted as the negotiator, obtained an agreement with the Chickasaw leaders to allow ranching on their land, provided no whites were employed. Thereafter, Johnson built a ranch and hired a Chickasaw freedman to operate it. He then established other ranches and hired another freedman to run those.