| Address: | 907 Garrison Ave. Fort Gibson, Oklahoma 74434 | County: | Muskogee |
| Started: | 1936 | Completed: | 1939 |
| Agencies: | WPA | NRHP: | 10/15/1966 |
Current Usage:
National Historic Site and Living history museum.
Description:
First established in 1924 by General Matthew Arbuckle to assist in covering the newly established southwestern frontier and Indian affairs in the region, it became one of the most important military posts in the southwestern for 66 years. Because of its long history the renowned Oklahoma Historian Dr. Grant Foreman began a movement during the 1920s to restore the fort and reconstruct the original garrison so that all Oklahomans would know that “Fort Gibson was the oldest military establishment in the annuals of Oklahoma and was in its early days the farthest west outpost of the United States and in many respects continued for years to be one of the most important on the frontier” With the help of the WPA the reconstruction process began in 1936 and careful attention to detail of original materials was used to reconstruct the garrison and restore some of the 1850s constructed native stone buildings.
Officially listed as a National Historic Site on Dec. 19, 1960.
Visited: 10/13/2023
Sources:
- Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination
- The Living New Deal
- Waymarking.com
- “Fort Gibson,” Explore Southern History
- National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Work Projects Administration, Information Service, Primary File, 1936-42, Box 15, Folder 290-B.
- Wikipedia Article
- Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 11, Number 3, September 1933, Pages 833-885.
- National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form
- Oklahoma Historical Society
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