Page "Atoka, Oklahoma" Paragraph 9

Though the Choctaw Indians had inhabited the area since the 1830s with a small town located near the city today, the city was officially founded by a Baptist Missionary named J. S.

Murrow in 1867 and quickly supplanted the dying town of Boggy Depot as the chief city in Atoka County.

A main contributing factor in the early growth of Atoka was the MKT Railroad, which came through the area in the early 1870s.

The railroad provided the economic lifeblood to Atoka that any isolated rural town needs to survive and flourish.