Shawneetown

Historical marker location:

Idabel, Oklahoma

( Marker is on West Lincoln Road (Bypass U.S. 70) 0.2 miles west of South Central Avenue (U.S. 259), on the right when traveling west.)

Marker installed: 1995

In the early 1800s a group of Absentee Shawnee Indians occupied a site near the Red River, southwest of present-day Idabel. The Shawnees departed in the 1830s when the area was ceded to the Choctaws.

The name "Oklahoma" comes from the Choctaw words "okla" and "humma", which together mean "red people." The Choctaw Nation had a significant presence in the area that is now Oklahoma before it became a state.