Businesspeople know three factors outweigh virtually all others in determining whether an entrepreneurial enterprise will succeed. They are location, location, location.

Even in the earliest days before and after the forced Removal from the historic Homeland, Chickasaw people were well-known as successful businesspeople and entrepreneurs.

In 1837, the Chickasaw Nation purchased an interest in land and resources from the Choctaw Nation for $530,000. Following this purchase, the tribe was removed to what became the Chickasaw District within the Choctaw Nation. In 1855, Chickasaw leaders signed the Treaty with the U.S., Choctaw and Chickasaw, which formally established each tribal nation’s separate territories.

Today, Interstate 35 runs north and south through the Chickasaw Nation reservation like a metaphorical backbone up Love and Carter counties with Marshall County to its eastern edge and Jefferson County at its westernmost boundary.

I-35’s vehicular traffic out of Texas from the south and Oklahoma City from the north creates a constant and eager market for Chickasaw businesses along its length.

Ease of transportation and ways to achieve it have historically been important in this portion of Chickasaw tribal lands. In modern times U.S. Highway 81 in the westernmost portion of Jefferson County mirrors the much earlier Chisholm Trail which runs north and south through the western portion of Chickasaw Country.

In the 1800s, Chisholm Trail traffic consisted of the four-hoofed variety (i.e., cattle herded along its length by cattlemen to Abilene, Kansas, where they cashed in their bovine inventory soon to be delivered to markets in the east via railroad).

In the late 1800s, the Union Pacific Railroad laid track along a north-south route, roughly parallel to the old Chisholm Trail, making for faster transport of cattle to the Kansas market.

U.S. Highway 70 forms a major east-west thoroughfare from Ardmore in Carter County to Waurika in Jefferson County and beyond.

Love County

Love County is home to WinStar World Casino and Resort, the county’s largest employer, providing more than 2,200 jobs for Chickasaw citizens. It is a key destination for many visitors traveling I-35.

Love County claims as its namesake Overton “Sobe” Love who left his Mississippi home during Removal to Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. His many accomplishments included serving as a Pickens District judge and as a representative to Congress.

Tim Colbert served as Murray, Johnston, Marshall and Love counties’ associate district judge. He also served 12 terms on the Chickasaw Tribal Legislature.

Marshall County

Madill is Marshall County’s county seat. Marshall County’s most notable feature in the modern era is Lake Texoma, created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with construction of the Denison Dam in 1944. In doing so, a large portion of Marshall County land was inundated with water. The trade-off was a burgeoning and prosperous tourist trade.

In 2023, the Chickasaw Nation began work on the West Bay Casino and Resort on the shores of Lake Texoma, adding millions in economic impact to the area.

At first, ranching and agriculture were primary means of Marshall County economic activity. That changed when oil and gas were discovered at the outset of the 20th century. Today, recreation and tourism opportunities afforded by Lake Texoma are primary economic drivers.

Towana Spivey, former director of the Fort Sill National Historic Landmark and Museum in Lawton, Oklahoma, who also conducted archaeological investigations, was born in Madill. He is an author who served as a historical productions consultant for movies “Windtalkers” and “Dances with Wolves.”

Lila Dean McManus was also born in Madill. McManus served as secretary of the Chickasaw Tribal Legislature and was voting representative on the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes among other important Chickasaw servant-leadership positions.

Jefferson County

Approximately two-thirds of Jefferson County is in the Chickasaw Nation. Waurika is its county seat.

Jefferson County was named after Thomas Jefferson, chief author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and America’s third president. It, along with parts of Carter and Love counties and all of Marshall County (as well as portions of Grady, Garvin, Johnston, McClain, Murray, Pontotoc and Stephens counties) form the Chickasaw Nation’s Pickens Legislative District. Their citizens are represented by four of the total 13 Chickasaw legislators.

It is interesting to note Jefferson County’s town of Ringling gets its name from John Ringling of the famous Ringling Brothers Circus who is credited with founding it.

Ryan, Oklahoma, in Jefferson County, traces its name to Stephen W. Ryan who married a Chickasaw. Ryan acquired land upon which Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway constructed a station in 1892. 

Carter County

Carter County’s namesake is traced back to the Carter family, whose most celebrated member was Chickasaw and Cherokee Charles David Carter. Carter served as a member of Congress for two decades (1907 to 1927).  

Carter also served for two years on the Oklahoma State Highway Commission. Still earlier, he served as Chickasaw Nation auditor of public accounts, superintendent of Chickasaw Nation schools and was appointed by President William McKinley the mining trustee of Indian Territory.

The city of Ardmore serves as Carter County’s seat of government.

Chickasaw Hall of Fame member Helen “Te Ata” Gale Cole was a 1939 Ardmore High School graduate. Cole served nine years in the Oklahoma State Senate and six years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and was mayor of Moore, Oklahoma. She is also the niece of Mary Frances “Te Ata” Thompson Fisher, famed Chickasaw storyteller.

Her son, Tom Cole, represents Oklahoma’s 4th Congressional District and is the current chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee.

Bloomfield Academy, a boarding school for young Chickasaw females, was moved to Ardmore after fire destroyed its original structure just south of Achille in Marshall County. One of its most famous superintendents was Douglas H. Johnston, Governor of the Chickasaw Nation from 1898-1900, 1900-1902, 1904-1906 and again from 1906 until his death in 1939. His tenure at the school began in 1884 and ended in 1897.

Ron Parker, a 2020 Chickasaw Hall of Fame inductee, was born in Ardmore. Parker’s storied career found him serving as a judge, a legislator and civil servant during his 26 years with the Chickasaw Nation.

Juanita J. Keel Tate, born the 10th of 12 children in Ardmore, was a 2008 inductee into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame. Tate was the great-great-grandchild of Cyrus Harris, first Governor of the Chickasaw Nation.

Clayburn Straughn, a direct descendant of Chickasaw Governor William Guy (1866-1888), was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame in 1989. Straughn was a natural artist and a self-taught sculptor and artist. He was raised in Wilson in Carter County, just west of Ardmore.

Tessie Lushanya Mobley’s (raised in Ardmore) musical talent made her a 1940s and 1950s world-famous operatic soprano who earned her place in the Chickasaw Hall of Fame in 2009.

That year also found Ardmore-born Daniel Worcester earning his place in the Chickasaw Hall of Fame. He is an accomplished bladesmith, employing his skills in functional art in metal.