Garvin County

I am Rebecca Maloney, Webmistress and Coordinator for this Garvin County, Oklahoma site. I hope you enjoy your visit. Please email me if you have any suggestions or contributions you would like to make.

1844 - 1908
Garvin County's
namesake
See Garvin info

Garvin County Was Established

Garvin County was originally a part of Pickens and Pontotoc County Districts of the Chickasaw Nation. The dividing line was the Washita River, so most of the current Garvin County was in the Pickens District. The division into smaller counties came in 1907 with statehood and formally permitted non-native settlement. However, even before non-native settlement was permitted in the Chickasaw Nation, the illegal non-native settlers far outnumbered the Chickasaw people. Only a small number of non-natives had formal permission to reside in the Nation, usually because they had professional services to offer that the Nation wanted to have available. Because of rapidity of settlement and the sheer numbers involved, however, only a small percentage of the "intruders", as the illegal's were known, were ever formally prosecuted and therefore appear on the Intruder Rolls of the Chickasaw Nation, IT .

Research Resources

Make sure you check the "Research Resources" section! There are  indexes of books, books for sale, newspaper articles beginning in 1877, helpful links, look up volunteers and local researchers to help you out.

Search This Site

Pauls Valley is the county seat of Garvin County, which was named for Samuel Garvin, a prominent Chickasaw Indian and the home to more than 6,200.

In 1847 or 1848, Smith Paul, the city's namesake, brought his family to this area, but the town did not spring into being overnight, as did many other Oklahoma communities.

Pauls Valley, known in those days as "Smith Paul's Valley," did not begin to acquire the characteristics of a town until about 1874, when long wagon trains of Comanche and Kiowa Indians established a trail from Boggy Depot to Fort Sill.

An unofficial survey of the area was made in 1887, and the present town site was laid out in 1892.

Manufacturing is a major part of the Pauls Valley economy, and several major manufacturers call the city home. Among these are Viskase, a plastics firm, and Covercraft, which makes custom vehicle covers. Another major manufacturer is Chicago Miniature Lamp Co., which also has a factory in nearby Wynnewood.
Oil and farming have always been a big part of the Pauls Valley picture as well, and they continue to be. A number of oil companies and support industries, in addition to agriculturally-oriented firms, operate in the area.