Most of the prehistoric sites are atop hills, which the inhabitants could use for defensive purposes and found the most healthful.

[7] The Spiro Mounds leaders controlled the area of Antlers and the rest of the Kiamichi River valley, as well as a large portion of what is now southeastern Oklahoma and adjacent states.

The peoples had an extensive trading network that spanned the continent from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes.

[7] In the era of European exploration and colonization, the historic Caddo Indians, descendants of the Mississippians, had this area as part of their large territory.

Not recognizing that this was already Caddo territory, the United States granted the lands to the Choctaw Indians in 1832 by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.

This was in exchange for the Choctaw ceding their land in the American Southeast to the federal government during the period of Indian Removal.

The other Five Civilized Tribes (Muskogee (Creek), Cherokee, Chickasaw and Seminole) were also forced to cede their lands in the same period.

The Choctaw established communities that replicated the three major divisions of their people in the Southeast, so there were three centers of loose government.

During the 1880s the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, more popularly known as the "Frisco", built a north–south line through the Choctaw Nation, connecting Fort Smith, Arkansas with Paris, Texas.

A hunter was encamped at the spring at present-day Antlers early one autumn and killed a "magnificent buck."

[6] Railroad officials later designated the new station stop as "Antlers" in recognition of this prominent local landmark tree bristling with points.

American citizens living in this area were provided with the rudiments of a justice system, with a US Court operating on a part-time schedule.

The federal justices, sheriffs, deputies, and court clerks were all appointed by the Republican Party according to patronage practices of the time.

[11] In order to prepare for Oklahoma's statehood, the United States Government surveyed and plotted every town of significance.

In the 300 block of East Main Street, the large and historic St. Agnes Academy for Choctaw Indians was destroyed.

Reporting of the destructive tornado was superseded by coverage of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which also occurred that day.

The Antlers F5 was so powerful that it could be clearly heard, as well as seen, four miles (6 km) east of town at the Ethel Road crossroads, and as far north as Kosoma.

With the advent of universal electrical service, most homes gained air-conditioning, and later almost all households acquired televisions.

Social relations changed at this point, as individuals and families found their entertainment indoors, rather than outdoors or downtown.

He duplicated the kind of development taking place across the country, with major retailers relocating from historic downtowns to larger facilities on the outskirts.

But within a few years, merchants began deserting Antlers' historic downtown for sites at East Town Village or other locations, or closing altogether.

In recent years there has been an effort to declare Antlers a "Main Street USA" site, to treat its historic center as a destination, and emphasize its architecture.

Due to a series of arson and fires beginning in the 1970s, Antlers lost a number of its stores, changing the character of its downtown.

In recent years merchants have been removing the 1960s-era awnings and other structures, adopted in a modernization effort, to return the buildings to their unique historic character.

Its separate waiting rooms and toilets for white and black passengers expressed the racial inequality and lack of civil rights for minorities that was incorporated into the design of public buildings.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.7 square miles (7.0 km2), all land.

Rain falling in the northeast part of town drains into creeks flowing northward directly into the Kiamichi River.