The town developed initially around the Armstrong Academy, which was operated by Protestant religious missionaries from 1844 to 1861 to serve Choctaw boys.

[citation needed] The Armstrong Academy Site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Armstrong Academy was founded as a school for Choctaw boys in 1844 and was located within the Nation's Pushmataha District.

[2] In that year the school was transferred to control of the Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Foreign and Domestic Missions.

Both counties were part of the Choctaw Nation's Pushmataha District, one of three administrative regions they established after removal to Indian Territory.

[2][3] The United Nations of Indian Territory delegates (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, and Caddo) met there with the Confederacy to plan war strategy.

The Confederates had promised these tribes to support a state for Native Americans if they won the war.

[2] The Federal government refused to rebuild it, since the town population had declined markedly after the relocation of the Choctaw nation's capital.