[2] The town, formerly incorporated, boasted a small post office (between 1890 and 1918),[3] city hall, and Mayor Pratt McMillin, a rancher and oil distributor who died in April 2001, aged 84.

The surrounding area consists primarily of farmland and forest situated in the Poteau River Valley region between Sugar Loaf Mountain, Oklahoma Peak, and Cavanal Hill with a tributary of the Poteau River, Nail Creek running through Gilmore.

The area of the town was originally located in Sugar Loaf County, Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.

[7] In the 1884 election campaign for sheriff of Sugar Loaf County, Bob Benton and Charles Wilson ran against each other.

[8] On November 22, 1983, an F3 tornado hit the town after traveling 16 miles from Reichert and Howe, ending in Gilmore.