[5] At the time of its founding, Lehigh was located in Atoka County, Choctaw Nation.

[7][5] A post office opened in Lehigh, Indian Territory, on April 4, 1882, and several railroads built lines to Lehigh, including the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway, and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway.

Stockyards were built in 1884 and, even as they neared completion, 23 railroad cars of cattle and seven carloads of hogs awaited shipping.

[9] During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Lehigh was a growing settlement that greatly profited from the coal mines surrounding it.

[10][b] The mines eventually closed, and in the early 1920s, boll weevils destroyed the cotton crops in the area.

[10] The Merchants National Bank Building in Lehigh is the only structure that remains from the once-prosperous downtown area.