[5] A small community, named for the grove of locust trees where this battle took place, formed here, in the Cherokee Nation of Indian Territory.

Jim Bryan moved the post office to his store in 1908, after Oklahoma became a state and Mayes County was established.

The community of Locust Grove soon relocated closer to the store, and soon had a cemetery, a gristmill, two blacksmith shops, and a separate building to house the post office.

Killam, a lawyer, merchant, realtor and promoter who bought the Cherokee allotment that had belonged to Elzina Ross in connection with the construction of the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway.

In June 1952, the county attorney Jack Burris was assassinated at his home at Locust Grove in one of the most famous unsolved murders in Oklahoma history.

Also, a popular restaurant, "Country Cottage", was linked to a highly publicized August 2008 outbreak of E. coli O111, a rare strain of the bacterium.

The outbreak resulted in more than 100 cases of gastrointestinal food poisoning and one death;[7] subsequent studies were unclear about the source of the bacteria, leading Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson to accuse the state health department of having "botched" the investigation.

[8][9] Native American Cherokee sculptor Willard Stone lived near Locust Grove; a museum dedicated to his work is now located on the site.

[citation needed] Locust Grove is 11 miles (18 km) south of Salina, at the intersection of State Highway 82 and U.S. Route 412.

[16] In 2019, the museum's board of directors authorized build-out of the new facility, and in September 2020 launched a fundraising campaign to finance the needed renovations.