[3] The area now occupied by Murray County was part of the land granted to the Choctaw Nation by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1820.

There was an extended conflict before the U.S. Civil War between the Plains Indians and the newly arrived Choctaws and Chickasaws.

After the conflict between the tribes was settled, various bands of outlaws moved in and continued to create law enforcement problems.

Other visitors were drawn to the park and to nearby Turner Falls, making Sulphur one of the state's earliest recreational centers.

[4] Murray County was created when the Chickasaw Nation was disestablished immediately before Oklahoma statehood.

The area was called "the Prairie of Eden" because its plentiful grasslands attracted abundant game, Chickasaw ranchers Noah Lael and Perry Froman operated and headquartered near Sulphur by 1881.

[3] Cattle ranching, the other primary industry, continued into the twenty-first century, and Murray County has long been recognized as the center of "Hereford Heaven."

On New Year's Eve, 1947, the Flying L Ranch near Davis was the site for the marriage of Roy Rogers, "King of the Cowboys," and Dale Evans.

[3] The location of the Oklahoma School for the Deaf at Sulphur in 1907, and a veterans center added to the region's economy.

The most important example of this activity began in the 1890s at Big Canyon, home to operations of the Dolese Brothers, whose company became a major state employer.