It is part of the Oklahoma State University System.

Before Oklahoma statehood, the site of the school had served as a Creek Nation orphanage from 1892 to 1906.

In 1943 the United States Army acquired the site to serve under the jurisdiction of Camp Gruber as Glennan General Hospital, initially intended for U.S. troops but subsequently designated as a facility for treating prisoners of war (mainly Germans) captured in North Africa and elsewhere.

[2] After World War II ended, Oklahoma A&M acquired the camp and converted it into a branch campus, whose initial emphasis was vocational training for veterans, both male and female.

[4] Names of the institution have included:[6] Davis, Larry D. (1991) OSU at Okmulgee: Centennial Histories Series, Oklahoma State University.