[5] Robbers Cave State Park is 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Wilburton.

[6] The community now known as Wilburton was originally established as a group of settlers living around Riddle's Station, a stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach along the trail from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Fort Worth, Texas.

According to the Oklahoma Encyclopedia of History and Culture, it was likely named for Will Burton, a contractor and surveyor who was involved in platting the townsite and building the Choctaw Coal and Railway Company line from Wister to McAlester.

[7] At the time of its founding, the community was located in Sans Bois County, a part of the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.

On 18 January 1926, ninety-one people were killed in a coal mine explosion in or near Wilburton.

[9] A tornado struck Wilburton on May 5, 1960, and injured more than one hundred people and killed thirteen.

[15] Wilburton is in the region served by the KI BOIS Area Transit System ("KATS"), a low-cost public bus/van service established in 1983 to help communities, primarily in southeast Oklahoma, by providing access to Senior Citizen centers, groceries, medical services, and jobs.

[16][17] Wilburton Municipal Airport (FAA ID: H05) is 4 miles west of town, and features a 3000’ x 60’ paved runway.

[18] Commercial air transportation is available out of Fort Smith Regional Airport, about 70 miles northeast.