Venue Information

Muskogee was born a railroad town like most towns of the great American West. But its roots run much deeper than the rails that were laid across the prairie. Its past reaches back to the native people who built their villages and burial mounds along the three rivers that come together just north of Muskogee. Here European and American explorers and fur traders would rendezvous and later build some of the West’s first trading posts.

Known as the Three Forks region, this area was the hub for the settlement and development of what became Indian Territory. One of the first and most important western military outposts was established at Fort Gibson. Here the Five Civilized Tribes arrived after their long trek from the southeast in one of America’s most poignant dramas known as the “Trail of Tears”. During the Civil War, Union troops including the First Kansas (Colored) Infantry occupied Fort Gibson and faced the cannons of the Cherokee Mounted Rifles at Co ...