Le Flore County, Oklahoma

Le Flore County is a county in Oklahoma, United States, on the state’s eastern border with Arkansas, where the Ouachita, Winding Stair, and Kiamichi mountains meet the Arkansas River valley. It had a population of 48,129 at the 2020 census and covers 1,609 square miles (4,170 km2), of which 19 square miles are water, centred near 34°54′N 94°42′W.

Poteau is the county seat; its postal code is 74953. The county holds 2 cities, 15 incorporated towns, and a scatter of unincorporated communities across its mountain valleys. Oklahoma has no civil townships, so this profile has no separate township section. Le Flore County sits in the Central time zone and carries FIPS code 40079.

Towns & Villages in Le Flore County

Le Flore County has 17 incorporated places — Poteau and Heavener are its two cities, the rest are towns — plus dozens of unincorporated communities named on old plat maps, coal-camp registers, and U.S. Geological Survey gazetteers. The table below covers the incorporated places; a full list of the smaller unincorporated communities follows.

Unincorporated communities named across the county include Bedwell, Big Cedar, Bordeaux, Braden, Braidwood, Calhoun, Caston, Cavanal, Cedar Knobb, Cedars, Coal Creek, Compton, Conser, Dog Creek, Fogel, Forest Hill, Forrester, Gilmore, Glendale, Haw Creek, Hiawatha, Hill, Hodgen, Hodgens Station, Honobia, Hontubby, Independence, Kennady, Lamberson, Latham, Lenox, Loving, Ludlow, Milton, Monroe, Murry Spur, Muse, Neff, Octavia, Page, Peno Corner, Petros, Reichert, Skullyville, Smacker, Sorrels, Stapp, Stony Point, Sugar Creek, Summerfield, Sunset Corner, Tahona, Trestle Ford, Tucker, Victor, Walls, Ward, Whitesboro, Williams, Witteville, Yerby, Zafra, and Zoe. Several of these, including Bokoshe, Wister, Panama, Cameron, and Rock Island, began as coal-mining camps a century ago and are now quiet rural towns; Skullyville was a 19th-century district seat of the Choctaw Nation before the county existed in its current form.

ZIP Codes

• 74953 — Poteau (also serves the surrounding rural east-county area)
• 74937 — Heavener
• 74959 — Spiro
• 74902 — Pocola
• 74901 — Arkoma
• 74966 — Wister
• 74951 — Panama
• 74571 — Talihina
• 74956 — Shady Point
• 74932 — Cameron
• 74940 — Howe
• 74935 — Fanshawe
• 74930 — Bokoshe

Smaller unincorporated communities generally share the ZIP code of the nearest post-office town rather than carrying their own.

Geography

Le Flore County is Oklahoma’s largest county by land area and one of its most rugged, straddling the Ouachita Mountains’ ridge-and-valley folds in the south and the flatter Arkansas River bottomland in the north. The Arkansas River forms part of the northern boundary; the Poteau River and the James Fork drain the central and southern uplands, feeding Lake Wister. Much of the southern half lies inside the Ouachita National Forest, and the Winding Stair and Kiamichi ranges give the county Oklahoma’s highest average elevations east of the Panhandle.

Le Flore County borders Sequoyah County to the north, Haskell County to the northwest, Latimer County to the west, Pushmataha County to the southwest, and McCurtain County to the south. Across the state line to the east it borders Sebastian, Scott, and Polk counties in Arkansas.

Demographics

Le Flore County had 48,129 residents at the 2020 census. Poteau and Heavener are its two largest communities, followed by Pocola and Spiro along the Arkansas River corridor. Household income in the county runs well below the Oklahoma median of $62,138, reflecting the rural, mountain-belt economy of the county’s southern half. Population density works out to roughly 30 people per square mile, concentrated in the Poteau–Heavener corridor along U.S. Route 59.

Economy & Local Life

Coal mining once anchored the county’s northern towns — Wister, Panama, Bokoshe, and Cameron all began as company coal camps in the early 1900s — and small-scale mining, natural gas production, and timber remain part of the local economy alongside poultry and cattle farming. Poteau is home to Carl Albert State College, a two-year public college named for the Le Flore County native and former U.S. Speaker of the House. Tourism around Lake Wister State Park, the Ouachita National Forest, and the disputed Heavener Runestone (claimed by some to be Norse in origin) draws visitors to the county’s southern reaches, and the Kerr McGee industrial corridor along the Arkansas River near Pocola and Arkoma ties the county into the Fort Smith metropolitan economy.

History

Le Flore County was created at Oklahoma statehood in 1907, formed from parts of the old Choctaw Nation’s Sugar Loaf and Skullyville districts. Its name honors the LeFlore family, prominent in Choctaw Nation government; Greenwood LeFlore was a principal chief before removal to Indian Territory. Skullyville, in the county’s northeast, served as a Choctaw Nation district capital and annuity-payment site in the 1830s and 1840s — the name derives from the Choctaw word for money. Fort Coffee began as a U.S. Army post in 1834 and later housed the Fort Coffee Academy, a Choctaw boarding school. The federal district court covering the county sits in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Getting There

U.S. Routes 59, 259, 270, and 271 and State Highways 1, 9, 31, and 63 cross the county, with U.S. 59 linking Poteau and Heavener north to Sallisaw and south toward the Ouachitas.

• Fort Smith, Arkansas — 25 miles east
• Sallisaw — 25 miles north
• McAlester — 45 miles west
• Mena, Arkansas — 40 miles southeast

The nearest commercial airport is Fort Smith Regional Airport in Arkansas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Le Flore County?
It sits in Oklahoma’s far east, along the Arkansas state line, between the Arkansas River and the Ouachita Mountains.

What is the population of Le Flore County?
48,129 at the 2020 census.

How big is Le Flore County?
1,609 square miles (4,170 km2), making it Oklahoma’s largest county by land area.

What is the county seat of Le Flore County?
Poteau is the county seat.

How many towns are in Le Flore County?
Seventeen incorporated cities and towns, plus dozens of unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes are in Le Flore County?
Poteau uses 74953; other towns include Heavener (74937), Spiro (74959), Pocola (74902), and Talihina (74571).

What was Le Flore County named for?
The LeFlore family, prominent leaders in the Choctaw Nation before and after removal to Indian Territory.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Oklahoma.