Pioneer History › Jails
Tamaha Jail & Ferry Landing
The oldest jail in Oklahoma still stands near Kerr Lake at Tamaha. Tamaha was one of the earliest port towns and trading centers in the Choctaw Nation, I.T.. Choctaws were brought from Mississippi up the Arkansas River to Tamaha on steamboats as early as 1831.
Tamaha developed as a port and ferry crossing around 1836. The Post Office was built in 1884, and the jail in 1886. The last steamboat landed in 1912, three miles east of Stigler.
– Oklahoma Historical Society Marker at the Tamaha Jail site
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