The Atoka County Chamber of Commerce Building in Atoka.
"A City Committed to the Future"
The city was settled by the Choctaw and named in 1867 by a Baptist missionary for Chief Atoka, whose name means "ball ground" in English.
Atoka was founded by the Choctaw Indians in the 1850s, and named for Captain Atoka, a leader of the Choctaw Nation and the signer of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which began the process of re-locating the Choctaw people from Mississippi to Oklahoma in 1830. The name "Atoka" is derived from the Choctaw word hitoka (or hetoka), which means "ball ground" in English. He is believed to be buried near the town of Farris. Atoka is the site of the oldest Catholic parish in the Indian Territory, the oldest chapter of the Freemasons in Oklahoma, and the oldest chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in Oklahoma.
Also in 1872, Father Michael Smyth founded St. Patrick's Catholic Church. This was the first Roman Catholic church in what became the state of Oklahoma. On October 12, 1875, the Sacred Heart Mission, what later became St. Gregory's University, was founded in Atoka by the Benedictine monks Father Isidore Robot, O.S.B., and Brother Dominic Lambert, O.S.B. In 1876, the mission relocated to near Konawa, Oklahoma and became an abbey.
National Register of Historic Places sites in Atoka include the Atoka Armory Building, Atoka Community Building, Boggy Depot Site, First Methodist Church Building, the Indian Citizen Building, the Old Masonic Temple building, the Middle Boggy Battlefield Site and Confederate Cemetery, Old Atoka County Courthouse, Old Atoka State Bank, Pioneer Club, Joe Ralls House, Captain James S. Standley House and the Zweigel Hardware Store Building.
Atoka is included in Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district, of which Markwayne Mullin is the representative. The city is also included in State House District 22 and State Senate District 6, from which State Representative Charles McCall and Senator Josh Brecheen currently serve in the state legislature.
In August 2006, the city's largest employer, Ethan Allen Furniture, announced that it would be closing its Atoka plant in favor of "selected off-shore vendors", as reported in The Oklahoman following the announcement of the plant's closing. With the closure of the Ethan Allen plant, located north of the city proper, more than two hundred people lost their jobs (many of whom had held them since the plant opened). As of May 2007, Ethan Allen has resumed operations at the Atoka plant, converting the former manufacturing facility to a distribution center.
In addition to revenue generated at convenience stores, fast food restaurants, etc., Atoka (and Atoka County) is a popular hunting and fishing area; as well, scenic tourism plays a small, albeit important role in the city's economy. An effort is currently underway to place Atoka along a scenic byway.
Tradio, a locally well-known radio show, is broadcast every weekday morning. Tradio was known, among many things, for its host John Reuben. The shows consists of callers advertising items such as cars, furniture and animals, or events such as auctions and garage sales over the air. The tagline for show is, "Good morning, you're on Tradio," which is repeated by Reuben as he answers each call. The current host, Derek Reid, still sometimes answers the phone to people saying "Good Morning Brother John", as a nod to Reuben.
C.A. "Barney" McCall Junior High School is located due south of the high school campus. The junior high school averages between 200 and 250 in enrollment. The Atoka Elementary School is located north of the high school. All three schools are now located in one spot.
^ a b "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Atoka city, Oklahoma". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
^ a b c d e f g h Maine, Priscilla A. "Atoka," Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Accessed September 1, 2015.
^ Wright, Muriel H. "Organization of Counties in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations." In: Chronicles of Oklahoma.Volume 8, Number 3. (September 1930.) Retrieved August 2, 2013.