Fort Gibson is a town in Muskogee County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. A small portion extends north into Cherokee County. The town population was 3,814 as of the 2020 census,
The town calls itself "The Oldest Town in Oklahoma."
History
Fort Gibson was originally established as a military garrison, Cantonment Gibson, in April 1824. The camp was set up to facilitate U.S. government policies of westward expansion and Indian removal. After the founding of Fort Gibson in 1824, military families, Indians desiring military protection, and free African Americans settled near the fort, forming a town. After the Army abandoned Fort Gibson in 1857, the Cherokee Nation took over the military stockade and renamed the town Keetoowah.
The Army reoccupied Fort Gibson during the American Civil War and renamed it Fort Blunt from 1862 to 1865, for Major General James G. Blunt. The town again prospered as refugees from fighting elsewhere fled to the relative safety of the fort. By the spring of 1863, soldiers in the Indian Home Guard occupied the fort. For several months, the Federal-supported garrison had to fight off raids by Stand Watie and his Confederate-backed Cherokee horsemen. Aside from Confederate raids, the garrison also suffered from outbreaks of cholera and smallpox. Sonuk Mikko, an officer in the Indian Home Guard, contracted smallpox while stationed at the fort and succumbed to the illness.
On May 20, 1898, the Articles of Incorporation for the town of Fort Gibson were established under the Arkansas Statutes, placing all of the densely settled areas under one jurisdiction. This made it the head of navigation on the Arkansas—the farthest point up the river that could be navigated by significant ships—and an obvious river transportation point. So, while some of the early vessels operating from the town were canoes, bateaux, or even keelboats (frequently pulled by men on shore with towropes), the town was reached by steamboat as early as 1824 when the Florence delivered army recruits to Fort Gibson.
Steamboat traffic grew and peaked in the two decades preceding the Civil War. The usual "boating season" ran from January to June, but some ships attempted to operate year-round. Nevertheless, activity picked up again after the war, as shown by a report in 1870 that twenty cargo-laden steamboats averaging three hundred tons apiece were operating between Fort Gibson and various ports on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
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2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Fort Gibson had a population of 3,814. The median age was 36.9 years. 27.7% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 87.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 82.6 males age 18 and over.
There were 1,431 households in Fort Gibson, of which 37.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.5% were married-couple households, 16.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 27.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
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| White || 2,094 || 54.9%
|-
| Black or African American || 76 || 2.0%
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| American Indian and Alaska Native || 908 || 23.8%
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| Asian || 13 || 0.3%
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| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 2 || 0.1%
|-
| Some other race || 71 || 1.9%
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| Two or more races || 650 || 17.0%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 193 || 5.1%
|}
2000 census
As of the census