Hugo is a city in and the county seat of Choctaw County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located in southeastern Oklahoma, approximately north of the Texas state line. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 5,166.

The city was founded in 1901 and named for the French novelist Victor Hugo. In the postwar 20th century, the city served as winter quarters for some circus companies and performers. A cemetery has a section for circus personnel. Nearby is one of the oldest boarding schools west of the Mississippi: Goodland Academy, begun in 1848 as a Presbyterian mission, school and orphanage for Native American children.

The town is located in a cultural area of the state known as Little Dixie, as it was settled by Native American tribes, African Americans and European Americans from the southeastern United States. It is within the tourist area designated as Choctaw Country by the Oklahoma Department of Tourism.

History

thumb|right|Broadway at Duke looking north, 1910

This was part of the Indian Territory to which the United States government relocated Native American tribes from east of the Mississippi River in the 1830s under its Indian Removal policy. Among the nations relocated here were the Choctaw, for whom the county is named. They were one of what were called the "Five Civilized Tribes" of the southeastern United States, as some of their people had adopted many elements of European-American culture. When they relocated, they brought with them the numerous enslaved African-Americans whom they held as workers and property.

As the majority of the Choctaw allied with the Confederate South during the American Civil War, the United States government insisted on a new peace treaty with them after its end. A condition was the Choctaws' emancipation of their slaves and granting to the freedmen of rights of full citizenship in the Choctaw nation, as the US was granting citizenship to former slaves of the South.

In 1902 the St. Louis, San Francisco and New Orleans Railroad (later the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway or "Frisco") built a line from Hope, Arkansas, to Ardmore, Oklahoma. It crossed the north–south line Frisco had built in 1887 to connect Monett, Missouri, to Paris, Texas. At the time of its founding, Hugo was located in Kiamitia County, a part of the Pushmataha District of the Choctaw Nation.

As the end of the Indian Territory drew near, tribal citizens and other inhabitants organized an effort for the territory to be admitted to the Union as a state. The State of Sequoyah, which they proposed, divided the territories of the five tribes into counties. Hugo was designated as the county seat of Hitchcock County. Although neither Congress nor the president were interested in admitting Sequoyah as a state, the county boundaries proposed for Sequoyah were in some cases adopted for counties in the future state of Oklahoma.

In southeastern Oklahoma, the future Choctaw County's boundaries were generally those of Hitchcock County, Sequoyah. Similarly, boundaries proposed for Pushmataha County, Sequoyah served, in general, as the boundaries for Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. And McCurtain County, Oklahoma generally follows the boundaries proposed for McCurtain County, Sequoyah. Both counties are adjacent to and share boundaries with Choctaw County.

Statehood and changes

When counties were reorganized to prepare Oklahoma for admission as a state, Hugo was designated as the county seat of the redefined Choctaw County, as it was already a population center in the area.

After allotments of communal tribal land to individual households of tribal members under the Dawes Act, the Choctaw Nation lost control of much of its land, which was purchased by European Americans.

Circus City

Beginning in 1941, when the Al G. Kelly and Miller Brothers Circus relocated to Hugo from Kansas, there have been circuses based in this city. The Kelly and Miller Brothers were recruited by Vernon and Jewell Pratt, a local couple who owned a grocery store. In return the circus offered free Sunday performances for many years.

Hugo became a popular wintering place for circus and rodeo companies, because of its mild climate. Townspeople and circus people formed relationships and collaborated on civic projects. An estimated twenty circuses at times were based in Hugo, and in 2018 three still operate here: Carson and Barnes, Kelly Miller, and Culpepper & Merriweather. All are tent circuses that travel the region by road.

David Rawls (born 1948) grew up in a circus family, who performed with Famous Cole Circus. In addition to performing on trampoline with his brother, he later learned all aspects of the business. In 1984 he became owner/manager of his own show, Kelly Miller Circus. He sold it in 2009. During this period, he also had been selected as City Manager of Hugo for a time, and was elected and served as Mayor of the city at another time.

Points of interest

In 1937, under the Works Progress Administration program for public art, artist Joseph Fleck painted an oil-on-canvas mural, titled The Red Man of Oklahoma Sees the First Stage Coach, in the United States post office in Hugo. This building is now used as the Oklahoma School System Administration Building. Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department.

Geography

Hugo is located at the center of Choctaw County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.36%, is water. noaa.gov

|date = May 28, 2011

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Hugo had a population of 5,166. The median age was 38.3 years.

26.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 81.9 males age 18 and over.

There were 2,201 households in Hugo, of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 28.8% were married-couple households, 22.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 41.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 39.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Percent

|-

| White || 47.1%

|-

| Black or African American || 20.5%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 15.4%

|-

| Asian || 0.3%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0.1%

|-

| Some other race || 1.7%

|-

| Two or more races || 15.1%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 5.8%

|}

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 5,536 people, 2,309 households, and 1,415 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,798 housing units at an average density of . A former Harvey House lunchroom has been restored, The Frisco Depot RV Park is adjacent to the depot.

  • Hugo National Guard Armory (NR 88001378)
  • Buckskin Bill Black (1929–2018), Long-time children's television host in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, grew up in Hugo.
  • Lane Clyde Frost (October 12, 1963 – July 30, 1989), world champion bull rider
  • William Judson Holloway, former governor of Oklahoma
  • William Judson Holloway, Jr., Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • James Ling, entrepreneur and founder of Ling-Temco-Vought
  • Bill Moyers, liberal journalist and former White House Press Secretary from 1965 to 1967 (during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration); political commentator and cable news figure
  • Patrick W. O'Reilly, lawyer and politician
  • Clancy Smith, was born and raised in Hugo. After graduating from Oklahoma University School of Law, she taught English. Later she earned a law degree from University of Tulsa College of Law and was appointed to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. She retired in 2017.
  • B. J. Thomas (1942–2021), singer known for the #1 hits "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (featured in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"
  • Wallace Willis, African-American musician and songwriter, born into slavery in Mississippi, was living near present-day Hugo when he wrote "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" in 1840. Then known as Wallace, he had been brought to Indian Territory during Indian Removal by his master, wealthy Choctaw farmer Britt Willis.

References

  • City of Hugo and Choctaw County officials website
  • Hugo information, at travelok.com
  • Choctaw County Public Library
  • Tanya Ducker Finchum and Juliana M. Nykolaiszyn, Big Top Show Goes On, Occupational Folklife Project, Library of Congress, 2011-2012 interviews
  • "Hugo's Circus Cemetery: Showmens Rest", Atlas Obscura website
  • Big Top Show Goes On Oral History Collection at Oklahoma State University