Sallisaw is the largest city in and the county seat of Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 Census, it had a population of 8,510, a 4.2 percent decrease over the figure of 8,880 recorded in 2010. Sallisaw is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area.
History
French explorers and traders named this part of North America in the seventeenth century.
In the 1840s and 1850s, Sallisaw was the name of one of the 22 Arkansas River steamboat landings between Fort Smith and Fort Gibson. Modern Sallisaw's beginning as a permanent community began in 1887–1888, when Argyle Quesenbury, a white man, and Will Watie Wheeler, a collateral relative of noted Cherokee leader Stand Watie, laid out lots for a town. Several post offices had existed in the area nearby, even before there was a named community. The site of present-day Sallisaw fell within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation after the tribe was forced to emigrate from its former home in the Southeastern U.S. It had a post office called Childer's Station from 1873 to 1888, when the name was changed to Sallisaw. Another community fifteen miles north bore the name Sallisaw for a period until 1888, when the name of the post office there was changed to Mays, but it closed in 1896.
Will Watie Wheeler established several businesses in the town during the 1880s and 1890s. These included a cotton gin, saw mill, grist mill and lumberyard. In 1896, he opened the Coffin Shop, which later became the Wheeler Funeral Home. The latter was still doing business in Sallisaw in the twenty-first century. It has three highways running through it: U.S. 59, or Kerr Boulevard, U.S. 64, or Cherokee Avenue, which is the city's main street, and I-40. Sallisaw is located in the central area of the county, from Muldrow, from Vian, from Roland and from Fort Smith, Arkansas.
According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, nearby geographic features include Wildhorse Mountain to the south, Badger Mountain to the northwest, and Lone Pine Mountain to the northeast.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Sallisaw had a population of 8,510. The median age was 38.1 years. 24.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 87.5 males age 18 and over.
87.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 12.5% lived in rural areas.
There were 3,355 households in Sallisaw, of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.9% were married-couple households, 17.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 33.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Percent
|-
| White || 55.6%
|-
| Black or African American || 1.5%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 24.4%
|-
| Asian || 0.8%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || <0.1%
|-
| Some other race || 2.9%
|-
| Two or more races || 14.7%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 6.7%
|}
2000 census
As of the 2000 census, there were 7,989 people, 3,206 households, and 2,151 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,556 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 68.29% White, 1.35% African American, 20.30% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.11% from other races, and 8.62% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.25% of the population.
There were 3,206 households, out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples living together, 15.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.9% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.6% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $24,821, and the median income for a family was $31,572. Males had a median income of $26,793 versus $19,775 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,231. About 18.5% of families and 23.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.6% of those under age 18 and 15.9% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
The local economy was based on cotton farming during the town's early years. During the 1920s, the focus of the economy shifted to the production of lumber, oil and natural gas. A prison camp was established here during World War II. After the war, a variety of industrial and retail businesses were established.
The only commercial manufacturing reported in Sallisaw has been the BorgWarner Morse Tech, a maker of auto parts and plastic foam packing materials. The Sallisaw Branch is located in a historic building that once was the Sallisaw railroad station.
Infrastructure
The hospital is Northeastern Health Systems Sequoyah (formerly Sequoyah Memorial Hospital), at 213 Redwood Avenue. Redbird Smith Health Clinic also provides health-related services.
Commercial air transportation is available out of Fort Smith Regional Airport, about 28 miles to the east-southeast.
Rail freight service is provided by both the Union Pacific and the Kansas City Southern Railway.
Cultural references
- The Joad family from the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck were sharecroppers from Sallisaw. However, the fictional place described in the novel differs from the actual town in many important respects.