The existing townsite was established in 1912 by O.W. Killiam, a lawyer, merchant, realtor and promoter who bought the Cherokee allotment that had belonged to Elzina Ross in connection with the construction of the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway.
A popular restaurant, "Country Cottage" was linked to a highly publicized August 2008 outbreak of E. coli O111, a rare strain of the bacterium.