This is the story of a national park that was, then wasn’t. We visited Chickasaw National Recreation Area because we wanted to see what remained of a national park that once was one of the most visited in the United States. In fact, the park attracted visitors to southern Oklahoma before Oklahoma was even an official state!
Our guess is that most people who visit the park today don’t pay much attention to the park that was. Most of today’s visitors are likely there to enjoy the camping and water sport opportunities that the new park offers. Interestingly, the park has always been about water, but not in the ways most people would think. Enjoy the journey as we explore the historic place that was once Platt National Park.
Birth of a Park
According to the National Park Service: Between the 1830 Indian Removal Act and 1850, the U.S. government used forced treaties and/or U.S. Army action to move about 100,000 American Indians living east of the Mississippi River, westward to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. Among the relocated tribes were the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole.
The trails the tribes followed are collectively called the Trail of Tears. Chickasaw and Choctaw settled on the same land grant in the southern third of Indian Territory but later agreed with the government to split the land between the two nations. Lands acquired by the Chickasaw Nation included the area that would later become Platt National Park.
Fearing uncontrolled use of their lands’ mineral and freshwater springs, both the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations sold 32 springs along with 640 acres of land to the Department of the Interior for protection in 1902. The site was initially named Sulphur Springs Reservation, however, four years later the name was changed to Platt National Park.
Platt Historic District
Platt National Park was the seventh U.S. national park and was named after the late Connecticut Senator Orville Platt who had supported legislation to protect the springs located on the land. In 1914, the park, which was then the smallest of all national parks, attracted more visitors than Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks.
Pavilion Springs
Much to the Chickasaw and Choctaw people’s dissatisfaction, visitors flocked to the springs because they believed the mineral waters held healing powers. Resorts such as the one above and others that popped up around the springs brought about the sale of the springs and surrounding lands to the government.
Travertine Nature Center
The Travertine Nature Center serves as a visitor center in the park, and while it is a newer building it is considered part of the Platt Historic District. Its features include dioramas depicting the park’s wildlife as well as live exhibits of fish and amphibians. Visitors to the center can pick up park brochures, buy a souvenir in the bookstore, and talk with rangers about the park.
And speaking of history, how long has it been since you’ve seen one of these?
Little Niagara
A longtime favorite swimming area for visitors, Little Niagara is a small cascade on Travertine Creek and is just a short walk from the nature center. Improvements at the Little Niagara area, including a dam to create the swimming hole, were also done by the CCC in the 1930s.
Lincoln Bridge
Lincoln Bridge, which replaced an old wooden bridge, was the first improvement project of Platt National Park. Amid much fanfare, the bridge was dedicated on February 12, 1909, in honor of President Abraham Lincoln’s 100th birthday and re-dedicated on the same day in 2009 to celebrate its own centennial.
Forrest Townsend, who was the first full-time ranger at Platt National Park, designed Lincoln Bridge. Constructed of limestone, the bridge is 120 feet long and 20 feet wide. Four crenelated (notched) towers form the abutments with steps and a flagpole on each one.
Lincoln Bridge has long been a favorite scenic spot in the park. We found it to be our favorite too.
Trivia: In 2011, as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Series, the U.S. Mint issued a quarter featuring Chickasaw National Recreation Area and the Lincoln Bridge.
In 1976, Platt National Park was abolished by congress and combined with the Arbuckle Recreation Area to form Chickasaw National Recreation Area. We haven’t covered all of the features of the Platt Historic District here, but we feel fortunate to have seen them. Thankfully the National Park Service has done a great job of preserving Platt National Park’s history.
Where is it?
Chickasaw National Recreation Area is located near the town of Sulfur in southern Oklahoma about 13 miles east of I-35 and the town of Davis. The park’s main visitor center and administration office is located at 901 West 1st Street, Sulfur, Oklahoma. Features of the park include:
- Travertine Nature Center – exhibits, park information, bookstore
- Platt Historic District
- Six campgrounds – some require reservations.
- Veteran’s Lake – hiking, fishing, picnicking
- Lake of the Arbuckles – boating, fishing, camping, fishing, hunting, swimming, picnicking
- Hiking
- Biking
- Bison pasture
- Scenic drives
- Ranger-led programs
- Free admission
Access the park’s website here. 
Thank you so much for joining us!
Want to visit some other amazing national parks? Try these:
Happy, safe travels, y’all!
Mike and Kellye
As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) Our suggestions are for places that we’ve heard good things about but haven’t visited personally, and our opinions are our own.
©2023
I’ve never heard of this lovely park, the parks service did a fine job as you said! What happened to the native Americans is angering though, these people had their land stolen from them.
Thanks for reading the post and your comment, John. If you read about the Trail of Tears or the Long Walk, you will be even angrier about how our native people were treated.
We Europeans were so wrong to do this terrible deed to these people. 😭
How fascinating! Visiting such places without checking it’s history is like dancing without music 😎
Thank you, Fred. I love your quote, and I may have to borrow it – with your permission of course. Kellye
Thank you very much! I am glad that you liked my humorous comparison and of course you can use it at any time. The older I get, the more stupid things I come up with 🙂
I thought it was a profound thought, my friend!
You find interesting topics. I am especially fascinated when old photographs show people. It makes the history real and gives me pause to speculate about what life was really like.
Thanks so much, Geoff. We appreciate your lovely comment. As I told another commentor, the folks in the photo would probably be horrified to see what people swim in today.
Great photos! It’s so nice that the park service preserved the history of the original park. The stonework on Lincoln bridge is beautiful. Thanks for sharing this interesting post. All the best!
Thank you very much for your nice comment. The Lincoln Bridge is as beautiful as it is nostalgic.
The old photograph from 1900 is so full of charm . Watching the people get into position on the falls must have been something. Such an interesting place . It is always good to see springs taken care of.
Thank you, Sandy. That old photo made us laugh. They would probably be horrified to see what people wear for swimming today.
Absolutely! Things have changed enormously in quite a short time really.
As always a great post, Kellye!!
Thank you, Jyothi. I appreciate your nice comment.
Super interesting! Makes me realize how much there is to uncover in American history.
Thank you, Theresa. There is, and we would like to see much more of it.
Just look how fancy those early 1900s visitors are dressed! It’s interesting to read the history of the park and see how it has changed over the years. I remember the old-fashioned telephone – we had one just like that in our hostel with which I used to make a collect call to my parents every Friday night 😉. Great post as always.
Thank you so much! We got the biggest laugh out of that photo. Everyone was wearing swimming attire except that one lady was dressed for a fancy party. Guess she didn’t get the memo.
Thanks for the tour. This park is new to me. And speaking of pay phones: I saw one on a building wall in South Philadelphia this summer. Stupidly, I didn’t try to see if it worked.
Thanks so much for reading our post. Did you check the change return to see if anyone left any money in the pay phone? I’ve done it all my life. I even remember checking every time I walked by the pay phones in high school! Oh, the things we remember. Kellye
I should have checked it for change, but didn’t.
Aw, you could’ve been a dime richer!
Thanks for taking us through the history Kellye. We often look at places today and think they have always been the same and always been there. But, that is not often the case. I would have loved to visit this place in the day. The Lincoln Bridge is pretty phenomenal and a good monument to the man. Thanks for sharing Kellye. Allan
Thank you, Allan! We would’ve loved to visit Platt National Park back in its heyday too. Since that wasn’t possible, we kind of got the next best thing.
I was thinking of Frank Lloyd Wright as well. The buildings are handsome.
Thank you for checking out the post, Joy! FLW was an amazing architect, so I can see why others would borrow his style.
Such an interesting history! I had never heard of Platt National Park before. It reminds me a bit of Saratoga Spa State Park which I’ve visited earlier this summer. There was a lot of craziness around these mineral waters back in the day! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Vanessa! Mineral springs are a hot commodity (pun intended). Have a nice evening.
That is so interesting! I’ve never heard of that happening to a National Park, but I’m glad they’re still preserving the area. The Lincoln Bridge is beautiful!
Thank you, Lyssy! We loved the Lincoln Bridge.
This place looks really interesting! But I wonder why the National Park was abolished by Congress in 1976. I also noticed this Recreation Area could be on our way to Dallas; it’s not too far out of the way. So, I’m glad to have learned about this place. My son lives in Dallas, so we do go that way at least once a year. I love the picture from the early 1900s of people enjoying Travertine Creek and Little Niagara. I would love to see the Lincoln Bridge, too. Thanks for your post!
Thank you so much, Betty! Yes, you guys should go. It’s only a couple of hours from Dallas, and they have some great campgrounds. We loved the history there.
What a beautiful park! As much as it would be nice to see in the old days, more people get to enjoy it now. Thank you for a fascinating post about it’s history Kellye.
Thank you, Diane. We enjoyed our nostalgic visit.
It’s surprising that national parks can be demoted to just recreational areas. But in any case, the Chickasaw National Recreation Area (née Platt National Park) still retains much of that wild beauty today! The history of the Indian Removal Act is one of the most tragic and terrible events in our country’s history, and it’s important to learn about that in relation to visiting the former national park, especially given it’s on native land. Oklahoma’s a part of the nation I’ve yet to visit, but this previous national park is a place to start! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Rebecca! I hope you get to Oklahoma, there are some wonderful things to see and do there.
I wonder what you have to do (or not do) to be declassified as a national park? Whatever, it’s hard to imagine more visitors than Yellowstone and Yosemite, lovely as the location is!
I guess it has to be absorbed into another park. In 1914, it was probably easier to get to than Yellowstone or Yosemite. Thank you for reading!
A fascinating history – I hadn’t realised that there were areas that were once national parks but are no longer so. As for the Trail of Tears and all the misery it encompassed, we visited a very moving museum in New Mexico at the Bosque Redondo Memorial which tells the story of the oppression of the Navajo and Mescalero Apache peoples there. Have you visited it?
Thank you, Sarah. Yes, we’ve been to Bosque Redondo, but I haven’t gotten around to posting about it yet. The sad things that happened in the past need to be taught because we don’t want history to repeat itself. We actually thought Bosque Redondo should’ve been a national park unit.
When we went it was very new and incomplete. There were relatively few displays but already we could see it was going to do a good job telling the stories of those affected.
A fascinating read. Thank you, both! I haven’t travelled much in my 70+ years, so your posts are one way to make up for that deficit! Where to, next? 🙋♂️
Thank you, Ashley! Our blog was started for our friends and family who couldn’t or didn’t want to travel. Your comment makes us very happy! Our next trip is to northern California and southern Oregon for more national parks. I hope we can miss all the wildfires in the area though.
Great post, so much history! You have so many parks to see, it’s really amazing.
The US does have a lot of parks – 425 of them at last count – and we are trying to visit all of them. Lofty goals, we know, but we’re giving it a shot. Have a great evening, Wayne.
That’s an insane amount. Really hoping I can see some of them one day but for now I will follow them through your eyes.
Thank you, Wayne.
How interesting that it was then wasnt a national park, especially being more popular than the big names of parks. I love the bridges over the water-that one really does have a Wright feel and the stone ones look like something out of a fairy tale. I always love following along with your posts. The NPS really should hire you 🙂
What a nice compliment, Meg. Thank you for reading the post. We loved getting to visit there and seeing the old buildings.
Nice tribute to a very small and little known park. I also enjoyed the may links to history.
Thank you, Brad! We do love history and nostalgia. Does that make us old?
Not by definition, no. Just makes us curious about how things came to be. I seem to enjoy history more now that I can assimilate bits with everything else I think I know. OK, maybe a little old. 😉
Unfortunately, so are we 😉
I’ve actually been to Arbuckles, Oklahoma, when I ran my half marathon for the state. I had no idea the story behind this area. It’s an interesting story for sure.
Thank you, Donna! It is an interesting place.
Love the old photos mixed in with the story and with yours. Its good to remember what these lands were once like. Maggie
Thanks so much, Maggie. We like the old photos too. Safe travels.
I’d not come across this park previously but your vivid description brings it to life even though I haven’t visited. The old pay phone looked interesting too. I’ve never seen one quite like that !
What an interesting history behind this park! So much happened for it to become what it is today – beginning with the tragedy of the Trail of Tears. I’d be very curious to know more about the health of the Pavilion Springs, comparing the past to the present.
Great point, Rose. I would like to know that too, but I don’t know how to find out. Thanks so much for reading our post!
How beautiful!
Thank you!
What a great post! Looks like a wonderful park and you did a great job of writing about it!
Thank you, Lori! It was a nostalgic visit.
Fascinating and educational post.
Thank you so much!
Love it! We have several parks/recreation areas here in Alabama that were build in the 1930s by the CCC. I love checking out the awesome rock work and stone cabins. I had an uncle who worked for the CCC before the war and I recently filed paperwork to the national archives to retrieve his records. It was very interesting seeing on paper the places he worked and his achievements building roads for a local national park. I’m working on another article about it too.
How cool! I can’t wait to read your article(s) about your uncle and the CCC.
Those old photos had me staring for so long, I find them fascinating. And what an interesting history. Imagine going for a hike in an outfit like that now 😂
It’s wild to hear that the then Platt National Park was more popular than Yellowstone! It was neat to hear about the history of this area and see some pictures from the past. The Lincoln Bridge looks beautiful and I can easily see why it was one of your favourite spots in the park. Thanks for sharing. Linda
Thank you, Linda! I think the only reason it had more visitors back then was because it was easier to get to than Yellowstone or Yosemite.
Beautiful … and fascinating. I loved seeing all the buildings as well as the nature. Lincoln Bridge is lovely, I’ve never seen anything like it before … so much character
Thank you, Brenda! It is a pretty park.
It looked like it.
I love the old photos Kellye, it’s funny how they never smiled back then! Wonderful history lesson, it must take you a while to do so much research
Thank you, Ali! The research before and after trips is about half of the fun of my travels.
Really interesting especially about shifting the tribes from place to place just sad what happened to them
Thanks for reading, Gary. Those things that happened in the past were for no reason than greed. Still happening, not just here, but everywhere. Have a wonderful week!
A really concise overview of a fascinating park Kellye. What a great job you’ve done, especially as you point out that not that many people are aware of its long and complicated backstory. I was pleased with myself because I thought several structures looked Frank Lloyd Wrighty, so was happy to see you confirm just that. Some sad history included here, but of course that is to be expected in this world where greed unkindness have long been the blueprint for human behaviour. I Googled Orville H. Platt to get a look at him. Good grief, what a stern looking man!
This is fascinating. Imagine being around to see the park a century ago!
Yes, I would’ve loved to have seen it in its heyday. Thanks so much for reading!