SMITHVILLE

WELCOME TO SMITHVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Smithville is one of the earliest settlements in the northern part of what is now McCurtain County. A number of Choctaws settled in that vicinity after arrival over the Trail of Tears in the 1830's. A Choctaw supply point was established here in the 1830's on the old Fort Smith-Fort Towson military road. The supply point was near a large salt lick and came to be called Big Lick. On a high hill just north of Big Lick, a post office called Hatobi was opened in a store on September 13, 1886 with Franklin Moore as postmaster. The name of the post office and town was changed to Smithville on May 1, 1890, in honor of a pioneer settler, Josiah Smith.