Hughes

Formed November 16, 1907 (44^th county)

Hughes County (13,367), Holdenville (5,929)

The Modern courthouse at Broadway and Eighth was built in 1965 two blocks east and third blocks north of United States Highway Business 270.  Phelps-Spitz designed this building with its tan brick exterior and unique mosaic walls.  The county was organized on November 16, 1907 as the 44^th county.  There was a 1920 version of the courthouse in Holdenville, the only county seat.  Hughes County was named for W. C. Hughes, a member of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention.  Holdenville was named for J. F. Holden, a railroad official.  The county was originally part of the Chickasaw Nation. 

Hughes County government consists of a treasurer, a sheriff, an assessor, and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Six District Court Judges serve Hughes, Pontotoc and Seminole counties and a court clerk serves Hughes County (judicial.)  The county is in eastern central Oklahoma, east of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and south of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  The Canadian River crosses the southern third of the county from west to east.  The county center is 8.9 miles Southeast of Holdenville nearer Yeager.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Okfuskee, McIntosh, Pittsburg, Coal, Pontotoc, and Seminole counties. 

The area of the county is 807 square miles.  It is 39 out of 77 in the state.  It ranks 50 out of 77 in population in the state.  It has a density of 16.6 persons per square mile making it 50 out of 77 in the state.  Hughes County has 64.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 75 enters from Okfuskee County on the north and exits into Coal County on the south.  United States Highway 270 comes from the east, Pittsburg County, and goes to the west, Seminole County.  The county is shaped like a stool with the Canadian River serving as the divider between the seat (north) and the pedestal (south).  Holdenville is in the western quarter of the northern part of the county.  Holdenville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 44.4% of the county population.