Muskogee is located in Muskogee County, Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County. The population was 38,310 at the 2000 census, making it the eleventh largest city in Oklahoma.
Muskogee first received recognition when in 1805 US President Thomas Jefferson addressed the United States Congress seconding the recommendation of Meriwether Lewis that a trading post be established near the modern day city. French fur traders had already existed in the area for some time before the American acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase. The French were believed to have established a temporary village near Muskogee in 1806, but the first permanent settlement was established in 1817 on the south bank of the Verdigris River, north of Muskogee. (Read more...)