… was consolidated from existing areas and renamed on March 17, 1976. It is one of just two National Park Service units in Oklahoma.
Chickasaw National Recreation Area is in southcentral Oklahoma, between Dallas, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Chickasaw National Recreation Area was originally authorized in 1902 as Sulphur Springs Reservation and was renamed and redesignated as Platt National Park in 1906. In 1976, Platt National Park, Arbuckle National Recreation Area, and additional lands were combined to establish Chickasaw National Recreation Area.
From prehistoric times to the present, access to the combination of cool water, mineral springs, cool breezes, shade, and wildlife has created at Chickasaw National Recreation Area an experience that sets it apart from the surrounding environment.
Tradition touches the present at Chickasaw National Recreation Area. You park your car and pursue the same diversions people enjoyed at the turn of the Twentieth Century— after parking their buggy or getting off the train. You no longer see women in full dresses and sunhats sidesaddle on mules, but you can still follow pleasant trails, enjoy a picnic or just people-watch. Surely that’s what attracted some of the folks who crowded the old train station and put up at Sulphur’s former grand and popular hotels and bath-houses.
