Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
Oklahoma County
Choctaw County, Oklahoma
Hugo's Circus Museum and the Choctaw Nation's southeastern Oklahoma - from Hugo's designation as the Circus Capital of the World (Hugo was a traditional winter quarters for traveling circuses throughout the 20th century - the town's Showmen's Rest section of Mount Olivet Cemetery contains the graves of hundreds of circus performers, roustabouts, and entertainers buried under distinctive grave markers, making it one of the most unusual cemeteries in America) to the Choctaw Nation's significant presence throughout southeastern Oklahoma and Fort Towson State Historic Site.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Choctaw County Emergency Management – Hugo, OK 73743
Services: Free mass notification sign-up for severe weather and community alerts.
Related: Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office – 305 E Jefferson St, Hugo, OK 74743, (580) 326-2000, Hours: Mon–Fri 8 AM–4 PM; Choctaw County Ambulance Authority – 2578 US Hwy 70 Bypass, Hugo, OK, (580) 326-2634.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-70 serves Hugo, the county seat, in southeastern Oklahoma about 10 miles north of the Texas border
Transit: Little Dixie Transit serves the area.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Hugo Code Enforcement – 201 South 2nd Street, Hugo, OK 74743 | (580) 326-7277
Notes: Choctaw County Clerk – 300 East Duke Street, Hugo, OK 74743, (580) 326-7554, for unincorporated county land permits.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Choctaw County Veterans Service Officer – Choctaw County Courthouse, Hugo, OK
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Choctaw County Public Library – 703 E Jackson St, Hugo, OK 74743 | (580) 326-5591 / (580) 326-9375 | Fax: (580) 326-7388
Services: Part of the Southeast Oklahoma Library System; books, ebooks, audiobooks, videos, magazines, newspapers, online databases, WiFi, public computers, printing/copying/faxing/scanning, notary service, Digi Lab media conversion, genealogy room.
Notes: Genuinely themed around Hugo’s circus heritage – the library’s Children’s area features a bronze sculpture with circus programs, a baby elephant, and a circus wagon reading nook, reflecting the town’s identity; the current 13,500-square-foot building opened in 2004, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, replacing the original 1936-37 WPA-built library (now separately preserved on the National Register of Historic Places).
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Choctaw County’s seat, Hugo, is genuinely and officially “Circus City, USA,” a nickname it has carried since the 1930s and proudly displays on its welcome sign; the tradition began in 1937 when the Al G. Kelly Miller Brothers Circus began wintering in Hugo, after local big-top enthusiast Vernon Pratt traveled to Mena, Arkansas, and convinced circus owner Obert Miller to bring his show to Hugo during the off-season; since then, more than 22 different circuses have called Hugo their winter home over the decades, sometimes as many as nine troupes at once, and today the Carson & Barnes, Kelly Miller, and Culpepper & Merriweather circuses still winter there; genuine circus wagons and trailers can still be spotted in driveways around town, sometimes alongside a backyard trapeze; the town is also home to the Endangered Ark Foundation, which maintains the second-largest herd of Asian elephants in the entire United States; perhaps most memorably, Hugo’s Mount Olivet Cemetery contains a dedicated section called Showmen’s Rest, established around 1960 by circus legend D.R. Miller specifically as a final resting place for circus performers, owners, and workers from across the country; the section is genuinely marked by granite posts topped with sculpted elephant statues and a central monument reading “A Tribute to All Showmen Under God’s Big Top,” with individual headstones often etched with circus imagery and epitaphs reflecting each performer’s life under the big top; the Frisco Depot Museum maintains a complete list of every circus that has wintered in Hugo over the decades; Choctaw County itself takes its name from Chahta, the founder of the Choctaw people according to their oral tradition, and both Fort Towson and the now-ghost-town of Doaksville once served as capitals of the Choctaw Nation within the county’s boundaries
Notes: Hugo’s genuine, decades-deep identity as “Circus City, USA” – complete with a dedicated circus performers’ cemetery and a circus-themed public library – is one of the most singularly delightful and well-documented small-town identities found anywhere in this entire project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Choctaw County GIS – accessible via choctawcountyoklahoma.com
Parcel Search: Choctaw County Assessor – Hugo, OK
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Choctaw County Emergency Management
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Hugo City Animal Control – (580) 326-2550
Services: Contact directly for current intake, stray reporting, and adoption information within Hugo city limits.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) – deq.ok.gov
Notes: Choctaw County Tag Office – (580) 326-8247. Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details. Hugo Lake, with cabins and campgrounds, lies within the county.
NOTES
Choctaw County’s seat, Hugo, is genuinely “Circus City, USA,” home to a dedicated circus performers’ cemetery (Showmen’s Rest) and the nation’s second-largest herd of Asian elephants. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and courthouse pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Choctaw County
Choctaw County is southeastern Oklahoma’s circus heritage and Choctaw Nation county – Hugo’s winter circus quarters produced one of America’s most unusual cemeteries and a distinctive community identity.
Hugo (the county seat, population ~5,000) was a traditional winter home for dozens of traveling circuses throughout the 20th century – circus families, performers, and workers settled here between touring seasons. Showmen’s Rest in Mount Olivet Cemetery contains hundreds of circus-themed grave markers – elephants, lions, clowns, and big tops carved in stone above the resting places of people who spent their lives in the greatest show on earth.
Fort Towson State Historic Site preserves the remains of one of the earliest US Army forts in Indian Territory.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Choctaw County Assessor at 300 E. Duke Street, Suite 104, Hugo, OK 74743, phone 580-326-3778. OK homestead assessed at 11% of fair cash value. Appeal to Board of Equalization.
Courts & Legal
Choctaw County District Court at 300 E. Duke Street, Hugo, OK 74743, phone 580-326-8885, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
300 East Duke St, Hugo, OK 74743
(580) 326-3778
COURT CLERK
300 East Duke St, Hugo, OK 74743
(580) 326-3778
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Choctaw County District Court, Hugo (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Choctaw Nation tribal genealogical resources are relevant given the county’s history as part of the historic Choctaw Nation.
Local societies
No dedicated Choctaw County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Choctaw County District Court 300 East Jefferson Street, Hugo, OK 74743 (580) 326-7554
Choctaw County is in southeastern Oklahoma, seated in Hugo – near the historic heart of the Choctaw Nation.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Oklahoma has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code, maintaining its own probate statutes under Title 58 of the Oklahoma Statutes. Probate cases are handled by the District Court in each of Oklahoma’s 77 counties.
Small Estate Affidavit (58 O.S. § 393) – available when the total value of probate personal property (not counting real estate) is $50,000 or less. At least 10 days must have passed since death. This process skips court entirely: the affidavit is signed, notarized, and presented directly to whoever holds the asset (a bank, for example), along with a certified death certificate. Real estate can never be transferred this way – even a small estate with real property still needs some form of court proceeding.
Summary Administration – available when the total probate estate does not exceed $200,000, or when the decedent has been dead more than 5 years, or lived outside Oklahoma. This is an abbreviated form of probate – still court-supervised, but faster and less expensive than full administration.
Regular (Full) Administration – the standard court-supervised process, required for larger or more complex estates, or wherever real property is involved and the shortcuts above don’t apply. A personal representative (executor or administrator) is formally appointed by the court.
Step 2: filing for administration
A Petition for Probate is filed in the District Court of the county where the decedent resided; if there’s a will, the original is filed with the petition.
The court sets a hearing date and requires notice be given to heirs and interested parties.
The court appoints a personal representative (executor if named in a will, administrator if intestate) and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Creditors are notified; claims against the estate must be presented within the statutory period.
The personal representative inventories assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what remains according to the will or Oklahoma’s intestacy laws.
The estate is closed once a final accounting is filed and approved by the court.
What it costs
Filing fees vary by county – check with Choctaw County directly for current fees.
Oklahoma has a statutory attorney fee schedule for probate, which provides more predictability than states without one.
No state estate tax, no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
300 East Duke St, Hugo, OK 74743
(580) 326-3778
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTION BOARD
300 East Duke St, Hugo, OK 74743
(580) 326-3778
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
900 East Jackson St, Hugo, OK 74743
(580) 326-5579
Department of Human Services
200 East Kirk St, Hugo, OK 74743
(580) 326-5581
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Choctaw County Health Department – Hugo, OK
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Hugo
Population: 14,000
Established: 1907
Tier: 3
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Choctaw County residents.
