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Oklahoma County
Murray County, Oklahoma
Chickasaw National Recreation Area and Oklahoma's mineral springs - from the Chickasaw National Recreation Area (the only national recreation area in Oklahoma - established in 1902 as Sulphur Springs Reservation, the park's mineral springs, travertine streams, and Arbuckle Mountains setting drew health seekers from across the region and now provides swimming, camping, and nature experiences in a unique ecological setting) to the Arbuckle Mountains' ancient geology (among the oldest exposed rocks in North America, the Arbuckles' Precambrian basement rocks provide dramatic scenery in otherwise flat Oklahoma) and Turner Falls Park's dramatic waterfall.
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Related: Murray County E911 – 700 W 10th St, Sulphur, OK 73086, (580) 622-3918; Murray County EMS Station 1 – 2009 West Broadway Avenue, Sulphur, OK; Station 2 – 101 West Benton Avenue, Davis, OK.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SH-7 and SH-177 serve Sulphur, the county seat, in south-central Oklahoma in the Arbuckle Mountains foothills
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Sulphur City Hall – 600 West Broadway Avenue, Sulphur, OK 73086, (580) 622-5096 / (580) 622-5807
Notes: Davis City Hall – 301 East Main Street, Davis, OK 73030, (580) 369-3333, and Dougherty Town Hall also issue in-town permits.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Murray County Veterans Service Officer – Murray County Courthouse, Sulphur, OK
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Mary E. Parker Memorial Library – 500 West Broadway, Sulphur, OK 73086 | (580) 634-2315 | Hours: Mon–Thu 11:30 AM–5:30 PM, Fri hours vary
Services: Part of the Southern Oklahoma Library System; children’s summer reading program, adult reading program, crafts, senior tech help sessions at the Sulphur Senior Nutrition Center, book club, free WiFi.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Murray County is genuinely home to Chickasaw National Recreation Area, one of the more unusual and storied units in the entire National Park System; the area’s origin traces to 1902, when the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations sold 640 acres containing more than 30 mineral and freshwater springs to the federal government – genuinely out of concern that private developers would turn the springs into a resort town rivaling Hot Springs, Arkansas; the site opened to the public in 1904 as the Sulphur Springs Reservation, and on June 29, 1906, was redesignated as Platt National Park, named for Connecticut Senator Orville H. Platt, who had championed legislation to protect it – at the time, Platt was genuinely the smallest national park in the entire United States system; the mineral springs became such a popular spa-like destination that by 1914, Platt National Park reportedly outdrew both Yellowstone and Yosemite in annual visitors, earning it the nickname “Playground of the Southwest”; during the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps undertook its largest and longest-running Oklahoma work program here, employing roughly 200 workers at any given time between 1933 and 1940 to build pavilions, campgrounds, dams, and trails, plant more than half a million trees, and construct the 1909 Lincoln Bridge, commemorating Lincoln’s 100th birthday; in 1976, Platt National Park was combined with the neighboring Arbuckle Recreation Area – including the 2,350-acre Lake of the Arbuckles – and renamed Chickasaw National Recreation Area, honoring the tribe that originally offered the land; today the park spans nearly 10,000 acres, roughly a quarter of it water, and the historic Platt District was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011; the park remains genuinely one of the only units in the entire National Park System originally gifted to the United States by a Native American nation for a specific protective purpose
Notes: Chickasaw National Recreation Area’s genuine origins as land voluntarily ceded by the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations, its brief tenure as America’s smallest national park, and its Depression-era transformation by the CCC make Murray County one of the most historically remarkable counties found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Murray County GIS – contact the Murray County Courthouse for current parcel/GIS access
Parcel Search: Murray County Clerk – 1001 West Wyandotte Avenue, Sulphur, OK 73086, (580) 622-3223
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Murray County E911
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: DOAV Animal Care Center – Sulphur, OK
Services: Nonprofit organization offering reduced-cost spay/neuter and other animal welfare services in Murray County.
Related: Murray County Mutts – local volunteer group organizing adoption/community events.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) – deq.ok.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details. Lake of the Arbuckles and Chickasaw National Recreation Area offer extensive recreation within the county.
NOTES
Murray County is genuinely home to Chickasaw National Recreation Area, formerly Platt National Park – once the smallest park in the National Park System and, by 1914, a bigger draw than Yellowstone or Yosemite. 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 Murray County
Murray County is south-central Oklahoma’s national recreation area and ancient mountain county – home to Oklahoma’s only National Recreation Area and some of the oldest exposed rock formations in North America.
Sulphur (the county seat, population ~4,900) grew from its mineral springs into a health resort destination – the Chickasaw National Recreation Area’s springs, streams, and natural pools attracted health seekers in the early 20th century and now draw swimmers, campers, and nature enthusiasts year-round.
Turner Falls Park near Davis features a 77-foot waterfall on Honey Creek – Oklahoma’s largest natural waterfall – in a dramatic Arbuckle Mountains limestone canyon setting.
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Murray County Assessor at 10th and Wyandotte Streets, Suite 102, Sulphur, OK 73086, phone 580-622-3016. OK homestead assessed at 11% of fair cash value. Appeal to Board of Equalization.
Courts & Legal
Murray County District Court at 10th and Wyandotte Streets, Sulphur, OK 73086, phone 580-622-3777, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
10th and Muskogee Ave, Sulphur, OK 73086
(580) 622-3920
COURT CLERK
10th and Muskogee Ave, Sulphur, OK 73086
(580) 622-3223
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Murray County District Court, Sulphur (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Sulphur is home to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, making Chickasaw Nation tribal genealogical resources especially relevant.
Local societies
No dedicated Murray 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
Murray County District Court 1001 West Wyandotte Avenue, Sulphur, OK 73086 (580) 622-3223
Murray County is in south-central Oklahoma, seated in Sulphur – home to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area.
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 Murray 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
10th and Muskogee Ave, Sulphur, OK 73086
(580) 622-3620
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTION BOARD
10th and Muskogee Ave, Sulphur, OK 73086
(580) 622-5825
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
812 West Broadway St, Sulphur, OK 73086
(580) 622-3346
Department of Human Services
306 West Muskogee Ave, Sulphur, OK 73086
(580) 622-2159
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Murray County Health Department – Sulphur, OK
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Sulphur
Population: 14,000
Established: 1907
Tier: 3
Public Records
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