Editing Atwood, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
The town is named for Chester C. Atwood, an early settler of what would later become Hughes County, Oklahoma. Atwood was an educated farmer, extensive area landowner, and elected commissioner of Hughes County. He was born in July 1862 in central [[Texas]], to natives of [[Tennessee]] who had migrated to Texas before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. In 1881, Atwood left Texas for the Mushulatubbee District of the [[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma]]. Settling in western Tobucksy County, some {{convert|28|mi}} west of a pioneer general store owned by J.J. McAlester, Atwood married a young woman named Patsy Ann, of the Choctaw Nation, giving him settlement rights by marriage. By 1885, he was farming {{convert|25|acre|m2}} of what later would become eastern Hughes County, and was enumerated in the Choctaw Nation census of that year.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood">[https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AT006 Fran Cook and Spencer P. Petete. "Atwood." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.] Accessed June 30, 2019.</ref>

Population growth in the community near the Atwood farm brought a post office designation January 23, 1897, with "Newburg" as the assigned name and Henry S. Halloway established as postmaster.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood"/>

A weekly newspaper, the ''Atwood Herald'', kept citizens informed during the early 20th Century.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood"/> The date when it ceased publication is unknown.

By 1900, Chester Atwood had increased his land holdings and his family included wife Patsy Ann (familiarly called Mattie), daughters Ottie (b. 1883) and Arrie (b. 1886), son Bennie (b. 1887), daughter Allie (b. 1889), son Coleman (b. 1891), and daughters Lizzie (b. 1893) and Ambrozia (b. 1895). Two other children born after 1900 died before reaching adulthood.

At statehood, counties created under the Choctaw Nation were redrawn and renamed. That portion of Tobucksy County in which Newburg lay, fell inside the new boundary of [[Hughes County, Oklahoma]]. On December 3, 1909, two years after Oklahoma statehood, the town of Newburg was renamed "Atwood", honoring Chester C. Atwood as one of the significant pioneer members of the community.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood"/>

Atwood served as an elected commissioner of Hughes County, and son Coleman Atwood worked as a local banker before moving to [[Holdenville, Oklahoma|Holdenville]] during the Depression. Chester C. Atwood died after 1930.

The Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway {{efn|The railroad was renamed the [[Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway]] after 1919.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood"/>}} built a line from Muskogee to the Red River, bypassing Newburg. Therefore, some of Newburg's residents moved one mile south to take advantage of the rail system. In December 1909, they named their new settlement.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood"/>

Atwood became a trading center for the agricultural trying center around it. {{efn|The main crops were cotton and fruit.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood"/>}} A grist mill was built in 1910, followed by a bank, a livery, a drug store and five general stores. The population grew to 150 by 1913.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood"/>

In 1993, Atwood received a $75,000 federal grant to modernize its fire protection system. Atwood incorporated as a town in 1994.<ref name="EOHC-Atwood"/>

The post office in Atwood was slated for possible closure by the [[United States Postal Service]] in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/expandedaccess/states/oklahoma.htm |title=Expanded Access Study List - Oklahoma |accessdate=February 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125204256/http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/expandedaccess/states/oklahoma.htm |archivedate=January 25, 2012 }}</ref>