Biohazard Cleanup Near North Braggs Braggs, OK

Braggs is a town in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, that was first established as Patrick, Indian Territory, on May 2, 1886, named for its first postmaster, John J. Patrick.

The town was renamed Braggs on September 10, 1888, in honor of prominent local landowner Solomon Bragg.

In its early years Braggs was a small farming town that was regularly visited by outlaws such as the Cook Gang, Cherokee Bill and Henry Starr.

At various times between 1910 and 1913, the little town of Braggs supported three cotton gins, three banks and three newspapers.

Braggs is best known as the gateway to Camp Gruber, built by the U.S. Army just outside town in 1942 at a cost of about $30 million and covering more than 60,000 acres.

During World War II, Camp Gruber was the home base of the 42nd Infantry Division, known as the Rainbow Division, and the 88th Infantry Division, known as the Blue Devil Division.

Camp Gruber was named for Brigadier General Edmund Gruber, the artillery officer who composed the famous song 'The Caissons Go Rolling Along.'

Camp Gruber was deactivated in 1947, reopened in 1977 for reserve and active-duty training, and has been home to the National Guard's Air Assault School since 1987; the town itself is bordered on the north and east by the camp.

Braggs counted 270 residents in the 2020 census, up slightly from 259 in 2010, after peaking at 392 in 1940.

Braggs covers only about 0.3 square miles and sits on Highway 10 about ten miles south of Fort Gibson.