Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Howe, OK

Howe is a town in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, in the Fort Smith metropolitan area, that began as a Choctaw Nation community named Klondike, in the nation's Moshulatubbee District.

After the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf Railroad laid tracks through the settlement in 1895–96, residents renamed it for Dr. Herbert M. Howe, a railroad director, and a post office opened in 1898.

Howe was once noted for producing coal and coke — the Lincoln Coal Company mined locally and even made charcoal briquettes, and in 1967 the Howe Coal Company signed a 13-year contract to supply coal to Japanese steel mills.

In its early-1900s prime, Howe had its own newspaper, the Howe Herald, a bank, two hotels, two cotton gins, four doctors and four drugstores.

An F4 tornado tore through Howe and neighboring Reichert in 1961, killing 16 people — 13 of them in Howe — injuring 58 and destroying at least 50 homes.

The 2020 census counted 625 people in Howe in 227 households, down from a recent peak of 802 in 2010.

Howe is a young community by Oklahoma standards, with a median age of 33.1 years in 2020 and nearly 29% of residents under 18.

Today Howe's economy rests mainly on agriculture, and the town lies about 8 miles north of Heavener and 7 miles south of Poteau, the Le Flore County seat.