Biohazard Cleanup Near Jay Historic District Jay, OK

Jay is the county seat of Delaware County in the oak and hickory forests of the Ozark Plateau in northeastern Oklahoma, southeast of Grand Lake o' the Cherokees.

Jay is atypical in Oklahoma history because its townsite and layout were located and platted specifically for its purpose as a county seat, at the exact center of Delaware County — it was not built on a river, major road or railway line like most Oklahoma towns of its era.

Jay was named for Claude L. 'Jay' Washbourne, a Cherokee committee member and nephew of Stand Watie, who donated ten acres of his allotment for the townsite; postal authorities chose 'Jay' from the submitted names 'Center,' 'Jay' and 'Washbourne' for its brevity.

Jay won the county seat from Grove in a special election on December 8, 1908; after litigation, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in Jay's favor on June 27, 1911, and the county records were moved to Jay in January 1912.

Jay's first courthouse burned on May 10, 1913, destroying most of the county records; the present Delaware County Courthouse was built in 1941.

Although it became county seat in 1908, Jay did not incorporate until 1939, and its first federal census, in 1940, counted just 741 residents.

The 2020 census counted 2,425 people in Jay.

Jay has 940 households, and about 53% of its homes are owner-occupied.

Almost 40% of Jay's residents are Native American (41.3% in the 2020 census), and the city is home to numerous Cherokee tribal offices and a health clinic for the Delaware District of the Cherokee Nation.

The Cherokee name for Jay is Dlaygvi, meaning 'Bluejay Place.'