Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Stuart Historic District Stuart, OK

Stuart began as Hoyuby, a settlement in the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, where a post office was established on June 23, 1892, with John H. Elliott as the first postmaster.

The community began growing after 1895, when the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad — later part of the Rock Island line — built through and connected it to McAlester and Oklahoma City.

On April 14, 1896, the post office was renamed Stuart in honor of Judge Charles Bingley Stuart of McAlester.

Samuel and Lela Wooley provided the land for the Stuart townsite in June 1904, and the town grew into a cotton-trade center for the surrounding farms.

The Stuart Hotel, built by Berry Alexander "B. A." and Mary Youngblood Nunn, is a two-story wood-frame landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Stuart's first federal census in 1930 counted 535 people, more than any census since, when cotton was the main cash crop and the town supported a bank, a cotton gin, and several general stores.

The 2020 census counted 192 people in Stuart, up slightly from 180 in 2010, living in just 57 households.

Stuart covers only 0.27 square miles in southeastern Hughes County, and U.S. Route 270 passes just north of town, running 20 miles east to McAlester and 10 miles west to Calvin.

Holdenville, the Hughes County seat, lies 27 miles northwest of Stuart via U.S. Route 270, and Coal Creek runs through the town's northwest corner on its way toward Eufaula Lake.

Stuart Public Schools operates a single school in town that teaches students from pre-kindergarten through high school.