Thackerville: A Chickasaw Mill Town and a Casino Empire
Oklahoma
Thackerville owes its name to Zachariah Thacker, an Arkansas man who crossed the Red River into Chickasaw Nation territory sometime in the mid-eighteen hundreds, reportedly planning to head on to Amarillo but stopping at Wolf Hollow Creek and never leaving. He built a corn mill, made friends with local Chickasaw families, and farmed there until his death. His sons dug into the streambed to power the mill's wheel.
When the community organized, it took his name. The town grew slowly, sitting in what is now Love County, and did not gain a highway connection until U.S.
Seventy-Seven was built through in nineteen twenty-six. Today Thackerville is known for something Zachariah Thacker could not have imagined: the WinStar World Casino and Resort, owned by the Chickasaw Nation, which sprawls across nearly four hundred thousand square feet of gaming space just off Interstate Thirty-Five, one of the largest casinos in the world.
