Three Rivers Museum

Our Mission and Goals

The Three Rivers Museum has been established to tell the complete story of the founding, settlement and development of the Three Rivers area of Oklahoma.

The museum will actively seek to collect, preserve, research, exhibit and interpret a collection of historic artifacts.

We will serve the visitors and residents of the area through these efforts as well as through educational programs and special events.

The Three Rivers Museum hopes its work will establish a respect for the region’s past and will contribute quality and value to its future.

History:

THREE RIVERS MUSEUM was established in 1989 as the dream of our founder Dorothy Ball, who was then chairman of the Muskogee Historic Preservation Commission.

The Museum board searched for a number of years for a suitable building to house a museum that would tell the fascinating story of the development of the Three Rivers region of Oklahoma. As one of the earliest areas west of the Mississippi to be settled, this region has a long and colorful past.

In 1998, with federal grant funds, the city of Muskogee purchased the derelict Midland Valley Railroad Depot, a mission-style structure built in 1916 that had been abandoned for a number of years.

These same grant funds enabled the city to restore the Depot to its original beauty. Today, exhibits on local multi-ethnic history fill the passenger and freight areas of the depot and a charming gift shop is housed in the old ticket booth.

In 2002, Georgia Pacific donated a 1940s-era diesel switch engine to the museum and it is open for visitors to climb aboard. Come visit us in the historic Depot District of downtown Muskogee, the Five Civilized Tribes capital of Oklahoma.