The town of Locust Grove has a unique and storied history. Locust Grove did not evolve over time, like most towns and cities. The first written referral to Locust Grove is in Colonel William Weer’s after-battle report of the Battle of Locust Grove on July 3, 1862 in the midst of the Civil War. One of the few places in Native American Territory that saw Civil War Action, Locust Grove is named after the locust thickets in which the battle took place.

No record of a store or post office exists at this location; however, there was a ferry and a blacksmith shop. Joel Bryant purchased land south of this location, and in 1908, he moved a store from Boatman to this property. The Locust Grove Post Office was in this establishment.

The store was sold to Louie W. Ross in 1910; he moved it farther south to a location one mile north of the current town. O.W. Killam purchased Elzina Ross’s Indian allotment in March of 1912. He plotted the present-day town, and at 10:00 a.m. on May 12, 1912, Killam began auctioning the lots; by 4:00 p.m. that day, all the lots had been sold. The new town of Locust Grove was soon nicknamed “Wonder City of the Grand River Valley.”