When you see the word rich, you immediately think of money. But in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, the word "rich" takes on a deeper meaning. The land - the soil - is rich - the best in Oklahoma. The history is rich - for Pauls Valley was a cultural crossroads long before Oklahoma statehood. Goldseekers, the military, Indians, pioneers heading west, peace officers and outlaws - all passed through Pauls Valley.

Smith Paul, born in 1809 in Newbern, North Carolina, unable to adjust to the death of his mother and his father's subsequent remarriage ran away from home. For seventeen years he lived with the Chickasaw Indians in the northwestern Mississippi. During that time, he made two wagon train trips to California. It was on those trips that Paul discovered the fertile bottomland in the present day Pauls Valley.

When the Chickasaw Indians were removed to Indian Territory in 1837, Smith Paul accompanied them. Terms of the Tri-Party Treaty of January 1, 1837, between the U.S., the Choctaw, and the Chickasaws, ceded this fertile part of Oklahoma to the Chickasaw Nation.

Some of the Chickasaw Indians, along with Smith Paul and other whites who had intermarried with the Chickasaws, settled in this area of tribal land. Due to the leadership and vision of Paul, as well as his limitless energy, the area settled became known as Smith Paul's Valley. It was a land of plenty and Smith Paul's Valley prospered. The name of the town was shortened to Pauls Valley in 1887, It is a unique town name ~ no other town in the world shares its name with Pauls Valley.