Fort Towson is a town in Choctaw County, Oklahoma, in the southeastern corner of the state. It takes its name from nearby Fort Towson, a frontier military post established in May 1824 and named for General Nathan Towson, a War of 1812 hero and later Paymaster General of the Army. The fort was built to settle conflicts between settlers, American Indian peoples, and lawless elements claiming the area as part of Arkansas Territory, and it stood as an outpost on the border between the United States and Texas when Texas still belonged to Mexico. During the 1830s it served as an arrival point for thousands of Choctaw people removed westward on the Trail of Tears, and it later saw service in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. The Fort Towson Historic Site preserves the ruins and tells that story. About 490 residents live in the town, with the U.S. Census Bureau recording 492 in 2020. It is a small, quiet community where most residents own their homes. The Fort Towson Public Schools operate a small pre-K through twelfth-grade district of three schools, serving the town and the surrounding countryside. Raymond Gary State Park lies at the edge of town on the shores of Lake Raymond Gary, a calm, no-wake lake named for Oklahoma's first native-born governor. Fishing, boating, swimming, camping, and picnicking draw visitors from across southeastern Oklahoma, and the park gives the town a lakeside, outdoors-oriented character alongside its military heritage. State highways connect Fort Towson to Hugo, the Choctaw County seat, and to the wider lake-and-forest country of southeastern Oklahoma.