Keota, Oklahoma  Keota is a town in northeastern Haskell County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 564 at the 2010 census, a 9.1 percent increase from 517 at the 2000 census. The town was first called "KeeOtter", and was later changed to "Keota". The town's name may come from a Choctaw word meaning "the fire gone out", referring to an entire tribe being destroyed by disease. Another account is that Keota was derived from "Jim Keese", a rancher who owned the land where the townsite was located, and "Otter," for Otter Creek, a tributary of the Sans Bois Creek which winds its way through town. Keota was founded in 1904 by the Midland Valley Railroad's land company, and a post office was established in 1905. By 1911, the town supported several businesses, a hotel, and a lumberyard. The town supported local cotton growers, and was a railroad shipping point for their product. The Great Depression caused Keota's population to fall from 494 in 1920 to 470 in 1930, though it rebounded to 619 by 1970. In 1971, the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System was established on the Arkansas River, about 10 miles north of Keota. A dam on the river created the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir, which reaches to Keota. This enabled the Port of Keota to be established. Light industry was beginning to be drawn to the town at the end of the twentieth century, though by 2013, little remained of the port but a boatlaunch The railway had long been abandoned. On December 31, 1974, the nearby Otter Creek Archaeological Site (NR 74001661) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At the time of its founding, Keota was located in Moshulatubbee District, Choctaw Nation. Keota is located at (35.256907, -94.921363). It is west of Fort Smith, Arkansas and south southwest of Sallisaw, Oklahoma. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land. As of the census of 2000, there were 517 people, 204 households, and 140 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,388.4 people per square mile (539.5/km²). There were 230 housing units at an average density of 617.6 per square mile (240.0/km²).