Bartlesville City Map Poster

About Bartlesville

The Osage Nation is headquartered in Bartlesville and the city has been designated as an official Tribal National Historic Landmark due to the presence of three tribal historic sites. Bartlesville's history dates back to 1832, when William G. "Billy" Montgomery first settled at the present site of Bartlesville on Caney Creek near its confluence with the Grand River (now known as Spavinaw Creek). He opened a trading post there along an Indian trail that was used for cattle drives north from Texas to Kansas railheads by Jesse Chisholm and his Cherokee associates including Chief Allen Wright before being replaced by Chisholm Trail later in 1864 after it had been blazed through Indian Territory earlier that year.