King’s Springs is a historic gathering place of the Ottawa. It is situated near where tribal members resettled after their removal from Kansas to Indian Territory in the late 1860s. Under the direction of Chief John Wilson, tribal leaders Moses Pooler and Joseph Badger King arrived at the new Ottawa reservation in 1868 and began to prepare for the tribe’s relocation. After the death of Chief Wilson the following year, Joseph Badger King became Ottawa chief, and he built a home for his family at King’s Springs.

As the Ottawa community established itself along the Spring River, King’s Springs developed into a central social and cultural gathering space. Families held picnics, and a makeshift merry-go-round was used to entertain children. Community members often played musical instruments, and homemade ice cream, strawberry soda, and watermelon cooled in the creek were common treats. The area also served as a work site where men boiled sugar cane to make syrup, which they sold in tin buckets. A platform was erected at the site to hold tribal council meetings, and Chief Lewis Barlow grew up attending picnics and powwows at King’s Springs in the early twentieth century.

Mary Draper, who spent the first year of her life in two-room log cabin built by Joseph Badger King at King’s Spring, has worked to commemorate the site. As a result of her activism, the Ottawa Tribe commemorated the historical significance of the site by turning the location into a park in 2025.