Īt the time of its founding, Idabel was located in Bok Tuklo County, a part of the Apukshunubbee District of the Choctaw Nation. Railroad officials then chose the name Idabel, a compound of the names of Isaac Purnell's two daughters, Ida and Bell. They named the post office Bokhoma (a Choctaw word meaning Red River), which opened December 15, 1902. Postal officials also rejected that name because another post office of that name existed elsewhere in the territory. When postal officials rejected that designation, the name was changed to Mitchell, honoring another railroad company officer. The city was first named Purnell, after Isaac Purnell, a railroad official. Louis and San Francisco Railway, the line now being operated by the Kiamichi Railroad). Idabel was established in 1902 by the Arkansas and Choctaw Railway (later part of the St. History Part of downtown Idabel Martha A. It is in Oklahoma's southeast corner, a tourist area known as Choctaw Country. The population was 7,010 at the 2010 census.

Idabel is a city in and county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States.