Before the town was named Russellville, it was known as Chactas Prairie, The Prairie, or Cactus Flats. In the early 19th century, Osage from Missouri hunted frequently in the valley where Russellville is now located. Between 1818 and 1828, the area was within a Cherokee reservation, but the Cherokee people were forcibly moved to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in 1828, and the land was made available for white settlers by the United States federal government. The first settler in the area was P.C. Holledger in 1834.