Clearview was founded in June 1903 by James Roper, Lemuel Jackson and John Grayson who became the town's first postmaster. The town was incorporated in 1911. The land was donated by Mondy Holmes, a Creek freedwoman. Originally, the town was named Lincoln, after President Abraham Lincoln. A newspaper was quickly established, first named the Lincoln Tribune and later changed to the Clearview Patriarch.  The Fort Smith and Western Railroad built a depot in the community. The town reached a population of 250 by 1904. The businesses included a two-story hotel, lumberyard, sawmill, 5 general stores, a drug store, a theater, a bakery, a cigar factory, a soft drink factory, a barbershop, a beauty salon, a fruit stand, two variety stores, two blacksmith shops, several filling stations, three cotton gins, a motorcar garage, a canning factory, a sewing factory, a thoroughbred horse racing track and a telephone company. Recreational facilities included a baseball diamond, miniature golf course and a pool hall. Early on, the residents built a brick school building and two churches. Just Northeast of the town, J.C. Leftwich ran the Creek and Seminole Agricultural College. Two fraternal orders were founded, the Patriarchs of America and the Sisters of Ethiopia. Famous black leader Booker T. Washington heard about the town when he visited Muskogee, OK in 1914 while attending a Negro Business League meeting. He later visited Clearview delivering a speech from the back of his railcar. The Back to Africa movement, known nationally, took place in Clearview for a short time in 1913, led by Chief Alfred Charles Sam a native of the Gold Coast in Africa. At its height, 618 people lived in Clearview. In 1990 the U.S. census showed 47 inhabitants. By 2010 there were 48 people living in Clearview. Only 36 people reside today. Clearview is one of the stops on the Green Leg of the 13 Black Towns Tour.