Pryor Creek was named in honor of Nathaniel Hale Pryor. Captain Pryor was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a veteran of the War of 1812, and a captain at the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. In June he was honorably discharged from the army and returned to Indian trade in Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma, and in 1820 established a trading post on Grand River.