diff --git a/src/toil/jobStores/aws/jobStore.py b/src/toil/jobStores/aws/jobStore.py
index d42dc7750c..2347c96ea1 100644
--- a/src/toil/jobStores/aws/jobStore.py
+++ b/src/toil/jobStores/aws/jobStore.py
@@ -745,10 +745,20 @@ def bucket_creation_pending(error):
                         logger.debug("Bucket '%s' does not exist.", bucket_name)
                         if create:
                             logger.debug("Creating bucket '%s'.", bucket_name)
-                            location = region_to_bucket_location(self.region)
-                            bucket = self.s3_resource.create_bucket(
-                                Bucket=bucket_name,
-                                CreateBucketConfiguration={'LocationConstraint': location})
+                            location = self.region
+                            if (
+                                location == "us-east-1"
+                            ):  # see https://github.com/boto/boto3/issues/125
+                                bucket = self.s3_resource.create_bucket(
+                                    Bucket=bucket_name
+                                )
+                            else:
+                                bucket = self.s3_resource.create_bucket(
+                                    Bucket=bucket_name,
+                                    CreateBucketConfiguration={
+                                        "LocationConstraint": location
+                                    },
+                                )
                             # Wait until the bucket exists before checking the region and adding tags
                             bucket.wait_until_exists()