Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1880.
The Elk City post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elk City’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elk City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Elk City.
From Wikipedia’s history of Elk City.
Elk City had its start in the year 1868 by the building of a trading post at that location. The first post office in Elk City was established in November 1869.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Elk City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In the meantime two brothers, John and Samuel Kopple, who had taken the claims at the movith of Duck Creek, on Elk River, organized a town company and laid out the town of Elk City, and immediately applied for and obtained a charter for their company, and for more than a year a bitter rivalry existed between the towns of Elk City and Bloomfield. A saw mill had been in operation for several months at Bloomtield or Fish Trap, owned by a man by the name of Seevers. Other enterprising citizens settled in the town, which continued to flourish until the spring
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
to Ft. Scott, Kansas, and took a position with Hunter, the dryggist, for a time. On deciding to change employers again, he went to Cedarvale, Kansas, where he was with R. H. Rowland till, moved by a desire to engage in business for himself, he opened a drug store in Elk City, in 1898, which business he lost, by fire, January 12, 1902. While in Elk City, he ])rojiuited and placed on its feet, a gas and oil company, which did some successful development and is now one of the substantial and permanent concerns of that locality. Returning to Independence, in the spring of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1893Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Peaked at 796 in 1890; 260 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Elk City’s Wikipedia page.
The Elk City post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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