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History · Mokane

Mokane’s post office opened in 1893, and 59% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1945 on and the census since 1900.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
59%homes built before 1940
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Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Mokane began

When was Mokane founded?

1893

The Mokane post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Saint Aubert (1849), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 331 in 19002020 census: 188133 years
Founding year: the first Mokane post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Mokane’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Mokane are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Mokane’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 726 in 1920; 188 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mokane’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mokane’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Mokane came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mokane.

Read it all →

The settlement was first named Smith's Landing, after Thomas Smith, who settled there around 1818, and is said to be the second- or third-oldest town in Callaway County.

The settlement took on the name Saint Aubert around the time a post office was built there in 1849. Official Callaway County maps of 1876 show St. Aubert, which was also the name of its township area. The town was still referred to as Saint Aubert when Livingston's History of Northeast Missouri went to press in 1883 or 1884.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Mokane, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 726

Peaked at 726 in 1920; 188 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mokane’s Wikipedia page.

Timeline

Mokane, 1849 to 1945

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Saint Aubert post office opens
  3. 1893Post officeThe Saint Aubert post office closes
  4. 1893Post officeThe Mokane post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 726
  7. 1945On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Mokane, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Mokane Market2008Mokane MarketAlley in2008Alley inAlley by the Masonic Lodge2008Alley by the Masonic LodgeMokane Bar ^ Grill2007Mokane Bar ^ GrillBridgeMokane2007BridgeMokaneMOMap-doton-Mokane2004MOMap-doton-Mokane
On the map

Mokane on the map in 1945

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mokane.

Mokane on the 1945 USGS map1945Mokane sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mokane.

Famous people

Famous people close to Mokane

Nobody well known was born in Mokane itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Jack KilbyAmerican electrical engineer · b. 1923
Cedric the EntertainerAmerican actor and comedian · b. 1964
C
Charlie WeberAmerican actor · b. 1978
Christian CantwellAmerican shot putter · b. 1980
Helen StephensAthletics competitor · b. 1918
Maya MooreAmerican basketball player · b. 1989
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Mokane’s post office has been open since 1893. Another post office, Saint Aubert, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saint Aubert
1849–1893
Mokane
1893–today
18401930today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Mokane’s history

What year was Mokane founded?

The Mokane post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.