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History · Achille

Achille’s post office opened in 1910, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Achille was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Its Register listing is the Bloomfield Academy Site. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1920.

1910first post office
1on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Achille’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Achille began

When was Achille founded?

1910

The Achille post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Achilla (1910), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 500 in 19202020 census: 398116 years
Founding year: the first Achille post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Achille’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Achille’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAchille: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Achille came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Achille.

Read it all →

The area that would become Achille was originally part of the Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory. The Bloomfield Academy for Chickasaw girls was located 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of present-day Achille from 1853 until 1914. Cherokee refugees located to the area during the American Civil War and called it atsila, meaning "fire".

The Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway built a line that crossed the region in 1908 and a post office was established in the community in 1910.

The community grew from an estimated population of 50 to 500 in 1920. The town's population declined to 294 in 1960 and reached a peak number of 506 in 2000.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Achille, 1852 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1852BuiltBloomfield Academy Site is built
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910Post officeThe Achilla post office opens
  5. 1910Post officeThe Achilla post office closes
  6. 1910Post officeThe Achille post office opens
  7. 1914In the archiveAchille
  8. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Achille, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Achille1914Achille
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
OK91wRoadSign-AchilleOK2018OK91wRoadSign-AchilleOKOK78nOK91wSigns-AchilleOK2018OK78nOK91wSigns-AchilleOKOKMap-doton-Achille2004OKMap-doton-Achille
On the map

Achille on the map, 1958 to 1980

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Achille. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Achille on the 1958 USGS mapAchille on the 1980 USGS map1958Durant 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 Achille.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Achille
Retake this viewAchille, 1914

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Achille’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Achille

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1972
Bloomfield Academy Site
Sites
All 1 listings
Bloomfield Academy SiteSite · listed 1972

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Achille, census by census

0100200300400500192019401960198020002020Peak: 506

Between 294 and 506 people in every census since 1920.

9 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Achille

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

See all →
Chesley SullenbergerAmerican commercial airline pilot · b. 1951
John HillermanAmerican actor · b. 1932
Charlie ChristianAmerican swing and jazz guitarist · b. 1916
Buck OwensAmerican country singer-songwriter · b. 1929
Denean HowardAthletics competitor, sprinter, 400 metres runn… · b. 1964
K
Karen DaltonAmerican musician · b. 1937
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Achille’s post office has been open since 1910. Another post office, Achilla, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Achilla
1910–1910
Achille
1910–today
19101970today

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

Questions about Achille’s history

What year was Achille founded?

The Achille post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Achille?

One place: the Bloomfield Academy Site (listed 1972).

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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.