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History · Ashland

Ashland’s post office opened in 1902, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1896 on and the census since 1930.

1902first post office
0on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Ashland began

When was Ashland founded?

1902

The Ashland post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 131 in 19302020 census: 35124 years
Founding year: the first Ashland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ashland’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 Ashland are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18964 editions of the USGS map, 1896 to 1990. Watch Ashland change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ashland’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ashland’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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On the map

Ashland on the map, 1896 to 1990

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

Ashland on the 1896 USGS mapAshland on the 1900 USGS mapAshland on the 1967 USGS mapAshland on the 1990 USGS map1896Coalgate sheet · 1:125,000

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

The story

How Ashland came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ashland.

Read it all →

Residents of the young community applied for a United States Post Office to be established using the name "Pearl City." Postal officials did not agree to their choice of names, doubtless because of the existence of a post office at Pearl in Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory. Federal officials were already anticipating the union of the "twin territories" into a single state, and postal officials did not want two post offices in the same state using such similar names. They substituted Ashland instead, and a post office opened at Ashland, Indian Territory on October 1, 1902. At the time of its founding, Ashland was located in Tobucksy County, Choctaw Nation.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ashland, 1896 to 1986

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1902Post officeThe Ashland post office opens
  5. 1986Post officeThe Ashland post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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People over time

Ashland, census by census

010019401960198020002020Peak: 142

Between 35 and 142 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Ashland had its own post office from 1902 to 1986.

Ashland
1902–1986
19001960today

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

Questions about Ashland’s history

What year was Ashland founded?

The Ashland post office opened in 1902, 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 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.