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History · Big Cabin

Big Cabin’s post office opened in 1871, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1930.

1871first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Photo: TulGuy · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Big Cabin began

When was Big Cabin founded?

1871

The Big Cabin post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 271 in 19302020 census: 174155 years
Founding year: the first Big Cabin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Big Cabin’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 Big Cabin are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19133 editions of the USGS map, 1913 to 1985. Watch Big Cabin change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Big Cabin’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Big Cabin’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

Big Cabin on the map, 1913 to 1985

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

Big Cabin on the 1913 USGS mapBig Cabin on the 1971 USGS mapBig Cabin on the 1985 USGS map1913Vinita 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 Big Cabin.

The story

How Big Cabin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Big Cabin.

Read it all →

The town was named for a local landmark, a plank cabin, that existed near the place where the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway built a switch in 1871–2. The first post office in this part of Indian Territory opened in 1872. (though it was not named Big Cabin until 1892). Some entrepreneurs built a stockyard in the town in 1888. The first two-story frame building was constructed in 1892. In 1892 the Post Office Department assigned a postal designation to Big Cabin. A school for non-Indian children began in 1895. The railroad built a depot in 1903.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Big Cabin, 1871 to 1936

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Big Cabin post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1913On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1936Born hereRalph Terry is born here
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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People over time

Big Cabin, census by census

010020030019401960198020002020Peak: 293

Between 174 and 293 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Questions about Big Cabin’s history

What year was Big Cabin founded?

The Big Cabin post office opened in 1871, 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, 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) 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.