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History · Braman

Braman’s post office opened in 1898, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1900.

1898first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Braman began

When was Braman founded?

1898

The Braman post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 249 in 19002020 census: 160128 years
Founding year: the first Braman post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Braman’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 Braman are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 507 in 1930; 160 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Braman’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Braman’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Braman, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 507

Peaked at 507 in 1930; 160 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Braman came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Braman.

Read it all →

Braman was named for railroad developer Dwight Braman, when its post office was first established on April 22, 1898. In that year, the Kansas and Southeastern Railroad—which was bought by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF) in 1899—built a track from Hunnewell, Kansas to Braman. The following year, the Blackwell and Southern Railway—which was bought by the AT&SF in 1900—continued the line south through Blackwell to Tonkawa. Meanwhile the town, located 5 miles (8.0 km) inside the Kansas-Oklahoma state line, officially incorporated on January 9, 1899. There were 249 residents in 1900, growing to 300 by statehood in 1907.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Braman, 1898 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Braman post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 507
  5. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Braman, decade by decade

Today1 recent
OKMap-doton-Braman2004OKMap-doton-Braman
On the map

Braman on the map, 1967 to 1985

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

Braman on the 1967 USGS mapBraman on the 1985 USGS map1967Braman sheet · 1:24,000

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

Every building

Braman, building by building, 1905–1911

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.

Braman fire insurance map, 1905, sheet 11905Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Questions about Braman’s history

What year was Braman founded?

The Braman post office opened in 1898, 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 (1), Wikipedia, 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.