Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #37 of 131 in Oklahoma. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 1 buildings. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1900.
The Bristow post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bristow is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #37 of 131 in Oklahoma. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Oklahoma towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Oklahoma town has 5.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bristow’s 23.4 sits above most of its state (80% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 10 listings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 6,630 in 1930; 4,248 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bristow’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1904Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bristow.
Bristow began in 1898, when the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway ("SL&SF") built a track between Sapulpa and Oklahoma City. The town was named for Joseph L. Bristow, an Assistant U.S. Postmaster General who later served as a U.S. senator from Kansas. A post office was established April 25, 1898. By the 1900 census, the population was 626.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Oklahoma - Creek County - Bristow - ED 19-1, ED 1…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltCreek Masonic Lodge No. 226 is built
Born hereJosiah Henson is born hereBuiltBristow Motor Company Building is builtBuiltBristow Tire Shop is built
Born hereClovis Maksoud is born hereBuiltBristow Firestone Service Station is built
In the archiveMeeting of UCAPAWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America)2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1940Meeting of UCAPAWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Pac…
1940Meeting of UCAPAWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Pac…
1940Meeting of local chapter of UCAPAWA (United Cannery, …
1940Member of UCAPAWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Pack…
1940Member of the Red Dust Players, Oklahoma City theater…
1940Negro tenant farmer at meeting of UCAPAWA (United Can…
1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Member of the Re…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bristow. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bristow.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bristow’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Bristow post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Bristow is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #37 of 131 in Oklahoma. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
10 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Bristow Presbyterian Church (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Klingensmith Park Amphitheater, with 1 contributing buildings.
12% of Bristow’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1976.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (10), 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), 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.
