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C+History
History · Buffalo

Buffalo’s post office opened in 1907, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns. What drives it

6 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1910.

1907first post office
6on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Buffalo began, and where its name came from

When was Buffalo founded?

1907

The Buffalo post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Brule (1899), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 282 in 19102020 census: 1,039119 years

How did Buffalo get its name?

Buffalo was named after the Buffalo Creek valley, in which it is located.

How historic is Buffalo?

C+

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Buffalo post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Buffalo’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Buffalo is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Buffalo’s overall grade.
Founding era1907, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 194010.7% of homes (±7.1) · typical OK town 7.0% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register6 listings, 54.9 per 10,000 residents · typical OK town 5.9 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 44%
NewerOlder

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 Buffalo’s 54.9 sits above most of its state (89% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 6 listings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Buffalo’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.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,618 in 1960; 1,039 people lived here in 2020.Landmarks on the Register6 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Buffalo’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Buffalo’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 viewConoco gas pump, Route 64: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Buffalo, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,800192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,618

Peaked at 1,618 in 1960; 1,039 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

On the National Register

6 historic places in Buffalo

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

places listed
6
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
I.O.O.F. Building of Buffalo
Farmers' Co-op Elevator, built 1920Feuquay Elevator, built 1920Harper County CourthouseBuffalo City Park Pavilion, built 1936I.O.O.F. Building of BuffaloMonhollow Artificial Stone House
BuildingsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Commercial1
Neo-Classical1
Plains Commercial Style1
Farmers' Co-op ElevatorBuilt 1920
Feuquay ElevatorBuilt 1920
Harper County CourthouseCommercial
Buffalo City Park PavilionBuilt 1936
All 6 listings
I.O.O.F. Building of BuffaloBuilding · listed 1983Monhollow Artificial Stone HouseBuilding · listed 1983

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

The story

How Buffalo came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Buffalo.

Read it all →

In 1907, the town was "staked out" and a post office was established with the name Buffalo, which was derived from nearby Buffalo Creek. In 1908, a county seat election gave the seat to Buffalo and the town was incorporated in the same year. Buffalo's founders issued instructions for all buildings to be built of stone, thereby many of those structures survived the test of time.

When citizens of Harper County decided to link their county seat with the railroads, they created the Buffalo and Northwestern Railroad, which arrived in Buffalo in May 1920. However, that trackage was abandoned in 1982, and Buffalo currently has no rail service.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Buffalo, 1899 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899Post officeThe Brule post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1907Post officeThe Brule post office closes
  5. 1907Post officeThe Buffalo post office opens
  6. 1920BuiltFarmers' Co-op Elevator is built
  7. 1920BuiltFeuquay Elevator is built
  8. 1936BuiltBuffalo City Park Pavilion is built
  9. 1936Born hereSandra Townsend is born here
  10. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 1,618
  11. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 1979In the archiveConoco gas pump, Route 64
By decade

Buffalo, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s1 item
Conoco gas pump, Route 641979Conoco gas pump, Route 64
1980s–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
Today4 recent
Feuquay Elevator2023Feuquay ElevatorFarmers Co-op Elevator2023Farmers Co-op ElevatorBuffalo City Park Pavilion2023Buffalo City Park PavilionOKMap-doton-Buffalo2004OKMap-doton-Buffalo
On the map

Buffalo on the map, 1970 to 1985

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

Buffalo on the 1970 USGS mapBuffalo on the 1985 USGS map1970Buffalo 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 Buffalo.

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.

Conoco gas pump, Route 64
Retake this viewConoco gas pump, Route 64, 1979

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Buffalo’s post office has been open since 1907. Another post office, Brule, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Brule
1899–1907
Buffalo
1907–today
18901960today

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

Questions about Buffalo’s history

What year was Buffalo founded?

The Buffalo post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Buffalo rank for history?

Buffalo is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. 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.

What is on the National Register in Buffalo?

6 listings: 3 buildings, among them the I.O.O.F. Building of Buffalo (listed 1983, the first), and 3 structures.

How old are the homes in Buffalo?

11% of Buffalo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1965.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.