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History · Byars

Byars’ post office opened in 1903, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Byars was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listing is the Harris Palace Store. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1910.

1903first post office
1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Byars’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Byars began

When was Byars founded?

1903

The Byars post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 487 in 19102020 census: 184123 years
Founding year: the first Byars post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Byars’ 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.On the map since 18983 editions of the USGS map, 1898 to 1986. Watch Byars change.Boom and bustPeaked at 629 in 1920; 184 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Byars’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Byars’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 viewAdditional Station Grounds at the Easte…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Byars on the map, 1898 to 1986

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

Byars on the 1898 USGS mapByars on the 1902 USGS mapByars on the 1986 USGS map1898Pauls Valley 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 Byars.

People over time

Byars, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020Peak: 629

Peaked at 629 in 1920; 184 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Byars came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Byars.

Read it all →

The present community of Byars is one mile southeast of the Camp Arbuckle site in what is now McClain County. Before Byars was established, there was a community called "Johnsonville", named for local rancher Montford Johnson. Thomas B. Johnson, Chief Justice of the Chickasaw Nation, lived in Johnsonville, and his daughter Katie married Nathan H. Byars, another local rancher.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Byars, 1898 to 1920

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1903Post officeThe Byars post office opens
  5. 1904In the archiveAdditional Station Grounds at the Eastern Oklahoma Ry. At Byars, Chickasaw Nation, Indian…
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 629
By decade

Byars, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Additional Station Grounds at the Eastern Oklahoma Ry. At Byars, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory1904Additional Station Grounds at the Eastern Oklahoma Ry…
1910s–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
Today2 recent
Ok-133 path2009Ok-133 pathOKMap-doton-Byars2004OKMap-doton-Byars
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.

Additional Station Grounds at the Eastern Oklahoma Ry. At Byars, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory
Retake this viewAdditional Station Grounds at the Eastern Oklahoma Ry. At Byars, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, 1904

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Byars

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2019
Harris Palace Store
Harris Palace Store
Buildings
Harris Palace StoreBuilding

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Byars

Nobody well known was born in Byars itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Blake SheltonAmerican country music singer and television pe… · b. 1976
Wanda JacksonAmerican singer, songwriter, pianist and guitar… · b. 1937
Joseph GlascoAmerican abstract expressionist painter, drafts… · b. 1925
Tommy FranksUnited States Army general · b. 1945
G
G. D. SpradlinAmerican actor · b. 1920
Jesse RenickAmerican basketball player · b. 1917

Questions about Byars’ history

What year was Byars founded?

The Byars post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Byars?

One place: the Harris Palace Store (listed 2019).

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 (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.