Founding year: the first Byng post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Byng’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Byng is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Byng’s overall grade.
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 Byng’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (18% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±2.6 points) is firm at this size. 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 Byng’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The beginnings of the town of Byng were established in 1917 with the building of a post office and power plant (about five miles north of Ada). The post office and power plant were named to honor the World War I exploits of British General Julian Byng who commanded the Canadian Corps and was later Governor General of Canada. The town was not formally formed until 1922 when the remains of two other communities were merged into Byng. Tyrola, about a mile north of Byng, was almost wiped out by a flooding of the South Canadian River in 1914. New Bethel, also approximately a mile north of present-day Byng, but lying east of Tyrola, had also been formed. The school at New Bethel and the school at Tyrola were combined to create New Bethel Consolidated Number 3 in 1925, and the name was changed to Byng in 1929. The town incorporated in 1972.
The Byng post office opened in 1917, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Byng rank for history?
Byng is more historic than 7% 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.
How old are the homes in Byng?
3% of Byng’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.