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History · Canadian

Canadian’s post office opened in 1899, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Canadian Jail and Livery Stable. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1900.

1899first post office
1on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Canadian’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Canadian began

When was Canadian founded?

1899

The Canadian post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, South Canadian (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 522 in 19002020 census: 143127 years
Founding year: the first Canadian post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Canadian’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1901 to 1914, drew every building in Canadian.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Canadian’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewEnrollment for Cherokee Census Card D152: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Canadian, building by building, 1901–1914

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.

Canadian fire insurance map, 1901, sheet 11901Sheet 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.

The story

How Canadian came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Canadian.

Read it all →

At the time of its founding, Canadian was located in Tobucksy County, Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory. The settlement was originally called South Canadian, taking its name from the nearby South Fork of the Canadian River, now called Gaines Creek. A post office was established at South Canadian, Indian Territory on May 29, 1873. The name was changed to Canadian on December 11, 1899.

During the Civil War, the nearby Canadian Depot was an important supply depot.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Canadian, 1873 to 1915

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe South Canadian post office opens
  3. 1899Post officeThe South Canadian post office closes
  4. 1899Post officeThe Canadian post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1915Born hereCharles F. Carey, Jr. is born here
By decade

Canadian, decade by decade

Date unknown2 to date
Enrollment for Cherokee Census Card D152Date?Enrollment for Cherokee Census Card D152Enrollment for Cherokee Census Card D152Date?Enrollment for Cherokee Census Card D152
Today2 recent
(Severe Winter Storms and Flooding) Canadian, OK, January 21, 2007 -- FEMA damage assessment team member Gary Grabow ga…2007(Severe Winter Storms and Flooding) Canadian, OK, Jan…OKMap-doton-Canadian2004OKMap-doton-Canadian
On the map

Canadian on the map, 1900 to 1971

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

Canadian on the 1900 USGS mapCanadian on the 1971 USGS map1900Canadian 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 Canadian.

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.

Enrollment for Cherokee Census Card D152
Retake this viewEnrollment for Cherokee Census Card D152

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Canadian

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Canadian Jail and Livery Stable
Canadian Jail and Livery Stable
Buildings
All 1 listings
Canadian Jail and Livery StableBuilding · listed 1980

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

People over time

Canadian, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 522

Between 143 and 522 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Canadian’s post office has been open since 1899. Another post office, South Canadian, opened and closed inside today’s town.

South Canadian
1873–1899
Canadian
1899–today
18701950today

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

Questions about Canadian’s history

What year was Canadian founded?

The Canadian post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Canadian?

One place: the Canadian Jail and Livery Stable (listed 1980).

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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.