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C−History
History · Catoosa

Catoosa’s post office opened in 1883

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #104 of 131 in Oklahoma. What drives it

Most of Catoosa was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1900.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Catoosa began

When was Catoosa founded?

1883

The Catoosa post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 241 in 19002020 census: 7,440143 years

How historic is Catoosa?

C−

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Catoosa post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Catoosa’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Catoosa is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #104 of 131 in Oklahoma. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Catoosa’s overall grade.
Founding era1883, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.8% of homes (±0.9) · typical OK town 7.0% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical OK town 5.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 15%
NewerOlder
Oklahoma towns of 2,500+ (131)Ahead of 21%

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 Catoosa’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 C−. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 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 Catoosa’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Catoosa are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1910 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Catoosa’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Catoosa, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,0001900192019401960198020002020404 in 1910Low: 264

Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Catoosa came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Catoosa.

Read it all →

The Cherokee Nation controlled the region during the 19th century. After the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad laid tracks in the early 1880s, the community became a cow town, with the establishment of William Padilla and Ayden Alexander Bird Creek Ranch. In 1883, the Federal Government opened a post office here.

The name of the city is derived from the Cherokee language, phonetically pronounced "Ga-du-si" or "Ga-tu-si". Various interpretations of this word exist, including: "between two hills", "on the hill", "into the hills", and possibly signifying a prominent hill or place thereon.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Catoosa, 1883 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Catoosa post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 7,440
By decade

Catoosa, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Outside of museum2008Outside of museumAerial photo of the Tulsa Port of Catoosa taken May 5, 20082008Aerial photo of the Tulsa Port of Catoosa taken May 5…Port of Catoosa 20072007Port of Catoosa 2007Martha berry cherokee beadworker2007Martha berry cherokee beadworkerRc rdr2 12006Rc rdr2 1Low Water Wharf2006Low Water Wharf
On the map

Catoosa on the map, 1963 to 1980

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

Catoosa on the 1963 USGS mapCatoosa on the 1980 USGS map1963Catoosa 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 Catoosa.

Places that used to be

Old burying grounds

Catoosa’s post office has been open since 1883.

4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Catoosa
DenboDuckMarshallRiver Hill

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Tulsa99 historic placesA−Fair OaksIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Catoosa’s history

What year was Catoosa founded?

The Catoosa post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Catoosa rank for history?

Catoosa is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #104 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.

How old are the homes in Catoosa?

2% of Catoosa’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1986.

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 (6), 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.