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History · Chewey

Chewey’s post office opened in 1915

Most of Chewey was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: maps from 1899 on and the census since 2000.

1915first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Chewey began

When was Chewey founded?

1915

The Chewey post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 135 in 20002020 census: 548111 years
Founding year: the first Chewey post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Chewey’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 Chewey are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18993 editions of the USGS map, 1899 to 1972. Watch Chewey change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chewey’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Chewey on the map, 1899 to 1972

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

Chewey on the 1899 USGS mapChewey on the 1904 USGS mapChewey on the 1972 USGS map1899Siloam Springs 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 Chewey.

The story so far

Chewey, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Chewey yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Chewey is a census-designated place (CDP) in Adair County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, Chewey had a population of 548.

Its first post office opened in 1915. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 135 to 548 (+306%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Chewey, 1899 to 1929

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1915Post officeThe Chewey post office opens
  5. 1922Born hereLeon Pense is born here
  6. 1929Post officeThe Chewey post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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People over time

Chewey, census by census

010020030040050060020002020548

Grew from 135 people in 2000 to 548 in 2020, 4 times over.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Chewey had its own post office from 1915 to 1929.

Chewey
1915–1929
19101970today
Gone or out of use
Cookson Hills Christian School Airportairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Chewey
CheweyCrittenden

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

Questions about Chewey’s history

What year was Chewey founded?

The Chewey post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 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.