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History · Colony

Colony’s post office opened in 1896, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1970.

1896first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Colony began, and where its name came from

When was Colony founded?

1896

The Colony post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 201 in 19702020 census: 112130 years

How did Colony get its name?

Colony was named for the Seger Colony, founded in 1886, which taught modern agricultural techniques to the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes that would be resettled in the vicinity.

Founding year: the first Colony post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Colony’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 Colony are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Colony’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Colony’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Colony’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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The story

How Colony came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Colony.

Read it all →

John Seger, a native of Ohio and a Union veteran of the Civil War, was hired in 1872 to work as a mason/carpenter to build housing and other structures for a school for Native American children at the Darlington Agency. Later, he began a colony for Native Americans with Arapaho Indians, who were joined later by several Cheyennes. By the following year, Seger's colony had over 500 inhabitants. Seger began teaching modern agricultural methods as well as brick-making. By 1892, the colony had also built an industrial arts school, with the Native Americans providing the bricks and cutting stone for all the buildings.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Colony, 1896 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Colony post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1921Born hereDale Mitchell is born here
  5. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Colony, decade by decade

Today1 recent
OKMap-doton-Colony2004OKMap-doton-Colony
On the map

Colony on the map, 1961 to 1984

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

Colony on the 1961 USGS mapColony on the 1984 USGS map1961Eakly sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Colony.

People over time

Colony, census by census

0100200198020002020Peak: 201

Between 112 and 201 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

Questions about Colony’s history

What year was Colony founded?

The Colony post office opened in 1896, 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 →
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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 (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) 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.