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CHistory
History · Crescent

Crescent’s post office opened in 1890, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 30% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1900.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Crescent began

When was Crescent founded?

1890

The Crescent post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 139 in 19002020 census: 1,299136 years

How historic is Crescent?

C

More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Crescent’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crescent is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Crescent’s overall grade.
Founding era1890, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194012.6% of homes (±5.4) · typical OK town 7.0% · U.S. 8.4%B−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 30%
NewerOlder

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 Crescent’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 is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 points). 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 Crescent’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 Crescent are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18923 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1990. Watch Crescent change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Crescent’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crescent’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
On the map

Crescent on the map, 1892 to 1990

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

Crescent on the 1892 USGS mapCrescent on the 1970 USGS mapCrescent on the 1990 USGS map1892Kingfisher 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 Crescent.

The story

How Crescent came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Crescent.

Read it all →

Crescent was formed with the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 on March 2, 1889, and officially started that fall when William Brown began selling general merchandise out of a wagon. Soon he took on a partner, Benjamin Ryland, and the two moved into a log cabin. A post office christened "Crescent City" was established on February 21, 1890, the name taken from a moon-shaped glade where the town began. In November 1891 the town site was platted, and incorporated in 1893. The Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad laid track one mile (1.6 km) west of the city in 1902, and the city obtained 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land from two farmers (C. E. Wells and J. H. Rhoades) creating "new Crescent" or "West Crescent"; eventually the town moved to the new location. Oil was discovered north of town in 1926 and then south of town in 1930 in the "Crescent Oil Field".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Crescent, 1890 to 1938

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Crescent post office opens
  3. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1938Born hereHubert Ausbie is born here
By decade

Crescent, decade by decade

Today6 recent
The Corner Church BW2018The Corner Church BWGrain Storage2018Grain StorageFor Sale2018For SaleFrontier Country Museum in2011Frontier Country Museum inCresent Oklahoma post office2011Cresent Oklahoma post officeCrescent, OK 73028, USA2007Crescent, OK 73028, USA
Every building

Crescent, building by building, 1911–1918

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.

Crescent fire insurance map, 1911, sheet 11911Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

People over time

Crescent, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,8001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,651

Between 139 and 1,651 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Questions about Crescent’s history

What year was Crescent founded?

The Crescent post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Crescent rank for history?

Crescent is more historic than 30% 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 Crescent?

13% of Crescent’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1970.

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, 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.