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History · Forgan

Forgan’s post office opened in 1912

Most of Forgan was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1973 on, and the census since 1920.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
8old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Forgan’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Forgan began

When was Forgan founded?

1912

The Forgan post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 582 in 19202020 census: 450114 years
Founding year: the first Forgan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Forgan came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Forgan.

Read it all →

The town name honors James B. Forgan, a Chicago banker and financier. L. B. Tooker established the first newspaper, the Forgan Enterprise, on June 6, 1912. A total of 53 businesses and four medical doctors were in the town at that time. As the town was located in a wheat-producing area, grain elevators were built to store wheat prior to shipment. The population dropped to 428 in 1940 after an exodus due to the Dust Bowl.

At the turn of the 21st century the economy was based on wheat and milo farming, ranching, the oil and gas industry, and corporate hog farms.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Forgan, 1912 to 1973

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1912Post officeThe Forgan post office opens
  3. 1939In the archiveSign on building
  4. 1973On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Forgan, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s8 items
Sign on building1939Sign on buildingPart of main street. Forgan, Oklahoma, agricultural ghost town1939Part of main street. Forgan, Oklahoma, agricultural g…Unused community rest room1939Unused community rest roomDetail of city hall1939Detail of city hallUntitled photo, possibly related to: Detail of city hall1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Detail of city h…Wrecking foundation of old building1939Wrecking foundation of old buildingUntitled photo, possibly related to: Wrecking foundation of old building1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Wrecking foundat…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Wrecking foundation of old building1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Wrecking foundat…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Forgan on the map, 1973 to 1986

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

Forgan on the 1973 USGS mapForgan on the 1986 USGS map1973Forgan 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 Forgan.

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.

Sign on building
Retake this viewSign on building, 1939

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Forgan, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 611

Between 410 and 611 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Forgan

Nobody well known was born in Forgan itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
M
Martin LewisAmerican basketball player · b. 1975
Ross RizleyAmerican politician · b. 1892
M
Melvin SandersAmerican basketball player · b. 1981
Shalee LehningAmerican basketball player · b. 1986
G
Greg NicholsAmerican soccer player · b. 1965
Jerame TumanPlayer of American football · b. 1976
Help out

Finish Forgan’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSign on building: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Forgan’s history

What year was Forgan founded?

The Forgan post office opened in 1912, 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 the Library of Congress (8), 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.