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History · Gans

Gans’ post office opened in 1899

Most of Gans was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1900.

1899first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Gans began, and where its name came from

When was Gans founded?

1899

The Gans post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Gann (1896), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 136 in 19002020 census: 251127 years

How did Gans get its name?

It was originally called Jack Town, but was renamed Gann after three brothers, who were Cherokee Indians, settled there: Charlie, Swimmer, and Tom Gann.

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

What stands out about Gans’ 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 Gans are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19004 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1978. Watch Gans change.Boom and bustPeaked at 351 in 1910; 251 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gans’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gans’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

Gans on the map, 1900 to 1978

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

Gans on the 1900 USGS mapGans on the 1911 USGS mapGans on the 1966 USGS mapGans on the 1978 USGS map1900Sallisaw 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 Gans.

People over time

Gans, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 351

Peaked at 351 in 1910; 251 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Gans came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gans.

Read it all →

At the time of its founding, Gans was located in the Sequoyah District of the Cherokee Nation. It was originally called Jack Town, but was renamed Gann after three brothers, who were Cherokee Indians, settled there: Charlie, Swimmer, and Tom Gann.

A post office opened at Gann, Indian Territory, on March 21, 1896. The Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad built a line through the area during 1895-6 and requested that the name be changed to Gans, since it already had two stations named Gann. The name of the post office changed to Gans on September 8, 1899.

Gans incorporated in 1902. It lost this status in 1933. It reincorporated in 1953. The town was seriously damaged by a tornado in 1957, but later rebuilt.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gans, 1896 to 1932

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Gann post office opens
  3. 1899Post officeThe Gann post office closes
  4. 1899Post officeThe Gans post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 351
  8. 1932Born hereCal Smith is born here
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.

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Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Gans’s post office has been open since 1899. Another post office, Gann, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gann
1896–1899
Gans
1899–today
18901960today

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

Questions about Gans’ history

What year was Gans founded?

The Gans post office opened in 1899, 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 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.