Garvin’s post office opened in 1894, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
Most of Garvin was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Its Register listing is the Garvin Rock Church. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1916 on, and the census since 1910.
Garvin began as a trading post in the Choctaw Nation, approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of the present community bearing the same name. A post office named Garvin was established at the trading post on February 19, 1894. James W. Kirk, owner of the trading post, was the first postmaster, and chose to name the post office "Garvin", after his father-in-law, Isaac L. Garvin, who had been chief of the Choctaw Nation from 1878 to 1880.
At the time of its founding, Garvin was located in Bok Tuklo County, a part of the Apukshunnubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.
Passages that mention Garvin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Choctaw freedmen and the story of Oak Hill industrial academy, Valliant, McCurtain County, Oklahoma, now called the Alice Lee Elliott memorial1914 · page 23Read the page →
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sisted principally of students living at a distance, and they were absent most of the year, the services were then discontinued. A few years later the services were resumed at the town of Garvin, where another stone church was built in 1910, during the efficient ministry of Rev. W. J. Willis. SPENCER ACADEMY Rev. Alexander Reid, principal of Spencer Academy, was a native of Scotland, and came to this country in his
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Choctaw freedmen and the story of Oak Hill industrial academy, Valliant, McCurtain County, Oklahoma, now called the Alice Lee Elliott memorial1914 · page 374Read the page →
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in Atoka until 1900, when he located at Lukfata. Three years later he took charge of Bethany, near Wheelock, and in 1905, effected the organization of the church in the newtown of Garvin. In 1910, he voluntarily resigned the work at Bethany and the office of stated clerk of the Presbytery, and located at Eufaula.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Garvin, 1894 to 1951
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2024
2004
