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History · Gotebo

Gotebo’s post office opened in 1904, and 56% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1910.

1904first post office
0on the National Register
56%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Gotebo began

When was Gotebo founded?

1904

The Gotebo post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 740 in 19102020 census: 174122 years
Founding year: the first Gotebo post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Gotebo’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 Gotebo are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Gotebo’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gotebo’s collection

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

How Gotebo came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gotebo.

Read it all →

The town now known as Gotebo was originally named Harrison (honoring President Benjamin Harrison) when it was founded in August 1901, during the opening of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Reservation. A railroad station had been built nearby a few months before, which officials of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway had named Gotebo, in honor of a well-respected Kiowa chief. He was one of the first Kiowa baptized at the Rainy Mountain Church, and was buried at the Rainy Mountain Indian Cemetery, between Gotebo and Mountain View. The name of the post office was soon changed from Harrison to Gotebo, and the town incorporated under the latter name.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gotebo, 1904 to 1961

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1904Post officeThe Gotebo post office opens
  3. 1910Born hereStan Wrightsman is born here
  4. 1933Born hereB. Wayne Hughes is born here
  5. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Gotebo, decade by decade

Today1 recent
OKMap-doton-Gotebo2004OKMap-doton-Gotebo
On the map

Gotebo on the map, 1961 to 1984

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

Gotebo on the 1961 USGS mapGotebo on the 1984 USGS map1961Gotebo 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 Gotebo.

Every building

Gotebo, building by building, 1916

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 sheet.

Gotebo fire insurance map, 1916, sheet 11916Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

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

People over time

Gotebo, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020Peak: 827

Between 174 and 827 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Gotebo

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
B
B. Wayne HughesAmerican businessman · b. 1933
S
Stan WrightsmanAmerican pianist · b. 1910

Questions about Gotebo’s history

What year was Gotebo founded?

The Gotebo post office opened in 1904, 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), 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.