Guthrie dates to 1887, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #10 of 131 in Oklahoma. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Guthrie Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 69 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1889.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Guthrie’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Guthrie is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #10 of 131 in Oklahoma. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Guthrie’s overall grade.
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 Guthrie’s 70.3 sits above most of its state (91% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 79 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 points). Two sources give 1887.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Guthrie’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Guthrie was established in 1887 as a railroad station called Deer Creek on the Southern Kansas Railway—later acquired by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("AT&SF")-- running from the Kansas–Oklahoma border to Purcell. The name was later changed to Guthrie, named for jurist John Guthrie of Topeka, Kansas. A post office was established on April 4, 1889.
In 1889, some 50,000 potential settlers gathered at the edges of the Unassigned Lands in hopes of staking a claim to a plot. At noon on April 22, 1889, cannons resounded at a 2,000,000-acre (810,000 ha; 8,100 km2) section of Indian Territory, launching president Benjamin Harrison's "Hoss Race" or Land Run of 1889. People ran for both farmlands and towns.
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.
In 1887, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Guthrie’s post office opened in 1889, and the census of 1890 counted 5,333 people here.
How does Guthrie rank for history?
Guthrie is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #10 of 131 in Oklahoma. 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.
What is on the National Register in Guthrie?
9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Carnegie Library (listed 1971, the first), and 1 historic district, the Guthrie Historic District, with 69 contributing buildings. 79 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Guthrie?
19% of Guthrie’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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.
★ Landmark
1890
1890
