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History · Hardesty

Hardesty’s post office opened in 1887

Most of Hardesty was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1968 on and the census since 1950.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Peter Greenberg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Hardesty began

When was Hardesty founded?

1887

The Hardesty post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 201 in 19502020 census: 205139 years
Founding year: the first Hardesty post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hardesty’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 Hardesty are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 277 in 2000; 205 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hardesty’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hardesty’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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People over time

Hardesty, census by census

01002003001960198020002020Peak: 277

Peaked at 277 in 2000; 205 people lived here in 2020.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

The story

How Hardesty came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hardesty.

Read it all →

The original Hardesty was four miles northeast of the present community. It had a post office in 1887, with the name honoring A.J. "Jack" Hardesty, who had interests in the area. However, the Rock Island railroad bypassed the town in 1901 and created the locale that became Guymon, Oklahoma. Most of Hardesty’s residents and businesses relocated to Guymon, and the original town withered.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hardesty, 1887 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Hardesty post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1968On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 277
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Hardesty on the map, 1968 to 1982

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

Hardesty on the 1968 USGS mapHardesty on the 1982 USGS map1968Hardesty 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 Hardesty.

Famous people

Famous people close to Hardesty

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

See all →
Rex LinnAmerican actor · b. 1956
Jeremy SochanAmerican-Polish basketball player · b. 2003
Michael D. BrownFormer director of the U.S. Federal Emergency M… · b. 1954
Claudia BryarActress · b. 1918
M
Martin LewisAmerican basketball player · b. 1975
Mike HargroveAmerican baseball player and coach · b. 1949

Questions about Hardesty’s history

What year was Hardesty founded?

The Hardesty post office opened in 1887, 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 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.