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History · Hickory

Hickory’s post office opened in 1893, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1967 on and the census since 1900.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Hickory began

When was Hickory founded?

1893

The Hickory post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 262 in 19002020 census: 86133 years
Founding year: the first Hickory post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Hickory’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 Hickory are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 359 in 1920; 86 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hickory’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hickory’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

Hickory, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 359

Peaked at 359 in 1920; 86 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story so far

Hickory, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hickory yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Hickory is a town in Murray County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 86 as of the 2020 census. The locale is old enough to appear on a 1911 Rand McNally map of the county. Hickory was the birthplace and childhood home of Zack Mosley, the creator of the comic strip The Adventures of Smilin' Jack, an adventurous aviator, inspired by Mosley witnessing an early plane crash in Hickory.

Its first post office opened in 1893. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 71 to 86 (+21%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Hickory, 1893 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1893Post officeThe Hickory post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 359
  5. 1964Post officeThe Hickory post office closes
  6. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

Hickory on the map, 1967 to 1993

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

Hickory on the 1967 USGS mapHickory on the 1993 USGS map1967Roff South 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 Hickory.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Hickory had its own post office from 1893 to 1964.

Hickory
1893–1964
18901960today
1cemetery inside Hickory
Hickory

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

Questions about Hickory’s history

What year was Hickory founded?

The Hickory post office opened in 1893, 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 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.