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History · Howe

Howe’s post office opened in 1898

Most of Howe was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1900.

1898first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Howe’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Howe began

When was Howe founded?

1898

The Howe post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 626 in 19002020 census: 625128 years
Founding year: the first Howe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Howe’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Howe’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Howe’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSouth west towards the town of: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Howe came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Howe.

Read it all →

This community was originally a Choctaw Nation town named Klondike. After the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf Railroad laid tracks through it in 1895-6, the residents renamed it for Dr. Herbert M. Howe, a railroad director. A post office opened at Howe, Indian Territory in 1898. The Kansas City Southern Railroad bought the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf Railroad in 1900.

At the time of its founding, the community was located in the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Howe, 1898 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Howe post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1935Born hereJames E. Hamilton is born here
  5. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Howe, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
South west towards the town ofDate?South west towards the town of
Today2 recent
Howe, Oklahoma2024Howe, OklahomaOKMap-doton-Howe2004OKMap-doton-Howe
On the map

Howe on the map, 1959 to 1981

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

Howe on the 1959 USGS mapHowe on the 1981 USGS map1959Heavener 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 Howe.

Every building

Howe, building by building, 1904–1911

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 year, then a sheet.

Howe fire insurance map, 1904, sheet 11904Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

South west towards the town of
Retake this viewSouth west towards the town of

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Howe’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Howe, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 802

Between 390 and 802 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Questions about Howe’s history

What year was Howe founded?

The Howe post office opened in 1898, 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 Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.