Most of Inola was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1910.
Founding year: the first Inola post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Inola’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Inola is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Inola’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 Inola’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (18% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Inola’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1889, the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway (later acquired by the Missouri Pacific Railway) built a line from Wagoner through the Foyil area onto the Kansas state line. The area was then just inside the northeastern corner of the Creek Nation in Indian Territory. A post office was established in March 1890 with the name Foyil. It was closed in September 1890 but reopened in April 1891. By 1901, the population was estimated at 100 people. The Dawes Commission had the town platted in 1902, before the Creek allotment.
The Inola post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Inola rank for history?
Inola is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Inola?
2% of Inola’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 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.
