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History · Jet

Jet’s post office opened in 1894, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1969 on and the census since 1910.

1894first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Brody Schmidt · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Jet began

When was Jet founded?

1894

The Jet post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 365 in 19102020 census: 197132 years
Founding year: the first Jet post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Jet’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 Jet are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 442 in 1940; 197 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Jet’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Jet’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Jet, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 442

Peaked at 442 in 1940; 197 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Jet came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Jet.

Read it all →

The community of Jet was founded by the Jett brothers, six unmarried brothers named Joseph, Trigg, Newt, Warner, John, and Richard Jett, who established homesteads in the former Cherokee Outlet, shortly after its opening to settlement by non-Indians. The brothers erected buildings and opened a general store on Richard's land. The Jet post office was established in 1894, when it was moved from nearby Barrel Springs which was about 1.5 miles northeast. Warner Jett was the first postmaster. The community grew into a small town, and Jet incorporated in 1900.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Jet, 1894 to 1969

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1894Post officeThe Jet post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 442
  5. 1969On 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

Jet on the map in 1969

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jet.

Jet on the 1969 USGS map1969Jet 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 Jet.

Famous people

Famous people close to Jet

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

See all →
Owen K. GarriottAmerican electrical engineer and astronaut · b. 1930
Glenda FarrellAmerican actress · b. 1904
Thad LuckinbillAmerican actor and film producer · b. 1975
Richard ErdmanAmerican actor, film director · b. 1925
Jack GingUnited States actor and sportsman · b. 1931
Wayne GlasgowAmerican basketball player · b. 1926

Questions about Jet’s history

What year was Jet founded?

The Jet post office opened in 1894, 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 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.