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B−History
History · Jones

Jones’ post office opened in 1898, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #60 of 131 in Oklahoma. What drives it

Most of Jones was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1910.

1898first post office
1on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Jones began

When was Jones founded?

1898

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

First census: 163 in 19102020 census: 2,885128 years

How historic is Jones?

B−

More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Jones post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Jones’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jones is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #60 of 131 in Oklahoma. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jones’ overall grade.
Founding era1898, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19407.8% of homes (±3.0) · typical OK town 7.0% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register1 listing, 3 historic buildings, 9.8 per 10,000 residents · typical OK town 5.9 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 46%
NewerOlder
Oklahoma towns of 2,500+ (131)Ahead of 55%

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 Jones’ 9.8 sits near the middle of its state (65% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.0 points). 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 Jones’ 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 Jones are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18926 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1975. Watch Jones change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Jones’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Jones’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
On the map

Jones on the map, 1892 to 1975

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

Jones on the 1892 USGS mapJones on the 1935 USGS mapJones on the 1940 USGS mapJones on the 1955 USGS mapJones on the 1969 USGS mapJones on the 1975 USGS map1892Edmond 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 Jones.

The story

How Jones came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Jones.

Read it all →

Jones was plotted as a townsite on April 22, 1898 by Luther F. Aldrich before the St. Louis and Oklahoma City Railroad constructed a line from Sapulpa to Oklahoma City. Aldrich named the town after his friend and business associate, Charles G. "Gristmill" Jones who was a three-time mayor of Oklahoma City. Jones later named his eldest son Luther.

Jones is located just south of the place that Washington Irving described as "The Ringing of Horses" in the book A Tour on the Prairies (1835).

Jones was incorporated as a city on January 4, 1909. The 1910 Census counted the population at 163.

ChaptersEarly history2007 ice storm and Jones High School fireEarthquakes

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Jones, 1892 to 1909

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1898Post officeThe Jones post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1909Born hereHaskell Boggs is born here
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.
Add from your album
On the National Register

1 historic place in Jones

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2001
Charles G. Jones Farmstead
Charles G. Jones Farmstead
Districts

Architectural styles listings

I-House1
All 1 listings
Charles G. Jones FarmsteadDistrict · listed 2001

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Jones, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0001920194019601980200020202,885

Grew from 163 people in 1910 to 2,885 in 2020, more than tenfold.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Oklahoma City148 historic placesBChoctawIts storyC−

Questions about Jones’ history

What year was Jones founded?

The Jones post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Jones rank for history?

Jones is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #60 of 131 in Oklahoma. 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.

What is on the National Register in Jones?

One place: the Charles G. Jones Farmstead (listed 2001).

How old are the homes in Jones?

8% of Jones’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.0 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1976.

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).

From the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.