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Kaw City Santa Fe DepotPhoto: Matthew Zisi · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Kaw City

1 of Kaw City’s places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Kaw City Depot. Most of Kaw City was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1935 on and the census since 1910.

1on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Kaw City’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 Kaw City are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,001 in 1930; 325 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kaw City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kaw City’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

Kaw City, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,001

Peaked at 1,001 in 1930; 325 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Kaw City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kaw City.

Read it all →

In 1902, the original Kaw City was founded, prior to Oklahoma statehood, as a farming community in the fertile oxbow bend of the Arkansas River. Kaw City was across the river from the Kaw Indian reservation and the Kaw Agency. By statehood in 1907, it had 486 inhabitants. Although the original town site is now inundated by the waters of Kaw Lake, the old town was quite a busy place.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kaw City, 1902 to 1979

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Kaw post office opens
  3. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 1,001
  4. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1979Post officeThe Kaw post office closes
  6. 1979Post officeThe Kaw City post office opens
By decade

Kaw City, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Kaw lake dam2026Kaw lake damKaw Lake Dam2020Kaw Lake DamOKMap-doton-KawCity2004OKMap-doton-KawCity
On the map

Kaw City on the map, 1935 to 1979

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

Kaw City on the 1935 USGS mapKaw City on the 1964 USGS mapKaw City on the 1979 USGS map1935Kaw 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 Kaw City.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Kaw City

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Kaw City Depot
Kaw City Depot
Buildings
Kaw City DepotBuilding

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Kaw City

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

See all →
Ben JohnsonAmerican film actor · b. 1918
Maria TallchiefAmerican ballerina · b. 1925
Lionel HollinsAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1953
Don NicklesAmerican businessperson, former Republican Unit… · b. 1948
Henry BellmonAmerican politician · b. 1921
S
Shelby WilsonOlympic wrestler · b. 1937
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Kaw City’s post office has been open since 1979. Another post office, Kaw, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kaw
1902–1979
Kaw City
1979–today
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Kaw City Elementary Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Kaw City
Grandview

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

Questions about Kaw City’s history

What is on the National Register in Kaw City?

One place: the Kaw City Depot (listed 1979).

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