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BHistory
History · Krebs

Krebs’ post office opened in 1886, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listings are the St. Joseph's Catholic Church and the Hokey's Drugstore. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1910.

1886first post office
2on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers

How Krebs began

When was Krebs founded?

1886

The Krebs post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 2,884 in 19102020 census: 2,083140 years

How historic is Krebs?

B

More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Krebs’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Krebs is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Krebs’ overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 55%
NewerOlder

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 Krebs’ 9.4 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 (±5.2 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 Krebs’ past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Krebs’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Every building

Krebs, building by building, 1894–1918

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.

Krebs fire insurance map, 1894, sheet 11894Sheet 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.

On the map

Krebs on the map, 1898 to 1991

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

Krebs on the 1898 USGS mapKrebs on the 1909 USGS mapKrebs on the 1967 USGS mapKrebs on the 1978 USGS mapKrebs on the 1991 USGS map1898McAlester sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Krebs.

The story

How Krebs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Krebs.

Read it all →

A post office was established at Krebs, Indian Territory on February 10, 1886. At the time of its founding, Krebs was located in Tobucksy County, a part of the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation. Krebs began as a coal-mining camp housing European immigrants who came to work coal mines in the surrounding area. The town is named after Judge Edmond Folsom Krebs (1821-1893), a county judge in Tobucksy County. Judge Krebs was born of mixed German and Choctaw ancestry in Winston County, Mississippi.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Krebs, 1886 to 1933

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Krebs post office opens
  3. 1888BuiltHokey's Drugstore is built
  4. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 20th century
  6. 1933Born hereCarl Allison is born here
By decade

Krebs, decade by decade

On the National Register

2 historic places in Krebs

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Hokey's Drugstore
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Romanesque1
All 2 listings

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

People over time

Krebs, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,884

Between 1,342 and 2,884 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Krebs’ history

What year was Krebs founded?

The Krebs post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Krebs rank for history?

Krebs is more historic than 55% 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.

What is on the National Register in Krebs?

Two places: the St. Joseph's Catholic Church (listed 1980) and the Hokey's Drugstore (1979).

How old are the homes in Krebs?

15% of Krebs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1972.

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 Wikimedia Commons (3), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.