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History · Lamar

Lamar’s post office opened in 1907

Most of Lamar was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1930.

1907first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Lamar began

When was Lamar founded?

1907

The Lamar post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 250 in 19302020 census: 118119 years
Founding year: the first Lamar post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Lamar’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 Lamar are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19003 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1985. Watch Lamar change.Boom and bustPeaked at 296 in 1940; 118 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lamar’s collection

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

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

Lamar on the map, 1900 to 1985

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

Lamar on the 1900 USGS mapLamar on the 1970 USGS mapLamar on the 1985 USGS map1900Wewoka 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 Lamar.

People over time

Lamar, census by census

010020030019401960198020002020Peak: 296

Peaked at 296 in 1940; 118 people lived here in 2020.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

The story

How Lamar came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lamar.

Read it all →

After the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (later the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (KO&G) constructed a line in 1907 connecting Dustin and Calvin, the Lamar community developed midway between the two towns. A post office was established on July 23, 1907. On September 14, 1907, J. R. Luttrell published the first issue of the weekly Lamar News. Two years later Lamar had a bank, a livery, a cotton gin, a lumberyard, a tin shop, a hardware store, and five general stores. Lamar incorporated on January 2, 1908. In 1909 R. L. Polk's Oklahoma State Gazetteer and Business Directory estimated that Lamar had a population of five hundred. Citizens passed a ten-thousand-dollar bond issue in May 1909 for the construction of a two-story, brick school building, completed in May 1910.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lamar, 1900 to 1940

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1907Post officeThe Lamar post office opens
  4. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 296
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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Famous people

Famous people close to Lamar

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

See all →
Reba McEntireAmerican country singer and actress · b. 1955
Woody GuthrieAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1912
Mary BlairAmerican artist · b. 1911
J
John BerrymanAmerican poet and scholar · b. 1914
William R. PogueAmerican astronaut · b. 1930
Clu GulagerAmerican actor · b. 1928

Questions about Lamar’s history

What year was Lamar founded?

The Lamar post office opened in 1907, 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.