History · Laverne

Laverne’s post office opened in 1898, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 68% of U.S. towns. What drives it

5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 10 buildings. Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1920.

1898first post office

5on the National Register

14%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Quick answers

How Laverne began

When was Laverne founded?

1898

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

First census: 476 in 19202020 census: 1,223128 years

How historic is Laverne?

B⁺

More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Laverne post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Laverne’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Laverne is more historic than 68% 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 Laverne’s overall grade.

Founding era1898, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 194013.6% of homes (±7.8) · typical OK town 7.0% · U.S. 8.4%B National Register5 listings, 15 historic buildings, 166 per 10,000 residents · typical OK town 5.9 · U.S. 2.4A

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 68%

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 Laverne’s 166 sits above most of its state (97% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 15 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 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 Laverne’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 Laverne are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,937 in 1960; 1,223 people lived here in 2020.Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Laverne’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Laverne’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

Laverne, census by census

Peaked at 1,937 in 1960; 1,223 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

On the National Register

5 historic places in Laverne

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

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1978

Fox Hotel

BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Plains Commercial1

Fox HotelBuilt 1912

Clover HotelBuilt 1912

M.K. and T. Depot in LaverneBuilt 1912

All 5 listings

Laverne's North Main Street DistrictDistrict · listed 1984 Sharp LumberyardBuilding · listed 1984

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

The story

How Laverne came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Laverne.

Read it all →

Laverne's origin is traced to John Mollman's homestead, which he established in 1903. The site was then in Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory. A post office was established in 1896 with the name Laverne and continued operating until 1908. After 1908, mail addressed to Laverne was redirected to another post office named Speedmore (now defunct).

Mollman sold part of his acreage to a townsite promoter in 1911. The promoter platted the area and began selling lots. The Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway (WF&NW), a Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (Katy) subsidiary, reached the new settlement in spring, 1912.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Laverne, 1898 to 1971

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

19th century
1898Post officeThe Laverne post office opens
20th century
1912BuiltFox Hotel is built
1912BuiltClover Hotel is built
1912BuiltM.K. and T. Depot in Laverne is built
1921Born hereClyde A. Wheeler is born here
1960CensusPopulation peaks at 1,937
1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Laverne, decade by decade

Today6 recent

2024Laverne, Oklahoma

2023Sharp Lumberyard

2023North Main Street Historic District

2023M. K. and T. Depot

2023Clover Hotel

2004OKMap-doton-Laverne

On the map

Laverne on the map, 1971 to 1985

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

1971Laverne 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 Laverne.

Questions about Laverne’s history

What year was Laverne founded?

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

How does Laverne rank for history?

Laverne is more historic than 68% 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 Laverne?

5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Fox Hotel (listed 1978, the first), and 1 historic district, the Laverne's North Main Street District, with 10 contributing buildings. 15 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Laverne?

14% of Laverne’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1966.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.

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