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History · Lenapah

Lenapah’s post office opened in 1890, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1900.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lenapah’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lenapah began

When was Lenapah founded?

1890

The Lenapah post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 154 in 19002020 census: 272136 years
Founding year: the first Lenapah post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Lenapah’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19014 editions of the USGS map, 1901 to 1985. Watch Lenapah change.Boom and bustPeaked at 434 in 1920; 272 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1898 to 1914, drew every building in Lenapah.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lenapah’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewVerdigris River: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Lenapah on the map, 1901 to 1985

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

Lenapah on the 1901 USGS mapLenapah on the 1914 USGS mapLenapah on the 1972 USGS mapLenapah on the 1985 USGS map1901Nowata 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 Lenapah.

People over time

Lenapah, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 434

Peaked at 434 in 1920; 272 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Lenapah came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lenapah.

Read it all →

The town is primarily an agricultural community. The Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway, now part of the Union Pacific Railroad system, established a depot at Lenapah in 1889, and a post office opened in the following year. There were 154 residents in the 1900 census, and 331 at statehood in 1907. The highest population was 434 at the 1920 census.

Oil and natural gas were discovered nearby after the start of the 20th century. Although this activity did not contribute much to the town's growth, it resulted in piping gas to Lenapah's homes and businesses.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lenapah, 1890 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Lenapah post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 434
  6. 1971Born hereChris Penn is born here
By decade

Lenapah, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Verdigris RiverDate?Verdigris River
Today1 recent
OKMap-doton-Lenapah2004OKMap-doton-Lenapah
Every building

Lenapah, building by building, 1898–1914

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.

Lenapah fire insurance map, 1898, sheet 11898Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Verdigris River
Retake this viewVerdigris River

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lenapah’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Lenapah’s history

What year was Lenapah founded?

The Lenapah post office opened in 1890, 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 →
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 (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.