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History · Manitou

Manitou’s post office opened in 1902, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Manitou Jail. Below: maps from 1956 on and the census since 1910.

1902first post office
1on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Manitou began

When was Manitou founded?

1902

The Manitou post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 267 in 19102020 census: 171124 years
Founding year: the first Manitou post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Manitou’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 Manitou are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 335 in 1920; 171 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Manitou’s homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Manitou’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Manitou’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

Manitou, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 335

Peaked at 335 in 1920; 171 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story so far

Manitou, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Manitou yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Manitou is a town in Tillman County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located about 40 miles west-southwest of Lawton. The population was 171 as of the 2020 United States census. The site includes the former town of Siboney, absorbed on January 28, 1907.

Its first post office opened in 1902. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 181 to 171 (-6%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Manitou, 1902 to 1956

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Manitou post office opens
  3. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 335
  4. 1922BuiltManitou Jail is built
  5. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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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On the map

Manitou on the map, 1956 to 1991

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

Manitou on the 1956 USGS mapManitou on the 1981 USGS mapManitou on the 1991 USGS map1956Manitou 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 Manitou.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Manitou

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2016
Manitou Jail
Manitou Jail, built 1922
Buildings
Manitou JailBuilt 1922

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Manitou

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

See all →
Roy OrbisonAmerican musician · b. 1936
Leon RussellAmerican singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist … · b. 1942
Ken StarrAmerican judge and educational administrator · b. 1946
N. Scott MomadayKiowa author and academic · b. 1934
Robert Neelly BellahAmerican sociologist · b. 1927
Jack TeagardenAmerican jazz trombonist and singer · b. 1905

Questions about Manitou’s history

What year was Manitou founded?

The Manitou post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Manitou?

One place: the Manitou Jail (listed 2016).

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