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History · Mead

Mead’s post office opened in 1894

Most of Mead was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1902 on and the census since 1970.

1894first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Mead’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Mead began

When was Mead founded?

1894

The Mead post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 80 in 19702020 census: 227132 years
Founding year: the first Mead post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Mead’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mead’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewTownsite Limits of Mead Chickasaw Natio…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Mead, in brief

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

Mead is a town in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, Mead had a population of 227. Mead was originally named after C.W. Meade, the first postmaster, but the town later dropped the final "e" of the name.

Its first post office opened in 1894. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 122 to 227 (+86%).

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

By decade

Mead, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Townsite Limits of Mead Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, Depot Station and Grounds on the Center Line of the Arkansa…1902Townsite Limits of Mead Chickasaw Nation, Indian Terr…
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
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.

Townsite Limits of Mead Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, Depot Station and Grounds on the Center Line of the Arkansa…
Retake this viewTownsite Limits of Mead Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, Depot Station and Grounds on the Center Line of the Arkansa…, 1902

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Mead, census by census

0100200198020002020227

Grew from 80 people in 1970 to 227 in 2020.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Mead

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

See all →
Chesley SullenbergerAmerican commercial airline pilot · b. 1951
John HillermanAmerican actor · b. 1932
B
Booker ErvinAmerican saxophonist · b. 1930
J
Joie ChitwoodAmerican racing driver · b. 1912
R
Ralph FaudreeAmerican mathematician, the provost of the Univ… · b. 1939
M
Mike HaynesAmerican football player · b. 1953

Questions about Mead’s history

What year was Mead founded?

The Mead post office opened in 1894, 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 (1), 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.