Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns · #24 of 131 in Oklahoma. What drives it
34 places in town are on the National Register, among them five historic districts with 271 buildings between them. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1900.
Muskogee dates its founding to 1898 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1900.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Muskogee is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #24 of 131 in Oklahoma. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Muskogee’s 81.3 sits above most of its state (93% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 299 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Muskogee’s post office has been open since 1900. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Muskogee.
French fur traders were believed to have established a temporary village near the future Muskogee in 1806, but the first permanent European-American settlement was established in 1817 on the south bank of the Verdigris River, north of present-day Muskogee.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Oklahoma - Muskogee County - Muskogee - ED 51-31 …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveThe Muskogee Cimeter 1904-10-06BuiltAndrew W. Robb House is builtBuiltA. C. Trumbo House is builtBuiltA. W. Patterson House is built
In the archiveBacone Indian UniversityBuiltSevers Hotel is built
Born hereBarney Kessel is born here
Born hereReubin Askew is born here
Born hereEster Dean is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Muskogee. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Muskogee.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Muskogee’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 4,254 and 40,011 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Muskogee’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1898, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Muskogee’s post office opened in 1872, and the census of 1900 counted 4,254 people here.
Muskogee is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #24 of 131 in Oklahoma. 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.
34 listings: 27 buildings, among them the Union Agency (listed 1970, the first), 5 historic districts with 271 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 object. 299 historic buildings in all.
12% of Muskogee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1972.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (7), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (34), 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.
1880
1907
1907
c. 1910
