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History · Oilton

Oilton’s post office opened in 1915, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Meacham Building. Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1920.

1915first post office
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Oilton began

When was Oilton founded?

1915

The Oilton post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 2,231 in 19202020 census: 885111 years
Founding year: the first Oilton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Oilton’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 Oilton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Oilton’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Oilton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Oilton.

Read it all →

Oilton began during the development of the Cushing-Drumright Oil Field. The first lots were sold in January and February 1915 by Walter Eaton and Ed Dunn. A post office was established May 5, 1915. The First State Bank opened and the newspaper, the Oilton Gusher, began publication in 1915. In the same year, the Oil Belt Terminal Railway connected Oilton to Jennings, while the Oil Fields and Santa Fe Railway, an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway subsidiary, bought the Oil Belt and additionally connected the town to Cushing and Drumright. By 1920, Oilton's population officially peaked at 2,231. It became an incorporated city on April 18, 1921. Despite a rapid drop in petroleum production in the Cushing-Drumright field throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Oilton survived when a number of other oilboom towns did not.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Oilton, 1915 to 1929

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1915Post officeThe Oilton post office opens
  3. 1916BuiltMeacham Building is built
  4. 1917Born hereJim Thomas is born here
  5. 1920Born hereCharlie Mitchell is born here
  6. 1929On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Oilton, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Oilton High School 7-20262026Oilton High School 7-2026Oilton First Baptist 7-20262026Oilton First Baptist 7-2026Oilton OK Meacham Building 10-20222022Oilton OK Meacham Building 10-2022Oil2014OilOKMap-doton-Oilton2004OKMap-doton-Oilton
On the map

Oilton on the map, 1929 to 1978

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

Oilton on the 1929 USGS mapOilton on the 1932 USGS mapOilton on the 1978 USGS map1929Yale sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Oilton.

Every building

Oilton, building by building, 1919

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 sheet.

Oilton fire insurance map, 1919, sheet 11919Sheet 1 of 4
BrickWoodStone

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Oilton

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
1982
Meacham Building
Meacham Building, built 1916
Buildings
Meacham BuildingBuilt 1916

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

People over time

Oilton, census by census

05001,0001,5002,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,231

Between 885 and 2,231 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Oilton

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
C
Charlie MitchellAmerican football player · b. 1920
J
Jim ThomasAmerican football player · b. 1917

Questions about Oilton’s history

What year was Oilton founded?

The Oilton post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Oilton?

One place: the Meacham Building (listed 1982).

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