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History · Oktaha

Oktaha’s post office opened in 1900, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Oktaha was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Its Register listing is the Oktaha School. Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1910.

1900first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Oktaha began

When was Oktaha founded?

1900

The Oktaha post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 324 in 19102020 census: 343126 years
Founding year: the first Oktaha post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Oktaha’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oktaha’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
The story

How Oktaha came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Oktaha.

Read it all →

Oktaha was named for a Muscogee chief, Oktarharsars Harjo (also known as Sands). The town originated in 1872 as a stop on the MK&T "Katy" Railroad. By 1900, the town had its own post office; a small business district emerged as well. Local business was lagging, however, by mid-century, and the town struggled even more when U.S. Highway 69 was rerouted to bypass Oktaha. Nevertheless, Oktaha remains the site of a K-12 school that draws several hundred students from rural portions of Muskogee County.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Oktaha, 1900 to 1948

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900Post officeThe Oktaha post office opens
  3. 1916Born hereWillard Stone is born here
  4. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Oktaha, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Oktaha OK School 5-20252025Oktaha OK School 5-2025OKMap-doton-Oktaha2004OKMap-doton-Oktaha
On the map

Oktaha on the map, 1948 to 1972

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

Oktaha on the 1948 USGS mapOktaha on the 1950 USGS mapOktaha on the 1972 USGS map1948Keefeton 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 Oktaha.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Oktaha

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
1978
Oktaha School
Oktaha School
Buildings
All 1 listings
Oktaha SchoolBuilding · listed 1978

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

People over time

Oktaha, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 390

Between 193 and 390 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about Oktaha’s history

What year was Oktaha founded?

The Oktaha post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Oktaha?

One place: the Oktaha School (listed 1978).

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), 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) 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.