Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #9 of 131 in Oklahoma. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 81 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1900.
The Perry post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Perry is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #9 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 Perry’s 191 sits above most of its state (98% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 85 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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.
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 8Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
6 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
18801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Oklahoma - No…
18801950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Oklahoma (OK)…
1893Dust storm at Perry, Sept. 18th to 20th![Battery C. 158th Field artillary [i.e. artillery]](https://images.townratings.com/story/14214/85646e7048b56e2dc053-s.jpg)
1927Battery C. 158th Field artillary [i.e. artillery]![Field Kitchen Battery C. Field artillary [i.e. artillery]](https://images.townratings.com/story/14214/fb60f3f2bad58c9824e1-s.jpg)
1927Field Kitchen Battery C. Field artillary [i.e. artill…![Headquarters, Battery C., 158th Field artillary [i.e. artillery]](https://images.townratings.com/story/14214/c47692542095fb7ff928-s.jpg)
1927Headquarters, Battery C., 158th Field artillary [i.e.…From Wikipedia’s history of Perry.
The Treaty of New Echota, May 23, 1836, assigned the Cherokee Outlet to the Cherokees as a perpetual outlet to use for passage to travel and hunt in the West from their reservation in the eastern part of what became Oklahoma. This was in addition to the land given to the Cherokees for settlement after their arrival from their home in Georgia.
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 - Noble County - Perry - ED 52-18, ED 52…In the archiveDust storm at Perry, Sept. 18th to 20thIn the archiveBattery C. 158th Field artillary [i.e. artillery]
Born hereDanny Hodge is born here
Born hereBill Krisher is born here
In the archiveBank. Perry, Oklahoma
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveDX gas pump
In the archivePerry Municipal Airport-OK-20Feb1995-USGSEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Perry. 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 Perry.
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 Perry’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 3,133 and 5,796 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Perry’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Perry’s post office has been open since 1893.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Perry post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Perry is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #9 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.
6 listings: 4 buildings, among them the First National Bank and Trust Company Building (listed 1979, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Perry Courthouse Square Historic District and the Perry Lake Park, with 81 contributing buildings. 85 historic buildings in all.
18% of Perry’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.
1939
1995
1996