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History · Pittsburg

Pittsburg’s post office opened in 1909, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Pittsburg School and Gymnasium. Below: maps from 1898 on and the census since 1920.

1909first post office

1on the National Register

16%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

How Pittsburg began

When was Pittsburg founded?

1909

The Pittsburg post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 892 in 19202020 census: 180117 years

Founding year: the first Pittsburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pittsburg’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 Pittsburg are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18985 editions of the USGS map, 1898 to 1991. Watch Pittsburg change.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pittsburg’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pittsburg’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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On the map

Pittsburg on the map, 1898 to 1991

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

1898McAlester sheet · 1:125,000

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

The story

How Pittsburg came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pittsburg.

Read it all →

The first settlement of present-day Pittsburg by non-indigenous peoples was in 1899 when Daniel Edwards, accompanied by son Thomas, placed a coal shaft two miles east of Kiowa, in Choctaw Nation. In 1903, the United States Postal Service established a post office in Cowpers and appointed Daniel Edwards as postmaster. Its name was changed to Edwards, Indian Territory, on September 3, 1903, and to Pittsburg, Oklahoma, on August 27, 1909. During its time as Edwards, it was named for J.R. Edwards, a coal operator. Its newest name, Pittsburg, commemorates the county which was created at Oklahoma's statehood in 1907.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Pittsburg, decade by decade

Today1 recent

2017Pittsburg School

Every building

Pittsburg, building by building, 1915

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.

Pittsburg fire insurance map, 1915, sheet 1

1915Sheet 1 of 1

Sheets

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 Pittsburg

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1988

Pittsburg School and Gymnasium

Buildings

Pittsburg School and GymnasiumBuilding

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

People over time

Pittsburg, census by census

Between 180 and 892 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Pittsburg’s history

What year was Pittsburg founded?

The Pittsburg post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Pittsburg?

One place: the Pittsburg School and Gymnasium (listed 1988).

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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.

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