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Pond Creek Masonic Lodge #125Pond Creek Masonic Lodge #125 · Photo: National Register Properties in Oklahoma · Public domain
–Not graded
History · Pond Creek

Pond Creek’s post office opened in 1889, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Pond Creek Masonic Lodge #125. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1900.

1889first post office
1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
9old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pond Creek’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pond Creek began

When was Pond Creek founded?

1889

The Pond Creek post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 822 in 19002020 census: 885137 years
Founding year: the first Pond Creek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pond Creek’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Mapped building by building8 fire insurance maps, 1894 to 1928, drew every building in Pond Creek.Mystery photos8 old photos have no date. Neighbors can guess the decade.
★ What stands out · Every building

Pond Creek, building by building, 1894–1928

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.

Pond Creek fire insurance map, 1894, sheet 11894Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

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

Help out

Start Pond Creek’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo8 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewAt work in McDonald's Brickyard. Round …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Pond Creek came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pond Creek.

Read it all →

Before people of European descent came on the scene, the region around the present town of Pond Creek was traversed by many of the nomadic Native Americans of the Great Plains. Although the land is now heavily agricultural there are still traces of campsites along the numerous creeks of the drainage of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River. When many of the Native American groups were moved onto reservations in what is now Oklahoma, towns and trading posts were established. Eventually the present-day Oklahoma was divided into Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. The history of Pond Creek and the surrounding area can be easily confused with other streams called Pond Creek (see e.g.). The present community of Pond Creek is located in what is called the Cherokee Strip, more properly known as the Cherokee Outlet. The land at the confluence of Osage Creek and Pond Creek was known as the Po…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pond Creek, 1889 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889Post officeThe Pond Creek post office opens
  3. 1894In the archiveAt work in McDonald's Brickyard. Round Pond, OkIa. Terr. By Kennett, January 1894
  4. 20th century
  5. 1968On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Pond Creek, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
At work in McDonald's Brickyard. Round Pond, OkIa. Terr. By Kennett, January 18941894At work in McDonald's Brickyard. Round Pond, OkIa. Te…
1900s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown8 to date
"[The] English Kitchen, meals 20 cts. Broadway St., Round Pond, OkIa." By Kennett, January 1894Date?"[The] English Kitchen, meals 20 cts. Broadway St., R…"Claims bought and sold. U.S. Land Office practice-contests a specialty." Attorneys and surveyors in front of office, w…Date?"Claims bought and sold. U.S. Land Office practice-co…"General view of North West Round Pond from Court House Square." Panoramic view of Oklahoma Territory flatlands. By Mr.…Date?"General view of North West Round Pond from Court Hou…Close-up view of Broadway Street, Round Pond, OkIa. Terr. Shopkeepers and customers pose in doorways. By Kennett, Janua…Date?Close-up view of Broadway Street, Round Pond, OkIa. T…Enid Pond Creek 1894Date?Enid Pond Creek 1894Gathered around the kegs at Kelley's saloon "The Bijou." Round Pond, OkIa. Terr. By Kennett, January 1894Date?Gathered around the kegs at Kelley's saloon "The Bijo…In front of the Central Hotel, Round Pond, Okla. Terr. By Kennett, January 1894Date?In front of the Central Hotel, Round Pond, Okla. Terr…In the furniture and undertaking business, Broadway Street, Round Pond, OkIa. Terr. By Kennett, January 1894Date?In the furniture and undertaking business, Broadway S…
Today2 recent
U.S. Route 60 Hidden Cow2016U.S. Route 60 Hidden CowMasonic Lodge of2014Masonic Lodge of
On the map

Pond Creek on the map, 1968 to 1985

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

Pond Creek on the 1968 USGS mapPond Creek on the 1985 USGS map1968Pond Creek sheet · 1:24,000

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

At work in McDonald's Brickyard. Round Pond, OkIa. Terr. By Kennett, January 1894
Retake this viewAt work in McDonald's Brickyard. Round Pond, OkIa. Terr. By Kennett, January 1894, 1894

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pond Creek’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Pond Creek

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
2010
Pond Creek Masonic Lodge #125
Pond Creek Masonic Lodge #125
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Modern Movement1
Pond Creek Masonic Lodge #125Modern Movement

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

People over time

Pond Creek, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,113

Between 822 and 1,113 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Pond Creek

Nobody well known was born in Pond Creek itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Owen K. GarriottAmerican electrical engineer and astronaut · b. 1930
Glenda FarrellAmerican actress · b. 1904
Thad LuckinbillAmerican actor and film producer · b. 1975
Max ShowalterAmerican actor · b. 1917
Bill HouglandAmerican basketball player · b. 1930
Richard ErdmanAmerican actor, film director · b. 1925

Questions about Pond Creek’s history

What year was Pond Creek founded?

The Pond Creek post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Pond Creek?

One place: the Pond Creek Masonic Lodge #125 (listed 2010).

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 (11), 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.