More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #99 of 131 in Oklahoma. What drives it
Most of Pryor Creek was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1900.
From Pryor Creek’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Pryor Creek began
When was Pryor Creek founded?
1869
The Pryor Creek post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Coo-Y-Yah (1882), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 495 in 19002020 census: 9,444157 years
How historic is Pryor Creek?
C−
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Pryor Creek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pryor Creek’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pryor Creek is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #99 of 131 in Oklahoma. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pryor Creek’s overall grade.
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 Pryor Creek’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (18% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Pryor Creek’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pryor Creek. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1896Pryor 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 Pryor Creek.
Every building
Pryor Creek, building by building, 1896–1925
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.
In the early 1800s, treaties with the Cherokee, Osage, and Choctaw gave the tribes allotments in Indian Territory in the region that would become Oklahoma. Captain Nathaniel Hale Pryor, who was married to an Osage woman and served as an agent to the Osage people, was among those settling northeastern Oklahoma. He established a trading post on the Grand River, shortly before the Union Mission was established 5 miles (8 km) southeast of present-day Chouteau in 1820.
Pryor Creek is along the path of the Texas Road cattle trail, and the later Jefferson Highway of the early National Trail System, both roughly along the route of U.S. Route 69 through Oklahoma today.
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.
Between 495 and 9,539 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pryor Creek’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Pryor Creek had its own post office from 1869 to 1909. Another post office, Coo-Y-Yah, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Pryor Creek
1869–1909
Coo-Y-Yah
1882–1887
Pryor
1909–today
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Pryor
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pryor Creek
County HomeFairviewGraham Memorial
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Pryor Creek’s history
What year was Pryor Creek founded?
The Pryor Creek post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Pryor Creek rank for history?
Pryor Creek is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #99 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.
How old are the homes in Pryor Creek?
4% of Pryor Creek’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1974.
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), 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.
2021
2021
2021
2012
2004