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History · Red Rock

Red Rock’s post office opened in 1892, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1910.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Smallboy944 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Red Rock began

When was Red Rock founded?

1892

The Red Rock post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Redock (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 575 in 19102020 census: 245134 years
Founding year: the first Red Rock post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Red Rock’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Red Rock’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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The story

How Red Rock came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Red Rock.

Read it all →

In 1886, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad built a line through what would become Noble County. The land around the railroad crossing of Red Rock Creek still belonged to the Otoe-Missouri reservation, but Rufus N. Dunagan operated a trading post there. A post office named "Magnolia" opened at the trading post in March 1890. The name was changed to Red Rock in June 1892. A Santa Fe train was robbed by the Dalton Gang in this locale on June 1, 1892.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Red Rock, 1881 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Redock post office opens
  3. 1892Post officeThe Redock post office closes
  4. 1892Post officeThe Redrock post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Red Rock, decade by decade

Today2 recent
7 Clans Casino Sign20207 Clans Casino SignOKMap-doton-RedRock2004OKMap-doton-RedRock
On the map

Red Rock on the map, 1972 to 1990

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

Red Rock on the 1972 USGS mapRed Rock on the 1990 USGS map1972Red Rock 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 Red Rock.

Every building

Red Rock, building by building, 1919

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.

Red Rock fire insurance map, 1919, sheet 11919Sheet 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.

People over time

Red Rock, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 575

Between 233 and 575 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Another post office, Redock, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Redock
1881–1892
Redrock
1892–today
18801950today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Red Rock’s history

What year was Red Rock founded?

The Red Rock post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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), 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.