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Honey Springs BattlefieldHoney Springs Battlefield · Photo: MPR1776 · CC BY-SA 3.0
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History · Rentiesville

Rentiesville dates to 1903, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Rentiesville was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Its Register listing is the Honey Springs Battlefield. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1910.

1903founded
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Rentiesville began

When was Rentiesville founded?

1903

Rentiesville dates its founding to 1903 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1910.

First census: 411 in 19102020 census: 103123 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1904.The full story ↓

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

Start Rentiesville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rentiesville’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 Rentiesville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rentiesville.

Read it all →

The Civil War Battle of Honey Springs was fought about a half mile east of present-day Rentiesville and south of Oktaha, near the county line; the Honey Springs Battlefield, now within the Rentiesville town limits, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Honey Springs was Oklahoma's largest Civil War engagement.

Rentiesville was founded as an all-black town in 1903 on land owned by William Rentie and Phoebe McIntosh. The post office opened May 11, 1904, and the town became a flag stop on the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. William Rentie was the town's only lawman until 1908, when he was shot and killed by a man he had arrested for being drunk and disorderly.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rentiesville, 1903 to 1972

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903
    FoundingRentiesville is established
  3. 1904Post officeThe Rentiesville post office opens
  4. 1915Born hereJohn Hope Franklin is born here
  5. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Rentiesville, decade by decade

Today1 recent
The Down Home Blues Club's eclectic decor, home and music venue of Rentiesville Dusk til Dawn Blues Festival co-founder…2015The Down Home Blues Club's eclectic decor, home and m…
On the map

Rentiesville on the map in 1972

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rentiesville.

Rentiesville on the 1972 USGS map1972Keefeton SW 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 Rentiesville.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Rentiesville

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
1970
Honey Springs Battlefield
Honey Springs Battlefield
Sites
Honey Springs BattlefieldSite

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

People over time

Rentiesville, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 411

Between 66 and 411 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about Rentiesville’s history

What year was Rentiesville founded?

In 1903, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Rentiesville’s post office opened in 1904, and the census of 1910 counted 411 people here.

What is on the National Register in Rentiesville?

One place: the Honey Springs Battlefield (listed 1970).

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, 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.