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History · Roff

Roff’s post office opened in 1890, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Roff was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Its Register listing is the Roff Armory. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1910.

1890first post office
1on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Roff began

When was Roff founded?

1890

The Roff post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,044 in 19102020 census: 632136 years
Founding year: the first Roff post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Roff’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 Roff are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1902 to 1911, drew every building in Roff.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Roff’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Roff, building by building, 1902–1911

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.

Roff fire insurance map, 1902, sheet 11902Sheet 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.

The story

How Roff came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Roff.

Read it all →

An incorporated community in Pontotoc County, Roff is situated along State Highway 1, eighteen miles southwest of Ada and ninety-five miles southeast of Oklahoma City. The town was named for Joseph T. Roff, a rancher who moved from Texas to the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, in 1871. Roff and his Choctaw wife and children settled near the present townsite in 1883. A community developed along the nearby Blue River soon after Roff began leasing his land to whites in 1885. A subscription school was established there in 1889 and a post office, designated Roff, opened in June 1890. Joseph Roff served as postmaster.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Roff, 1890 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Roff post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1912Born hereJim Turner is born here
  5. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Roff, decade by decade

Today1 recent
OKMap-doton-Roff2004OKMap-doton-Roff
On the map

Roff on the map in 1967

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

Roff on the 1967 USGS map1967Roff North 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 Roff.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Roff

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
1997
Roff Armory
Roff Armory
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

WPA Standardized Style1
Roff ArmoryWPA Standardized Style

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

People over time

Roff, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,138

Between 623 and 1,138 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about Roff’s history

What year was Roff founded?

The Roff post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Roff?

One place: the Roff Armory (listed 1997).

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), Wikidata (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), 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.