Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1907.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Seminole’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Seminole is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #45 of 131 in Oklahoma. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Seminole’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 Seminole’s 9.7 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 7 listings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share (±2.3 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1890.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Seminole’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 11,863 in 1950; 7,146 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Seminole’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Seminole, building by building, 1912–1927
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.
1912Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the National Register
7 historic places in Seminole
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
7
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
7
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
W. E. Grisso Mansion
BuildingsStructures
Architectural styles listings
Spanish1
Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Gothic Revival1
The city was platted in 1906 as a relocation setting for the residents of Tidmore, when the railroad line was placed north of the town. When Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory merged to become the U.S. state of Oklahoma in 1907, there were 206 residents.
Seminole competed to be the county seat of Seminole County, but lost to Wewoka. The town of Seminole was incorporated as a city in December 1924.
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.
In 1890, according to Wikidata. Seminole’s post office opened in 1907, and the census of 1910 counted 476 people here.
How does Seminole rank for history?
Seminole is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #45 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.
What is on the National Register in Seminole?
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the W. E. Grisso Mansion (listed 1975, the first), and 1 structure.
How old are the homes in Seminole?
13% of Seminole’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
1917
1939