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History · Sparks

Sparks’ post office opened in 1902, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1910.

1902first post office
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Sparks began

When was Sparks founded?

1902

The Sparks post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 421 in 19102020 census: 122124 years
Founding year: the first Sparks post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sparks’ 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 Sparks are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 772 in 1980; 122 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sparks’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sparks’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
People over time

Sparks, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020Peak: 772

Peaked at 772 in 1980; 122 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Sparks came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sparks.

Read it all →

Located on the Deep Fork River in eastern Lincoln County and five miles (8 km) east of State Highway 18 on State Highway 18B, Sparks lies between Meeker and Chandler. The town is situated on land that was once part of the Sac and Fox Reservation, which was dissolved in 1890 when the principal chiefs signed an agreement with the Jerome Commission that each tribal member would receive a 160-acre (0.65 km2) allotment. The surplus land was opened to settlement in a land run on September 22, 1891. The original townsite totaled 186 acres (0.75 km2) and was homesteaded by William and Tabitha Baker.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sparks, 1902 to 1980

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Born hereLewis Hazen is born here
  3. 1902Post officeThe Sparks post office opens
  4. 1905On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 772
By decade

Sparks, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Sparks Town Hall2020Sparks Town HallSparks Town Hall, Sparks, Oklahoma 22020Sparks Town Hall, Sparks, Oklahoma 2Post Office2020Post Office
On the map

Sparks on the map, 1905 to 1974

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

Sparks on the 1905 USGS mapSparks on the 1974 USGS map1905Chandler sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sparks.

Questions about Sparks’ history

What year was Sparks founded?

The Sparks post office opened in 1902, 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 →
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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 (3), 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.