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History · Sterling

Sterling’s post office opened in 1901

Most of Sterling was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1910.

1901first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Sterling began

When was Sterling founded?

1901

The Sterling post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 276 in 19102020 census: 668125 years
Founding year: the first Sterling post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Sterling’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 Sterling are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Sterling’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sterling’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 so far

Sterling, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sterling yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Sterling is a town in Comanche County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 668 at the time of the 2020 Census. It is part of the Lawton Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1901. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 793 to 668 (-16%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Sterling on the map, 1955 to 1981

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

Sterling on the 1955 USGS mapSterling on the 1974 USGS mapSterling on the 1981 USGS map1955Lawton sheet · 1:250,000

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

People over time

Sterling, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020Peak: 793

Between 265 and 793 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about Sterling’s history

What year was Sterling founded?

The Sterling post office opened in 1901, 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 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.