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History · Talala

Talala’s post office opened in 1890

Most of Talala was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: maps from 1901 on and the census since 1910.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
0.8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Talala began

When was Talala founded?

1890

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

First census: 340 in 19102020 census: 258136 years
Founding year: the first Talala post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Talala’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 Talala are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1910 and 1920, then more than doubled.On the map since 19014 editions of the USGS map, 1901 to 1985. Watch Talala change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Talala’s collection

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

Talala, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020340 in 1910Low: 107

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1910 and 1920, then more than doubled.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

On the map

Talala on the map, 1901 to 1985

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

Talala on the 1901 USGS mapTalala on the 1914 USGS mapTalala on the 1970 USGS mapTalala on the 1985 USGS map1901Nowata sheet · 1:125,000

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

The story

How Talala came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Talala.

Read it all →

The Talala Post Office was established June 23, 1890. Talala was named for Captain John Talala of the 3rd Regiment, Indian Home Guard and a prominent Cherokee. It is mentioned in the Talala History Book that the word ta la la is associated with the tapping of a woodpecker's bill, which the woodpecker is a red-headed woodpecker that had these numerous birds there and even today. Talala is a Cherokee word for the Red-Headed Woodpecker. An Indian made this discovery and so the town has taken this bird as part of its legacy, erecting signs on the North and South end of the town, and on its stationery at Town Hall and in the Museum.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Talala, 1890 to 1910

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Talala post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 340
By decade

Talala, decade by decade

Today1 recent
OKMap-doton-Talala2004OKMap-doton-Talala

Questions about Talala’s history

What year was Talala founded?

The Talala post office opened in 1890, 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 (1), Wikipedia, 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.