Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Tushka

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Tushka

Tushka’s post office opened in 1909

Most of Tushka was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1899 on and the census since 1970.

1909first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Tushka began

When was Tushka founded?

1909

The Tushka post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 230 in 19702020 census: 413117 years
Founding year: the first Tushka post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Tushka’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 Tushka are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18994 editions of the USGS map, 1899 to 1985. Watch Tushka change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tushka’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tushka’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
On the map

Tushka on the map, 1899 to 1985

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

Tushka on the 1899 USGS mapTushka on the 1900 USGS mapTushka on the 1969 USGS mapTushka on the 1985 USGS map1899Atoka 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 Tushka.

The story

How Tushka came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tushka.

Read it all →

In 1872, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway (Katy) built a track five miles south of Atoka in Atoka County, Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory and created a settlement which it called Peck Switch, Indian Territory. The first post office was established in 1903. The name was changed to Lewis in 1905, honoring the first postmaster, Charles Lewis. In 1909, the community was renamed Dayton, but was changed during the same year to the present Tushka. Tushka is a Choctaw word meaning "warrior".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Tushka, 1899 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1909Post officeThe Tushka post office opens
  5. 1979Post officeThe Tushka post office closes
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
People over time

Tushka, census by census

0100200300400198020002020Peak: 413

Between 230 and 413 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Tushka

Nobody well known was born in Tushka itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Lowell FulsonAmerican musician · b. 1921
Patrick J. HurleyPolitician · b. 1883
R
Ralph FaudreeAmerican mathematician, the provost of the Univ… · b. 1939
Patrick SmithAmerican martial artist · b. 1963
Charlie JohnsonAmerican football player · b. 1984
Gary RichardsonAmerican lawyer · b. 1941
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Tushka had its own post office from 1909 to 1979.

Tushka
1909–1979
19001960today
1cemetery inside Tushka
Tushka

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Tushka’s history

What year was Tushka founded?

The Tushka post office opened in 1909, 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 →
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 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.