Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Valley Brook was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1955. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1960.
Valley Brook first appears in the census in 1960.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Valley Brook’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Valley Brook. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Valley Brook.
From Wikipedia’s history of Valley Brook.
The origins of Valley Brook were in oil exploration and extraction from the Oklahoma City Field of the 1930s, with the first residence in the town being "oil-camp housing" for workers.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 665 and 1,378 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Valley Brook’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Valley Brook itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Valley Brook post office opened in 1960, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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) 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.
