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History · Vera

Vera’s post office opened in 1899

Most of Vera was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: maps from 1901 on and the census since 1910.

1899first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Jordan Winders · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Vera began

When was Vera founded?

1899

The Vera post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 312 in 19102020 census: 334127 years
Founding year: the first Vera post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Vera’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 Vera are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1910 and 1960, then more than doubled.On the map since 19014 editions of the USGS map, 1901 to 1985. Watch Vera change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Vera’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vera’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

Vera, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020312 in 1910Low: 125

Lost half of its people between 1910 and 1960, then more than doubled.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

On the map

Vera on the map, 1901 to 1985

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

Vera on the 1901 USGS mapVera on the 1914 USGS mapVera on the 1959 USGS mapVera on the 1985 USGS map1901Claremore 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 Vera.

The story

How Vera came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Vera.

Read it all →

Originally known as Evans, the town was renamed Vera in November 1899 and incorporated in 1904. Vera lies seven miles southeast of Ramona and two miles east of U.S. Highway 75. Vera started out as a farming community, with the main crops being corn and hay. Lining the railroad track east of town were hay barns and a grain elevator. After many bountiful harvests of the local prairie hay Vera earned the nickname "the Hay Capital of the World."

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Vera, 1899 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899Post officeThe Vera post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 334
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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Questions about Vera’s history

What year was Vera founded?

The Vera post office opened in 1899, 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 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.