Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1871.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Vinita’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Vinita is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #21 of 131 in Oklahoma. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Vinita’s overall grade.
Oklahoma towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Oklahoma town has 5.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Vinita’s 18.9 sits above most of its state (78% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 points). Two sources give 1870.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Vinita’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the National Register
9 historic places in Vinita
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Vinita was founded in 1870 by Elias Cornelius Boudinot. In 1889, gunman and lawman Tom Threepersons was born there. It was the first city in the state with electricity. The city was first named "Downingville", and was a primarily Native American community. It was later renamed "Vinita" after Boudinot's friend, sculptor Vinnie Ream. The city was incorporated in Indian Territory in 1898.
Vinita is along the path of the Texas Road cattle trail, and the later Jefferson Highway of the early National Trail System, both roughly along the route of U.S. Route 69 through Oklahoma today.
In 1870, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Vinita’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1900 counted 2,339 people here.
How does Vinita rank for history?
Vinita is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #21 of 131 in Oklahoma. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Vinita?
9 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Craig County Courthouse (listed 1984, the first). 10 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Vinita?
21% of Vinita’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1964.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (9), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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