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History · Wakita

Wakita’s post office opened in 1893, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1910.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nick Nolte · CC BY-SA 2.5
Quick answers

How Wakita began

When was Wakita founded?

1893

The Wakita post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 405 in 19102020 census: 311133 years
Founding year: the first Wakita post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Wakita’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 Wakita are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 545 in 1970; 311 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1902 to 1911, drew every building in Wakita.Old housesHalf of Wakita’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wakita’s collection

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

Wakita, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 545

Peaked at 545 in 1970; 311 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Every building

Wakita, building by building, 1902–1911

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.

Wakita fire insurance map, 1902, sheet 11902Sheet 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.

The story

How Wakita came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wakita.

Read it all →

Before the town's founding in 1893, there was a dispute over the right to name it. The town's postmaster and the owner of the first general store believed it should be named Whiteville. Local Deputy U.S. Marshall Herbert John Green motioned for the town be named after a Cherokee chief of local significance named Wakita (pronounced Wok-ih-taw). It was believed that Green wanted the town to be named after the chief because the chief's tribe supposedly cast a spell on the area around the town to protect it from tornadoes for a hundred years, but this has no evidence of being true. Citing historian George Shirk, the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture states that Wakita is a Cherokee word for water collected in a small depression, such as a buffalo wallow. The same source states that Charles N. Gould, the organizer of the Oklahoma Geological Survey and well-traveled petroleum geo…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Wakita, 1893 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1893Post officeThe Wakita post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Born hereNoel Loomis is born here
  5. 1909Born hereOzell Miller Trask is born here
  6. 1950Born hereCindy Ross is born here
  7. 1968On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 545
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.
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On the map

Wakita on the map, 1968 to 1985

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

Wakita on the 1968 USGS mapWakita on the 1985 USGS map1968Wakita sheet · 1:24,000

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

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Wakita

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
N
Noel LoomisAmerican writer · b. 1905
O
Ozell Miller TraskUnited States federal judge · b. 1909
C
Cindy RossAmerican college president · b. 1950

Questions about Wakita’s history

What year was Wakita founded?

The Wakita post office opened in 1893, 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, 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.