Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Watova

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 · Watova

57% of Watova’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1901 on.

0on the National Register
57%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Watova’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 Watova are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19014 editions of the USGS map, 1901 to 1985. Watch Watova change.Old housesHalf of Watova’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Watova’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Watova’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

Watova on the map, 1901 to 1985

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

Watova on the 1901 USGS mapWatova on the 1914 USGS mapWatova on the 1970 USGS mapWatova on the 1985 USGS map1901Nowata 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 Watova.

The story so far

Watova, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Watova yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Watova is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Nowata County, Oklahoma, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. As of the 2020 census, Watova had a population of 32. The CDP is in southern Nowata County, on the west side of U.S. Route 169, which leads north 6 miles (10 km) to Nowata, the county seat, and south 35 miles (56 km) to the outskirts of Tulsa.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Questions about Watova’s history

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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.