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History · Welch

Welch dates to 1888

Most of Welch was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968. Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1900.

1888founded
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
2famous people
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Quick answers

How Welch began

When was Welch founded?

1888

Welch dates its founding to 1888 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1900.

First census: 334 in 19002020 census: 622138 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1892.The full story ↓

What stands out about Welch’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 Welch are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19133 editions of the USGS map, 1913 to 1985. Watch Welch change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Welch’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Welch’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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On the map

Welch on the map, 1913 to 1985

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

Welch on the 1913 USGS mapWelch on the 1971 USGS mapWelch on the 1985 USGS map1913Vinita 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 Welch.

The story

How Welch came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Welch.

Read it all →

Welch was established in 1888 in the Cherokee Nation on land that D. B. Nigh leased from Frank Craig. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (Katy) had built a line through the area in 1871, and in 1891 it built a switch on Nigh's property, providing a shipping point for local hay and grain. The town that began to grow around the switch was named for a Katy railroad official, A. L. Welch. A post office was established in 1892. The town plat was approved in 1902, and the town incorporated in 1909. A newspaper called the Welch Watchman began publication in 1902, and continued in business, although later renamed as the Welch American, until the mid 1960s.

Chapters1999 kidnapping and murders

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Welch, 1888 to 1922

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888
    FoundingWelch is established
  3. 1892Post officeThe Welch post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1913On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1918Born hereHub Barker is born here
  7. 1922Born hereJoe Bauman is born here
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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People over time

Welch, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 697

Between 334 and 697 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Welch

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

See all →
H
Hub BarkerAmerican football player · b. 1918
J
Joe BaumanAmerican baseball player · b. 1922

Questions about Welch’s history

What year was Welch founded?

In 1888, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Welch’s post office opened in 1892, and the census of 1900 counted 334 people here.

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) 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.