Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Willow

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 · Willow

Willow’s post office opened in 1899

Most of Willow was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1946. Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1920.

1899first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Willow began

When was Willow founded?

1899

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

First census: 286 in 19202020 census: 119127 years
Founding year: the first Willow post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Willow’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 Willow are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 347 in 1930; 119 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Willow’s homes were built before 1946.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Willow’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Willow’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

Willow, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 347

Peaked at 347 in 1930; 119 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story so far

Willow, in brief

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

Willow is a village in Greer County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 119 as of the 2020 United States census. It is situated about 13 miles north of the county seat of Mangum, just west of the concurrent US Route 283 and Oklahoma State Highway 34.

Its first post office opened in 1899. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 149 to 119 (-20%).

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

Timeline

Willow, 1899 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899Post officeThe Willow post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 347
  5. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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
On the map

Willow on the map, 1961 to 1989

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

Willow on the 1961 USGS mapWillow on the 1989 USGS map1961Willow sheet · 1:62,500

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Willow

Nobody well known was born in Willow itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Margaret AveryAmerican actress · b. 1944
Robert Neelly BellahAmerican sociologist · b. 1927
Jimmy WebbAmerican songwriter, composer, and singer · b. 1946
Sheb WooleyAmerican musician and actor · b. 1921
T
Tex GibbonsBasketball player · b. 1907
Elmo WilliamsAmerican film editor, producer and director · b. 1913

Questions about Willow’s history

What year was Willow founded?

The Willow 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 →
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, 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.