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History · Wright City

Wright City’s post office opened in 1920, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1950.

1920first post office
0on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Wright City began

When was Wright City founded?

1920

The Wright City post office opened in 1920, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Bismark (1910) and Wright (1918), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,121 in 19502020 census: 616106 years
Founding year: the first Wright City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Wright City’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 Wright City are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Wright City.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wright City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wright City’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Wright City’s post office has been open since 1920. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bismark
1910–1918
Wright
1918–1920
Wright City
1920–today
19101970today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Wright City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wright City.

Read it all →

Wright City, formerly known as "Bismark" and "Wright", was founded circa 1909 as the site for a major processing plant of the Choctaw Lumber Company, a subsidiary of the Dierks Lumber and Coal Company, that utilized abundant timber harvested from the region's virgin forests.

At the time of its founding, the community was located in Towson County, a part of the Apukshunnubbee District, one of three administrative super-regions comprising the Choctaw Nation.

ChaptersFoundingEtymologyCompany town"Pig tale"

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Wright City, 1910 to 1950

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1910Post officeThe Bismark post office opens
  3. 1918Post officeThe Bismark post office closes
  4. 1918Post officeThe Wright post office opens
  5. 1920Post officeThe Wright post office closes
  6. 1920Post officeThe Wright City post office opens
  7. 1933Born hereBuddy Benson is born here
  8. 1950On 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.
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On the map

Wright City on the map, 1950 to 1962

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

Wright City on the 1950 USGS mapWright City on the 1962 USGS map1950Mcalester sheet · 1:250,000

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

People over time

Wright City, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001960198020002020Peak: 1,168

Between 616 and 1,168 people in every census since 1950.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Questions about Wright City’s history

What year was Wright City founded?

The Wright City post office opened in 1920, 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 →
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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.