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C+History
History · Yale

Yale’s post office opened in 1895, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 39% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1911 on and the census since 1910.

1895first post office
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: TulGuy · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Yale began

When was Yale founded?

1895

The Yale post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 685 in 19102020 census: 1,059131 years

How historic is Yale?

C+

More historic than 39% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Yale post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Yale’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Yale is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Yale’s overall grade.
Founding era1895, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194021.1% of homes (±7.2) · typical OK town 7.0% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical OK town 5.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 39%
NewerOlder

Oklahoma towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Oklahoma town has 5.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Yale’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (18% of Oklahoma towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Yale’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 Yale are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 2,601 in 1920; 1,059 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1911 to 1922, drew every building in Yale.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Yale’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Yale’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

Yale, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,500192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,601

Peaked at 2,601 in 1920; 1,059 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Every building

Yale, building by building, 1911–1922

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.

Yale fire insurance map, 1911, sheet 11911Sheet 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 Yale came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Yale.

Read it all →

Yale's founding in 1895 is attributed to a local farmer, Sterling F. Underwood, who established a post office by that name in his general store, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the present town. When the Eastern Oklahoma Railway built its line across Payne County, a group led by George W. Canfield began a different townsite also within Eagle Township that would be closer to the railroad, at its planned junction with the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. Underwood moved his store to the new site in 1902, making the new site the permanent location for the town of Yale. A 1907 map shows the town contained 230 acres surrounding the railroad junction, and to its east southeast the Underwood farm of 158 acres. By 1910, Yale had a population of 685, supported mostly by agricultural services and cotton processing.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Yale, 1895 to 1929

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1895Post officeThe Yale post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 2,601
  5. 1921Born hereGrace Thorpe is born here
  6. 1929Born hereChet Baker is born here
  7. 1929On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Yale, decade by decade

Today9 recent
Yale Jim Thorpe Home 7-20262026Yale Jim Thorpe Home 7-2026Yale High School 7-20262026Yale High School 7-2026Yale Downtown Masonic 7-20262026Yale Downtown Masonic 7-2026The restored, 1876 Rice-Payne cabin, thought to be the oldest standing house2020The restored, 1876 Rice-Payne cabin, thought to be th…The metal sunroof over the Dairy Hut in the town of Yale, Oklahoma, is no doubt appreciated at this ice-cream stand on …2020The metal sunroof over the Dairy Hut in the town of Y…An otherwise-ordinary commercial building in the small Oklahoma city of Yale that's famous locally for being, shockingl…2020An otherwise-ordinary commercial building in the smal…The modest Jim Thorpe Home2020The modest Jim Thorpe HomeRural scene near the small Payne County, Oklahoma, city of Yale2020Rural scene near the small Payne County, Oklahoma, ci…Yale main 19092014Yale main 1909
On the map

Yale on the map, 1929 to 1978

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

Yale on the 1929 USGS mapYale on the 1932 USGS mapYale on the 1978 USGS map1929Yale 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 Yale.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Yale

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

See all →
Chet BakerAmerican jazz trumpeter and vocalist · b. 1929
Grace ThorpeWorld War II veteran, environmentalist, tribal … · b. 1921

Questions about Yale’s history

What year was Yale founded?

The Yale post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Yale rank for history?

Yale is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Yale?

21% of Yale’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 7.0% for an Oklahoma town; the median home was built in 1971.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), 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.