Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Zena

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 · Zena

Zena’s post office opened in 1896

Most of Zena was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Below: maps from 1971 on.

1896first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Zena began

When was Zena founded?

1896

The Zena post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 181130 years
Founding year: the first Zena post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Zena’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 Zena are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Zena’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Zena’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
The story so far

Zena, in brief

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

Zena is a census-designated place (CDP) in Delaware County, Oklahoma, United States, along State Highway 127. As of the 2020 census, Zena had a population of 181. Established on Courthouse Prairie in District 5 of the old Indian Territory, its post office existed from April 11, 1896, until January 31, 1956.

Its first post office opened in 1896. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 122 to 181 (+48%).

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

Timeline

Zena, 1896 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Zena post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1956Post officeThe Zena post office closes
  5. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Zena, decade by decade

Today1 recent
OKMap-doton-Zena2004OKMap-doton-Zena
On the map

Zena on the map in 1971

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Zena.

Zena on the 1971 USGS map1971Jay sheet · 1:24,000

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Zena

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

See all →
Phil McGrawAmerican television personality · b. 1950
Mickey MantleAmerican baseball player · b. 1931
Jim EdgarAmerican politician · b. 1946
Mike SynarAmerican politician · b. 1950
Jim BeauchampAmerican baseball player · b. 1939
Rod SmithAmerican politician · b. 1949
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Zena had its own post office from 1896 to 1956.

Zena
1896–1956
18901960today

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

DennisIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Zena’s history

What year was Zena founded?

The Zena post office opened in 1896, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.