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–Not graded
History · Okreek

Okreek’s post office opened in 1912

Most of Okreek was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1955 on.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Okreek’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Okreek began

When was Okreek founded?

1912

The Okreek post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 190114 years
Founding year: the first Okreek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Okreek’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Okreek’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Okreek’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewJunior Red Cross Auxiliary: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Okreek, in brief

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

Okreek is an unincorporated community in Todd County, South Dakota, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 190. The town is wholly within the jurisdiction of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, and the populace is almost entirely Sioux-American. Okreek consists primarily of two long blocks of inhabited tract housing, and has about 30 private telephone subscribers within town limits. There is also an elementary school and a Post Office which has been assigned the ZIP Code of 57563. The name Okreek is a corruption of Oak Creek, a stream near the town site.

Its first post office opened in 1912. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 269 to 190 (-29%).

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

Timeline

Okreek, 1912 to 1955

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1912Post officeThe Okreek post office opens
  3. 1919In the archiveJunior Red Cross Auxiliary
  4. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Okreek, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Junior Red Cross Auxiliary1919Junior Red Cross Auxiliary
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Okreek on the map, 1955 to 1982

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

Okreek on the 1955 USGS mapOkreek on the 1982 USGS map1955Martin 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 Okreek.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Junior Red Cross Auxiliary
Retake this viewJunior Red Cross Auxiliary, 1919

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Okreek’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

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

Questions about Okreek’s history

What year was Okreek founded?

The Okreek post office opened in 1912, 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 the Library of Congress (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.