Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to O'Brien

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 · O'Brien

O'Brien’s post office opened in 1908, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1968 on and the census since 1960.

1908first post office
0on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nicolas Henderson from Coppell, Texas · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How O'Brien began

When was O'Brien founded?

1908

The O'Brien post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Carney (1903), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 287 in 19602020 census: 91118 years
Founding year: the first O'Brien post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about O'Brien’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 O'Brien are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of O'Brien’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start O'Brien’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how O'Brien’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

How O'Brien came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of O'Brien.

Read it all →

O'Brien was established in the early 20th century as a small agricultural community in northwestern Haskell County. The town was named after a local landowner and cotton farmer, reflecting the region’s dependence on cotton cultivation during that era.

The arrival of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway in the early 1900s spurred modest growth, as O'Brien became a shipping point for cotton and grain. By the 1920s, the town had a school, churches, and several businesses serving local farmers.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

O'Brien, 1903 to 1968

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Carney post office opens
  3. 1908Post officeThe Carney post office closes
  4. 1908Post officeThe O'Brien post office opens
  5. 1968On 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

O'Brien on the map, 1968 to 1985

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

O'Brien on the 1968 USGS mapO'Brien on the 1985 USGS map1968Knox City 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 O'Brien.

People over time

O'Brien, census by census

01002003001960198020002020Peak: 287

Between 91 and 287 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

O'Brien’s post office has been open since 1908. Another post office, Carney, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Carney
1903–1908
O'brien
1908–today
19001960today

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

Questions about O'Brien’s history

What year was O'Brien founded?

The O'Brien post office opened in 1908, 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 Wikipedia, 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.