This index is based on OKTOWNS.ZIP, which was created by Mike Taylor in PKZIPW format. The original file is sorted by County, then Town, so you should download it if you want to find the towns in a specific county. As Mike described his project, this database was

"mostly created by scanning the book 'Town and Place Locations', published by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. After scanning, Optical Character Resolution (OCR) was employed to render the image files into textural data files. Town and county names were rendered most accurately. The Location data was the most difficult to render in exact form. Poorly formed characters made an "I" out of a "1", and a "0" out of an "8", for example. Some proofing was done to correct these mistakes, but no 'guarantees' are made!"

Although I have found and corrected many of the OCR errors by checking suspect descriptions against maps and even added some more places I found in the process, I make no 'guarantees', either!

FAQ - Where to from Here?

I Found It - Now What?

After you've found the County and Section / Township / Range Number describing its location, you should be able to find it on a map in at least one of the following sets:

1895 Maps

1915 Maps

1972 Maps

Township Grids

If it is still a population center, the County Maps with Township Grids are probably the best place to start because they have been drawn with a background of Section / Township / Range grids. Then look at the map from the set that is closest in time to the period you're researching. From these, you can learn not just what county had jurisdiction but also things like where the nearest city was and whether people would have been apt to cross the county line to get a marriage license.

I found more than one entry - now what?

In some cases, you'll find more than one entry for a name but the locations are in the same county. When a place occupies portions of adjacent Townships so that different sources give different locations, I've simply included both.

Sometimes, though, you'll find several locations for the same name and realize that they are scattered across the state. Although no two Post Offices in the state can bear the same name at the same time, a name that has been discontinued can be used again elsewhere - so the time frame you are researching often provides the key to finding the correct location. Oklahoma Post Offices provides the history of such migration of names.

I didn't Find It - Now What?

• Check the Index of Townships. It's quite possible that what you believe to be the name of a Town is actually a Township.
• Check the Index of Post Offices. I've found a few that weren't in the original database, and suspect there are more but haven't finished cross-checking the two lists.
• Write to me. The place you seek may be in files I haven't yet uploaded.