Friday, March 9 might just sound like an ordinary day, but it’s a actually a special day for the community of Tonkawa. March 9 marks the 125th birthday of Tonkawa’s post office which opened in 1894 according to postal records.
The petition for a post office was written at the camp of the Old Yellow Bull crossing in October, 1893, or a short time after the Cherokee Strip run and was circulated among the settlers in the vicinity during the fall of 1893. Eli Blake and H.L. Wile wrote up the petition which was granted to the Post Office Department a short time later. Eli Blake was named the first postmaster around the time Tonkawa was formed.
The post office once sat on what is now 12 Street, but has since relocated to it’s present day spot of one block west of Main Street.
According to Tonkawa News, the Tonkawa Post Office has had a total of 21 postmasters which are listed below.
- Eli Blake – March 9, 1894
- William Stalnaker, April 23, 1898
- James Wilkins, Feb. 11, 1909
- F.S. Chambers, July 11, 1913
- Carl Williams, Aug. 14, 1915
- Bernie Cockrell, Feb. 13, 1922
- Harry James Barclay, acting Dec. 10, 1933 and postmaster May 22, 1934
- William Marsh, Feb. 28, 1954
- Glen Strange, June 22, 1956
- Jesse Watson, assistant postmaster Oct. 9, 1965 and officer-in-charge 1974
- John Levacy, June 30, 1975
- Robert Bennett, Sept. 27, 1975
- Glen Jones, Oct. 6, 1978
- Lester Goodger, April 3, 1979
- Jesse Lyall, June 16, 1979
- Sherrie Schatz, Dec. 30, 1988
- John Powers, Feb. 11, 1989
- Keith Fletcher, Dec. 29, 1994
- Divina Love, June, 1998
- Sharon Socia, Sept. 2009
- Mike Newcomb (present postmaster), April 2010
