Mounds is a town in Creek County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located just south of Tulsa; the town's population was 932 at the 2020 census.
History
thumb|History mural in downtown Mounds, July 2025
The post office for this community was established in 1895 and originally named "Posey", for the Creek poet Alexander Posey, who lived in Eufaula, Oklahoma. In 1898, the town was moved southwest and renamed "Mounds" for twin hills that were nearby. By 1901, the St. Louis, Oklahoma and Southern Railway (later the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway) built a track through Mounds, and the town became an important cattle shipping point. Mounds incorporated as a city in the same year. The discovery of oil in the Glenn Pool field in 1905 turned Mounds into a shipping point for crude oil instead of cattle.
In the early days, Mounds was on the route of the Sapulpa & Interurban Railway (“S&I”) streetcar/interurban line connecting to Tulsa through Sapulpa, Kiefer and Glenpool; S&I subsequently went through a series of mergers and name changes, with only the Tulsa-to-Sapulpa portion continuing as the Tulsa-Sapulpa Union Railway.
Mounds had a population of 675 at statehood in 1907, rising to 701 in 1910. The oil boom played out in the 1920s, and the population declined from 1,078 in 1920 to 701 in 1930. Railroad activity became primarily shipping grain and cattle. As time went by, the population reached a low of 560 in 1950, since which it has increased. In the 21st century, Mounds is mostly a commuter town, with 92 percent of employed residents commuting to work primarily in Sapulpa and Tulsa.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Mounds had a population of 932. The median age was 39.6 years. 25.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.5% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 97.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.6 males age 18 and over.
There were 376 households in Mounds, of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 42.6% were married-couple households, 23.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 658 || 70.6%
|-
| Black or African American || 6 || 0.6%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 145 || 15.6%
|-
| Asian || 2 || 0.2%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 1 || 0.1%
|-
| Some other race || 13 || 1.4%
|-
| Two or more races || 107 || 11.5%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 38 || 4.1%
|}
2000 census
As of the census
Notable people
- Thomas Gilcrease (1890-1962), Oklahoma oilman, philanthropist, founder of Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa lived in Mounds during boyhood
- George E. R. Kinnear II (1928–2015), four star admiral in the United States Navy
- Reuben Wilson (born 1935), jazz organist