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Oakman, Alabama

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Oakman census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35579. It lies near Clemments Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Oakman quadrangle. 771 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 341 feet above sea level.

Oakman within Walker County

On record in Oakman

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Surveyed buildings and structures 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Oakman fell from 789 to 771 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010789
2020771-18 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Photographs

3 photographs,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Stevenson House, U.S. Highway 69, Oakman, Walker County, AL
Stevenson House, U.S. Highway 69, Oakman, Walker County, AL
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Corry Homestead, Corry House, State Route 69, 10 miles South of Jasper (244 School Street), Oakman, Walker County, AL
Corry Homestead, Corry House, State Route 69, 10 miles South of Jasper (244 School Street), Oakman, Walker County, AL
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Corry Homestead, Southern Museum of Folklife, State Route 69, 10 miles South of Jasper, Oakman, Walker County, AL
Corry Homestead, Southern Museum of Folklife, State Route 69, 10 miles South of Jasper, Oakman, Walker County, AL
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

178 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 178 fires within 5 miles of Oakman between 1994 and 2020, burning about 1,612 acres in total. None started naturally. 74 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Arson/incendiarism74
Debris and open burning62
Missing data/not specified/undetermined28
Equipment and vehicle use4
Recreation and ceremony4
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Other causes1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
6 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160906-9
6 September 1999Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1999Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1998Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20190929-15
28 September 2016Debris and open burning4.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160928-36
25 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined25 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionNWR-20140925-002
21 September 2010Debris and open burning3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Walker County

Storms near this place

6 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oakman in 6 storm reports between 1998 and 2011: 2 hail, 2 tornado, 1 funnel cloud, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2008Tornado (EF1)Oakman$215,000The tornado touched down just west of Jackson Street on the north side of Oakman. It then traveled northeastward, crossed School Street and AL-69, and lifted on Watts Street just east of AL-69. Metal bleachers were twisted and thrown at the Oakman School athletic field, and the concession stand at the ball field was heavily damaged. Oakman Elementary School sustained only light structural damage directly from the tornado. However, rain leaking through the damaged roof and ceiling caused extensive water damage to parts of the school building. Several houses along AL-69 suffered also significant roof damage. Approximately 150 trees were either uprooted or snapped off.
November 2003Tornado (F1)Oakman$105,000At 12:07 pm CST, an F1 tornado touched down near the intersection of Fruit Jar Road and CR 20 just east-northeast of Oakman. The tornado tracked northeastward affecting areas between the Providence and Kings Mill communities. The tornado ended at 12:14 pm CST near the intersection of SR 269 and Parrish Loop, north of Parrish. The tornado path was 6.3 miles long and 100 yards wide at its widest point. Approximately 15 homes and mobile homes sustained varying degrees of damage. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down along the path, and several barns and outbuildings were also damaged. No injuries were reported.The tornado apparently came out of a very small circulation that developed on the north side of a small bowing segment. These storms were very unique in that little to no lightning accompanied them.Beg: 33 43.055/87 22.128 End: 33 45.536/87 16.314
September 2011Flash FloodOakman-Due to heavy rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, Alabama Highway 69 in Oakman was temporarily impassable due to flooding.
May 2003HailOakman-Nickel size hail was reported in Oakman.
May 2003Funnel CloudOakman-A funnel cloud was reported near Oakman just off SR 69.
February 1998HailOakman-Nickel size hail was reported covering the ground in Oakman.

Every storm recorded in Walker County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Marietta0.9 miles17
Dixie Springs0.9 miles17
Stephenson Crossing1.8 miles17
Key Hill1.8 miles17
Mountain Valley (historical)2.0 miles17
Kings Mill2.1 miles17
Coal Valley2.4 miles17
Enoe2.5 miles17

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on OakmanAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q68328The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 152754. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.