Oark, Arkansas
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1992. It stands in Batson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72852. It stands on Bull Creek. The Survey maps it on the Oark quadrangle. 43 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,017 feet above sea level.
On record in Oark
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 2 records
N. E. Dickerson Storelisted 1995- Oark School-Methodist Churchlisted 1995
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 10 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1906 USGS Batson quadrangle1:62500
- 1956 USGS Russellville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Russellville quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Oark quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1977 USGS Russellville quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Fly Gap Mountain quadrangle1:100000
- 1984 USGS Russellville quadrangle1:250000
- 1992 USGS Russellville quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
37 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 37 fires within 5 miles of Oark between 1992 and 2020, burning about 374 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 9 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 September 2004 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 June 2005 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 21 June 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 May 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | SINCLAIR #3 |
| 7 April 2006 | Debris and open burning | 6.2 acres | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | YALE |
| 4 April 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 40 acres | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | WATERFALL |
| 20 April 1997 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | MILE 68 |
| 15 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
30 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oark in 30 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 13 hail, 8 flash flood, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood. The reports record 1 death. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1997 | Flash Flood | Oark | 1 killed | Heavy rains caused flash flooding across parts of Johnson County. A vehicle driving across a low-water bridge was swept off the bridge by the high water. The driver of the vehicle drowned. |
| October 2009 | Flash Flood | Oark | $2,000,000 | Flooding on Spadra Creek and Horsehead Creek caused roads to be flooded and culverts washed out. Numerous streets were flooded in Clarksville, as was U.S. Highway 64 around Hartman and Coal Hill. Around 9:20 PM CDT, a washout on a railroad track caused a train derailment in the Coal Hill Bottoms, south of Coal Hill. Nineteen hopper cars carrying soybeans were derailed, spilling the beans and tearing up a section of track. Mudslides occurred on Interstate 40 southwest of Hunt, on Arkansas Highway 103 in the Batson Mountain vicinity, and on a road north of Catalpa. Eight houses were flooded in the western part of the county. Cattle had to be rescued from flooding at the Dirty Creek Bridge on Arkansas Highway 164. Numerous county roads were flooded in the area west of Arkansas Highway 21. Several water rescues were necessary. |
| April 2011 | Flood | Oark | $250,000 | Widespread areal flooding occurred. |
| May 2011 | Flood | Oark | $250,000 | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oark | $5,000 | A few trees were blown down in the Oark area. |
| November 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oark | $5,000 | Some trees were blown down. |
| August 2025 | Flash Flood | Oark | - | Water reported over the roadway in several locations along Arkansas Highway 103. |
| August 2025 | Flash Flood | Oark | - | Water was reported over the roadway in several locations along Arkansas Highway 103. |
| September 2025 | Flash Flood | Oark | - | Flood waters approached the school in the town of Oark. |
| September 2025 | Flash Flood | Oark | - | The rock wall around the outside of the school in the town of Oark was pushed over by flood waters. The flood waters then entered the gym within the school causing an unknown amount of damage. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oark | - | Law Enforcement reported several trees and powerlines down throughout the western half of Johnson County. |
| September 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oark | - | Thunderstorm winds downed a few trees. |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oark | - | Trees down. |
| June 2012 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| December 2010 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| March 2008 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Flash Flood | Oark | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Flash Flood | Oark | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oark | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oark | - | no account filed |
| October 1993 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
| November 1993 | Hail | Oark | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalpa | 2.4 miles | 10 | |
| Friley | 4.0 miles | 10 | |
| Yale | 4.3 miles | 10 | |
| Dale (historical) | 5.2 miles | 10 | |
| Batson | 6.1 miles | 10 | |
| Farris Springs | 6.5 miles | 13 | |
| Linville (historical) | 7.5 miles | 10 | |
| Ozone | 7.6 miles | 13 |
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 Oark | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7074372 | The 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 77893. 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.







