Okolona, Arkansas
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Caddo Township. It lies in ZIP code area 71962. The Survey maps it on the Okolona South quadrangle. 97 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 371 feet above sea level.
On record in Okolona
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
Clear Springs Tabernaclelisted 1992
Okolona Colored High School Gymnasiumlisted 2011
Population over time
2 figuresOkolona fell from 147 to 97 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 147 | |
| 2020 | 97 | -50 (-34%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 15 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.
- 1901 USGS Gurdon quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Okolona South quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Hope quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
53 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 53 fires within 5 miles of Okolona between 1993 and 2019, burning about 441 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 10 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 | 18 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 10 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 2005 | Smoking | 55 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 2 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 15 September 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 102 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 August 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 23 August 2005 | Debris and open burning | 19 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 19 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Okolona: 1 unknown, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delight Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
26 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Okolona in 26 storm reports between 1994 and 2021: 12 thunderstorm wind, 11 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 6 deaths and 100 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1997 | Tornado (F4) | Okolona | 6 killed, 100 hurt, $120,000,000 | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Tornado (F3) | Okolona | $1,800,000 | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | $50,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down, and some chicken houses were damaged. |
| January 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | $50,000 | One home and several outbuildings received minor damage on Campground Road. Also, trees were reported down in the area. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | $5,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down. |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed trees. |
| September 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | $2,000 | A couple of trees and some large limbs were blown down in the Okolona area. |
| February 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | $50 | Part of a tree fell onto a road, striking a vehicle and breaking its windshield. The motorist was not injured. |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | - | Trees and power lines were downed. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | - | Tree limbs were down. |
| April 2008 | Hail | Okolona | - | Penny sized hail covered the ground. |
| July 2006 | Flash Flood | Okolona | - | High water was reported covering Smyrna Road. |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | - | Thunderstorm winds downed some trees around Okolona. |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | - | Thunderstorm winds downed some trees. |
| June 1995 | Hail | Okolona | - | Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines and damaged a metal storage building. |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | - | Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines and damaged a metal storage building. |
| April 1994 | Hail | Okolona | - | Thunderstorm winds downed trees. |
| May 2009 | Hail | Okolona | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Okolona | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Okolona | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Okolona | - | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Okolona | - | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Hail | Okolona | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Okolona | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Okolona | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Okolona | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Love Creek | 2.3 miles | 10 | |
| Haretown | 2.5 miles | 10 | |
| Bethel | 3.1 miles | 10 | |
| Burtsell | 3.9 miles | 15 | |
| Native (historical) | 4.2 miles | 15 | |
| Meeks Settlement | 4.2 miles | 10 | |
| Smyrna | 4.5 miles | 10 | |
| Boswell | 4.5 miles | 10 |
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 Okolona | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q671494 | 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 52980. 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.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.







