Walker, Missouri
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Walker Township. It lies in ZIP code area 64790. The Survey maps it on the Harwood quadrangle. 199 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 853 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWalker fell from 270 to 199 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 | 270 | |
| 2020 | 199 | -71 (-26%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 21 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.
- 1886 USGS Nevada quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Nevada quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1939 USGS Harwood quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1940 USGS Harwood quadrangle1:24000
- 1941 USGS Harwood quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Nevada quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Harwood quadrangle1:24000
- 1991 USGS Nevada quadrangle1:100000
In the county-history sources
760 words on this townshipHistory of Vernon County, Missouri : Past and Present, Including an Account of the Cities, Towns and Villages of the County, published 1911 names this settlement in its chapter on Walker Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
The town was laid out in December, 1870, by the Walker Town Company, of which J. R. Barrett, of Sedalia, was presi¬ dent ; IT. L. Marvin was the surveyor. Hiram F. Walker, an old and prominent resident, for whom the town was named, and William Leslie, were the original owners of the land. Maj. B. J. Clinton, who located here a few years before the war, was per¬ haps the first settler in the vicinity.
Passage source: History of Vernon County, Missouri : Past and Present, Including an Account of the Cities, Towns and Villages of the County, published 1911.
Walker at this time has a population of 480 people, and in addition to its being the market for the usual crops of corn, wheat and oats raised in that vicinity, it is a prominent ship¬ ping point for live stock and hay. In an ordinary year from 250 to 300 car loads of live stock being shipped, and from 800 to 1,000 car loads of hay.
Passage source: History of Vernon County, Missouri : Past and Present, Including an Account of the Cities, Towns and Villages of the County, published 1911.
The I. 0. 0. F. of Walker own a fine two-story building, the lower story being used for stores, while the upper story is a large and well-appointed hall, which is used by them and the other lodges in the town as a lodge room.
Passage source: History of Vernon County, Missouri : Past and Present, Including an Account of the Cities, Towns and Villages of the County, published 1911.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Walker Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.
Fires near this place
1 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Walker in 2006, burning about 126 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 August 2006 | Natural | 126 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | WEST FORK FIRE |
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 Walker: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown - Ls. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Walker Mond Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
37 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Walker in 37 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 16 hail, 14 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Hail | Walker | $200,000 | Hail to the size of tennis balls damages multiple vehicles shattering at least one windshield. |
| February 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | $100,000 | no account filed |
| March 2017 | Hail | Walker | $50,000 | Baseball size hail was reported on social media with a picture. There was damage to cars and houses reported by this hail. Damage estimates will be included in this storm report. |
| August 2020 | Hail | Walker | $25,000 | Hail between 2 and 2.5 inches was reported via social media. Minor vehicle and roof damage was also reported. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | $20,000 | Trees fell on a home causing heavy roof damage. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | $10,000 | A large tree was blown onto a house. Several trees were also blown down in the town of Walker. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | $8,000 | A county firefighter reported moderate damage occurred to a 20 x 40 foot building. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | $2,000 | A power pole and line were pushed over north of Walker and a large cedar tree was blown over in the Fairhaven area. The time was estimated based on radar. |
| October 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | $1,000 | A utility trailer was flipped over due to strong winds in Walker. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | $500 | no account filed |
| July 2025 | Hail | Walker | - | Hail to the size of half dollars fell north of Nevada per social media pictures. |
| April 2024 | Flood | Walker | - | Highway OO at Hightower Creek was flooded and impassable. |
| May 2021 | Flash Flood | Walker | - | A car was swept off the road on Highway C due to runoff from heavy rainfall that flooded a low water crossing. No injuries were reported. |
| June 2009 | Flash Flood | Walker | - | Excessive rain flooded a section of Highway 54 near its intersection with Highway C. |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | - | Severe thunderstorm wind gusts downed a tree on to a garage. |
| June 2007 | Flash Flood | Walker | - | Excessive rainfall caused numerous county road to become flooded and impassable to motorists. |
| March 2007 | Flash Flood | Walker | - | Heavy thunderstorms produced flooding rains which closed the intersection of Highways OO and C, making it impassable to motorists. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | - | Severe thunderstorm wind gusts downed a large tree. |
| June 2006 | Flash Flood | Walker | - | A section of Highway EE became impassable from flash flooding. |
| February 2017 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| March 2009 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| March 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | - | no account filed |
| March 2006 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | - | no account filed |
| March 2005 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Flash Flood | Walker | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Walker | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walker | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handley | 2.2 miles | 21 | |
| Ketterman | 5.0 miles | 19 | |
| Oak Ridge | 5.2 miles | 20 | |
| Harwood | 5.7 miles | 21 | |
| Fair Haven | 6.2 miles | 21 | |
| Dederick | 6.2 miles | 20 | |
| Greene Springs (historical) | 6.3 miles | 20 | |
| Bristow | 6.7 miles | 21 |
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 Walker | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q260705 | 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 728253. 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.












