Byars, Oklahoma
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the East McClain census division. It lies in ZIP code area 74831. The Survey maps it on the Byars quadrangle. 184 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,030 feet above sea level.
On record in Byars
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
Harris Palace Storelisted 2019
Population over time
2 figuresByars fell from 255 to 184 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 | 255 | |
| 2020 | 184 | -71 (-28%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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.
- 1898 USGS Pauls Valley quadrangle1:125000
- 1902 USGS Pauls Valley quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Ardmore quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1963 USGS Ardmore quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Byars quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Pauls Valley quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
1 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Byars in 2004, burning about 5 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Chickasaw Agency | JOHNSON |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Byars: 3 past producers, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper, Silver, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Byars Southwest | Copper, Silver | Past Producer | 1850, 1851, 1913 | |
| Copper Prospect | Copper, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Unknown Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
35 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Byars in 35 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 15 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Byars | $5,000 | Numerous chasers observed a tornado near state highway 59 to the east of Byars. An outbuilding was damaged by this tornado. Several trees were downed. A downed power line caused the town to be without power for several hours. Monetary damages were estimated. |
| June 2025 | Tornado (EF0) | Byars | $2,000 | Scattered tree damage was observed from Ward Avenue about 2 miles north of State Highway 59 to Johnsonville Road about a mile and a half north of Byars. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | $10 | Large tree limbs were downed. |
| November 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | Byars (BYAR) Mesonet observation. |
| November 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | Byars (BYAR) Mesonet observation. |
| March 2020 | Flash Flood | Byars | - | Water flowing over the road near Byars. Other roads were washed out between Byars and Stratford. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Byars | - | Water was covering roads in Byars making roads impassible. Bar ditches were full or overflowing on county roads. |
| April 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | No damage was reported. |
| December 2015 | Tornado (EF0) | Byars | - | A brief weak tornado was reported. |
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF0) | Byars | - | Numerous storm chasers observed a tornado just to the west-southwest of Byars. However, no known damage was reported with this tornado. |
| April 2009 | Tornado (EF1) | Byars | - | This tornado developed west of Stratford in Garvin County and moved into McClain County about one half mile west of U.S. Highway 177. The tornado destroyed a greenhouse and damaged a barn to the west of the highway before crossing the highway and dissipating about one mile north of the county line. |
| May 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet. |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | A wishing well was blown over. |
| February 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | no account filed |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | no account filed |
| March 2017 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | no account filed |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| April 2009 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| January 1996 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| January 1996 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| April 1994 | Hail | Byars | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byars | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnsonville | 1.5 miles | 15 | |
| Chism | 6.6 miles | 11 | |
| Rosedale | 7.7 miles | 15 | |
| Wayne | 14.3 miles | 16 | |
| Purcell | 19.1 miles | 17 | |
| Stealy | 19.3 miles | 16 | |
| Payne | 25.5 miles | 14 | |
| Washington | 26.3 miles | 18 |
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 Byars | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3087237 | 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 1090771. 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.





