BlockBefore

Foraker, Oklahoma

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Northwest Osage census division. It lies in ZIP code area 74652. The Survey maps it on the Foraker South quadrangle. 18 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,280 feet above sea level.

Foraker within Osage County

Population over time

2 figures

Foraker fell from 19 to 18 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
201019
202018-1 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 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

8 of 11 photographs shown, 2020

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.

A true "country cemetery" that buries the dead of the small city of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma, on the edge of a vast tallgrass preserve owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy
A true "country cemetery" that buries the dead of the small city of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma, on the edge of a vast tallgrass preserve owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress
A lone tree and pond in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
A lone tree and pond in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress
A low mesa within the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
A low mesa within the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress
A pumpjack, or small extraction oil pump in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
A pumpjack, or small extraction oil pump in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress
Scene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Scene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress
Gravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Gravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress
Bison sculpture at the visitor center of the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Bison sculpture at the visitor center of the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress
Metal-art sign within the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Metal-art sign within the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress

Every photograph of Osage County

Fires near this place

1 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Foraker in 2017, burning about 115 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
Arson/incendiarism1

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
28 January 2017Arson/incendiarism115 acresOsage AgencyFINN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Osage County

Storms near this place

36 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Foraker in 36 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 20 thunderstorm wind, 12 hail, 3 tornado, 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
April 2026Tornado (EF1)Foraker$10,000This tornado was witnessed by numerous storm chasers and remained over mainly open country. Power poles were snapped by the tornado on Foraker Road, south of Foraker. Otherwise, no known damage occurred from this tornado. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 85 to 95 mph.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindForaker$100Tree limbs were blown down in Foraker.
April 2026Tornado (EFU)Foraker-This was a satellite tornado that occurred simultaneously with a portion of the Foraker tornado, and was witnessed by numerous storm chasers. It remained over open country with no known damage. The path details were based on the storm chaser observations and radar data.
September 2014Thunderstorm WindForaker-An NWS cooperative observer estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 mph.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindForaker-Large tree limbs were snapped by strong thunderstorm winds.
March 2009Thunderstorm WindForaker-The Oklahoma mesonet site near Foraker recorded a 59 mile an hour wind gust.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindForaker-The Oklahoma Mesonet station 8 miles east-southeast of Foraker measured a 67 mph wind gust.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindForaker-The Oklahoma mesonet site near Foraker recorded a 65 mile an hour gust.
June 2007Flash FloodForaker-Heavy rains caused water to flow across secondary roads around Foraker.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindForaker-The mesonet site near Foraker measured a wind gust of 58 miles an hour.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindForaker-The Oklahoma mesonet site near Foraker recorded a 67 mile an hour wind gust.
May 1998HailForaker-In addition, a 53 mph thunderstorm gust was measured at the Oklahoma mesonet site 8 miles ESE of Foraker at 1030 PM CDT.
April 2026HailForaker-no account filed
April 2011HailForaker-no account filed
April 2008HailForaker-no account filed
July 2006Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
June 2005HailForaker-no account filed
March 2003HailForaker-no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
May 2001HailForaker-no account filed
May 2001Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
May 2001HailForaker-no account filed
September 2001Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
October 2001Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
October 2001Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
May 2000HailForaker-no account filed
April 1999HailForaker-no account filed
November 1998Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
June 1997Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
April 1996HailForaker-no account filed
April 1996HailForaker-no account filed
April 1995Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
August 1994Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindForaker-no account filed
July 1994Tornado (F0)Foraker-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Osage 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
Blackland4.9 miles12
Grainola6.4 miles12
Pearsonia7.8 miles12
Shidler8.0 miles12
Webb City8.8 miles12
Frankfort9.4 miles12
Lyman9.7 miles12
Lep10.2 miles12

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 ForakerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q925091The 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 1092923. 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.