Taft, Oklahoma
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the Muskogee census division. It lies in ZIP code area 74463. The Survey maps it on the Taft quadrangle. 174 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 584 feet above sea level.
On record in Taft
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
Taft City Halllisted 1984- Moton School Campus Historic Districtlisted 2025
Population over time
2 figuresTaft fell from 250 to 174 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 | 250 | |
| 2020 | 174 | -76 (-30%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 14 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.
- 1896 USGS Okmulgee quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Okmulgee quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1946 USGS Fort Smith quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Fort Smith quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Fort Smith quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Taft quadrangle1:24000
- 1978 USGS Fort Smith quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS Muskogee quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
10 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Taft between 1994 and 2012, burning about 243 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 April 2002 | Smoking | under an acre | Chickasaw Agency | HWY69 |
| 4 March 2012 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 30142 |
| 4 March 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 acres | Talihina Agency | not named |
| 13 February 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 8.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 20047 |
| 12 February 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 14 acres | Okmulgee Field Office | INBETWEEN FIRE |
| 3 December 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 40 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 20279 |
| 31 October 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 30494 |
| 6 January 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Cherokee Nation Tribe | STATE33 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Taft: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. 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 Shale Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
19 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Taft in 19 storm reports between 1996 and 2019: 11 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2001 | Hail | Taft | $50,000 | no account filed |
| April 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | $200 | Numerous tree limbs were blown down in Taft, causing a power outage. |
| June 2019 | Flood | Taft | - | The Arkansas River near Muskogee rose above its flood stage of 28 feet at 9:15 am CDT on June 23rd. The river crested at 33.07 feet at 9:45 pm CDT on the 24th, resulting in moderate flooding. Agricultural land and a boating marina were flooded. The river fell below flood stage at 10:15 pm CDT on the 28th. |
| May 2019 | Flood | Taft | - | The Arkansas River near Muskogee rose above its flood stage of 28 feet at 3:00 am CDT on May 21st. The river crested at 46.39 feet at 9:00 am CDT on the 26th, and crested a second time 46.00 feet at 7:30 am CDT on the 30th, both crests resulting in major flooding. The crest of 46.39 feet was the second highest crest on record, and the crest at 46.00 feet was the third highest crest on record. Very severe flooding occurred from Muskogee to Webbers Falls. Homes and businesses were flooded, and numerous roads were closed. Monetary damage from this flood is unknown. The river remained above flood stage through the end of May, crested again at 32.63 feet at 3:15 pm CDT on June 7th, and then finally fell below flood stage at 7:30 am CDT on June 12th. |
| June 2019 | Flood | Taft | - | The Arkansas River near Muskogee rose above its flood stage of 28 feet at 3:00 am CDT on May 21st. The river crested at 46.39 feet at 9:00 am CDT on the 26th, and crested a second time 46.00 feet at 7:30 am CDT on the 30th, both crests resulting in major flooding. The crest of 46.39 feet was the second highest crest on record, and the crest at 46.00 feet was the third highest crest on record. Very severe flooding occurred from Muskogee to Webbers Falls. Homes and businesses were flooded, and numerous roads were closed. Monetary damage from this flood is unknown. The river remained above flood stage through the end of May, crested again at 32.63 feet at 3:15 pm CDT on June 7th, and then finally fell below flood stage at 7:30 am CDT on June 12th. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | - | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew trees down. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | - | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down large tree limbs. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Taft | - | Location: Taft Lake |
| April 2009 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| January 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Taft | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yahola | 3.2 miles | 14 | |
| Creek Agency (historical) | 4.2 miles | 18 | |
| Beland | 4.9 miles | 14 | |
| Crekola | 5.0 miles | 18 | |
| Jamesville | 5.0 miles | 15 | |
| Flusche | 6.5 miles | 14 | |
| West Muskogee | 7.3 miles | 18 | |
| Haskell | 7.9 miles | 15 |
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 Taft | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2632581 | 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 1098714. 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.







