Foraker is a town in Osage County,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, United States. It was named for

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Senator

Joseph B. Foraker Joseph Benson Foraker (July 5, 1846 – May 10, 1917) was an American politician of the Republican Party who served as the 37th governor of Ohio from 1886 to 1890 and as a United States senator from Ohio from 1897 until 1909. Foraker was ...

. The

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve The Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, in Osage County, Oklahoma near Foraker, Oklahoma, is the largest protected tract of tallgrass prairie in the world. Managed by The Nature Conservancy, the preserve contains owned by the Conser ...

is southeast of town. The official population peaked at 415 in 1910 and has declined steadily since 1930. Jon D. May, "Foraker," ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.
/ref> The population was only 18 at the 2010 census, a 21.7 percent decline from 23 in 2000. Foraker was listed as a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in the 1977 book ''Ghost Towns of Oklahoma''. The author, John Wesley Morris, quoted one long-time resident as saying: "Stores gone, post office gone, train gone, school gone, oil gone, boys and girls gone – only thing not gone is graveyard and it git bigger."

History

Located in an area of rolling plains and

tallgrass prairie The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and Historical ecology#Anthropogenic fire, anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to th ...

, a post office was established at Foraker on February 13, 1903. The town began as a 160-acre tract platted by the U.S. Department of the Interior along the

Midland Valley Railroad The Midland Valley Railroad (MV) was a railroad company incorporated on June 4, 1903 for the purpose of building a line from Hope, Arkansas, through Muskogee and Tulsa, Oklahoma to Wichita, Kansas. It was backed by C. Jared Ingersoll, a Philadelp ...

in 1905. By 1909, the town had a population of 500 as the area underwent a ranching and farming boom. Foraker had the amenities associated with older communities: sidewalks, a public park, and plans for an electric and water system and a substantial school building. The agriculture boom subsided, but the town was briefly revitalized by discovery of the

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

Oil Field in 1920, which made Foraker an oil industry equipment supply center. In 1922 the Osage Railway, one of the

Muskogee Roads The Muskogee Roads was the colloquial name for a system of railroads under common management operationally headquartered in Muskogee, Oklahoma and controlled by the Muskogee Company of Philadelphia. The Muskogee Roads were the only Class I railroa ...

, was opened from Foraker to Shidler, ten miles away, making Foraker an oil shipping point. The population rose to about 2,000 in the early 1920s. The Osage County oil boom declined during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and with it Foraker's fortunes. The population dropped. The Osage Valley railroad was abandoned in 1953 and the Midland Valley Railroad was abandoned in 1968. The town business district fell vacant. Foraker is now in a region dominated by large cattle ranches. A lonely and picturesque old cemetery in the prairie approximately one mile east of what remains of the town is the chief landmark. The nearest post office is at Shidler.

Geography

Foraker is north and west of

Pawhuska Pawhuska ( Osage: 𐓄𐓘𐓢𐓶𐓮𐓤𐓘, ''hpahúska'', lit.: ''White Hair''; Chiwere: ''Paháhga'') is a city in and the county seat of Osage County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,984 ...

and north and east of Shidler.Morris, p. 82.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 23 people, 10 households, and 6 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 13 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 73.91%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.35% Native American, and 21.74% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 4.35% of the population. There were 10 households, out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, and 40.0% were non-families. 40.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 3.17. In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.1% under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 13.0% from 45 to 64, and 26.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $36,250, and the median income for a family was $63,333. Males had a median income of $38,750 versus $18,750 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $20,079. None of the population and none of the families were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

Education

It is in Shidler Public Schools.

Notable people

As a child the singer

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...

(born Clara Ann Fowler) lived with her family for a time on Maple St. in Foraker.1930 US Census. Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Foraker, Osage, Oklahoma; Roll: 1922; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 19; Image: 1054.0; FHL microfilm: 2341656. Rodeo champion and Oscar-winning actor Ben Johnson (''

The Last Picture Show ''The Last Picture Show'' is a 1971 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and co-written by Bogdanovich and Larry McMurtry, adapted from the 1966 semi-autobiographical novel by McMurtry. The film's ensemble cast incl ...

'') was born and raised on his family's ranch near Foraker.

References

External links

Morris, John Wesley. "Foraker." In: ''Ghost Towns of Oklahoma''. 1977. University of Oklahoma Press.
{{authority control Towns in Osage County, Oklahoma Towns in Oklahoma Populated places within the Osage Nation reservation