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History · Baker

Baker’s post office opened in 1953, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

Its Register listings are the Baker Woodframe Elevator and the Baker Woodframe Grain Elevator. Below: maps from 1967 on.

1953first post office
2on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Baker began

When was Baker founded?

1953

The Baker post office opened in 1953, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bakersburg (1931), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 3773 years
Founding year: the first Baker post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Baker’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Baker are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Baker’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Baker’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Baker came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Baker.

Read it all →

Founded between Hooker and Turpin Oklahoma, a child of the BM&E (Beaver. Meade and Englewood, Later MKT) railroad. Baker become a double railroad town in its infancy when the CRI&P (Chicago Rock Island and Pacific) crossed through just three years after being platted. Named after a Hooker, Oklahoma man, Reuben F. Baker whom sold the acreage for the town from his quarter section where baker lies, the town sprung to existence in the summer and fall of 1926. The town thrived in its early years and persevered through the dust bowl and Great Depression. Home to the remnants of the Eureka school (Eureka Polar Bears), Baker has but few residents left. However, two grain elevators still operate today, centered in wheat and corn country. One elevator, the Riffe-Gilmore elevator is one of few Riffe-Gilmore elevators still in operation, having been operated by the same family since its inception o…

ChaptersNRHP Sites

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Baker, 1931 to 1967

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1931Post officeThe Bakersburg post office opens
  3. 1953Post officeThe Bakersburg post office closes
  4. 1953Post officeThe Baker post office opens
  5. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Baker on the map, 1967 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Baker. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Baker on the 1967 USGS mapBaker on the 1982 USGS map1967Adams sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Baker.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Baker

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Baker Woodframe Elevator
Baker Woodframe ElevatorBaker Woodframe Grain Elevator
Buildings
All 2 listings
Baker Woodframe ElevatorBuilding · listed 1983Baker Woodframe Grain ElevatorBuilding · listed 1983

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Baker’s post office has been open since 1953. Another post office, Bakersburg, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bakersburg
1931–1953
Baker
1953–today
19301980today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Baker’s history

What year was Baker founded?

The Baker post office opened in 1953, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Baker?

Two places: the Baker Woodframe Elevator (listed 1983) and the Baker Woodframe Grain Elevator (1983).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.