Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Foraker

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Foraker

Foraker’s post office opened in 1906, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1910.

1906first post office
0on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Foraker began, and where its name came from

When was Foraker founded?

1906

The Foraker post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 415 in 19102020 census: 18120 years

How did Foraker get its name?

Foraker was named for Ohio Senator Joseph B. Foraker.

Founding year: the first Foraker post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Foraker’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 Foraker are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Foraker’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Foraker came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Foraker.

Read it all →

Located in an area of rolling plains and tallgrass prairie, 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 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.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Foraker, 1906 to 1978

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1906Post officeThe Foraker post office opens
  3. 1916On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1918Born hereBen Johnson is born here
  5. 1978Post officeThe Foraker post office closes
By decade

Foraker, decade by decade

Today13 recent
A pumpjack, or small extraction oil pump in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the…2020A pumpjack, or small extraction oil pump in the Josep…An American bison, or buffalo, ambles through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by t…2020An American bison, or buffalo, ambles through the Jos…A lone tree and pond in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy …2020A lone tree and pond in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgr…Only the horizon beckons in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conserva…2020Only the horizon beckons in the Joseph H. Williams Ta…Metal-art sign within the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy ne…2020Metal-art sign within the Joseph H. Williams Tallgras…A low mesa within the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near t…2020A low mesa within the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Pr…Welcoming sign to the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near t…2020Welcoming sign to the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Pr…Gravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near…2020Gravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass …Gravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near…2020Gravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass …Scene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town o…2020Scene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Pre…Scene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town o…2020Scene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Pre…A true "country cemetery" that buries the dead of the small city of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma, on the edge of …2020A true "country cemetery" that buries the dead of the…A true "country cemetery" that buries the dead of the small city of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma, on the edge of …2020A true "country cemetery" that buries the dead of the…
On the map

Foraker on the map, 1916 to 1973

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

Foraker on the 1916 USGS mapForaker on the 1973 USGS map1916Foraker sheet · 1:62,500

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

People over time

Foraker, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 415

Between 18 and 415 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Foraker’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Foraker had its own post office from 1906 to 1978.

Foraker
1906–1978
19001960today

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

Questions about Foraker’s history

What year was Foraker founded?

The Foraker post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 Library of Congress (13), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.