Most of Booker was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1973 on and the census since 1930.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1919.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Booker’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Booker is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Booker’s overall grade.
Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Booker’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be D. The pre-1940 share (±2.4 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1909.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Booker’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Booker was founded seven miles north of where it currently sits, as LaKemp, Oklahoma, in 1909. Ten years later, though, when the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway was built from Shattuck, Oklahoma, to Spearman, Texas, the entire town moved seven miles across the state line to be near the railroad. The town was platted shortly before the move in 1917 by Thomas C. Spearman, who had Spearman named after him. LaKemp was renamed Booker in honor of one of the engineers for the railroad. Around 2007, the then-operator of the railroad line, the Southwestern Railroad, abandoned the railway.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Booker. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1973Booker 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 Booker.
People over time
Booker, census by census
Between 386 and 1,516 people in every census since 1930.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Booker’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Booker’s history
What year was Booker founded?
In 1909, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Booker’s post office opened in 1919, and the census of 1930 counted 495 people here.
How does Booker rank for history?
Booker is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Booker?
2% of Booker’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1975.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.
2004
