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History · Foraker

Foraker’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Foraker. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
5recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead 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.

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Start Foraker’s collection

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

0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Famous people from Foraker

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Ben JohnsonBen JohnsonFilm, TV & Stage
By decade

Foraker, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your album
Today5 photos
Gravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near…LOCGravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairi…2020Gravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near…LOCGravel road through the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairi…2020Scene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town o…LOCScene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve,…2020Scene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy near the town o…LOCScene in the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve,…2020A true "country cemetery" that buries the dead of the small city of Foraker, in Osage County, Oklahoma, on the edge of …LOCA true "country cemetery" that buries the dead of the small…2020
National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Foraker is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Foraker has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Chapman-Barnard Ranch Headquarters in Foraker, 8.3 miles away.

Foraker and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Foraker. Tap a dot.
Chapman-Barnard Ranch HeadquartersBank of BurbankHewins Park PavilionAdam, L.C., Mercantile BuildingKaw Indian AgencyKaw City Depot

Closest to Foraker

Chapman-Barnard Ranch HeadquartersForaker · District8.3miBank of BurbankBurbank · Building14.9miHewins Park PavilionCedar Vale · Built 191316.1miAdam, L.C., Mercantile BuildingCedar Vale · Built 190416.5miKaw Indian AgencyKaw City · Building16.9mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Chapman-Barnard Ranch Headquarters’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Foraker?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Foraker’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Grainola📜 Shidler📜 Webb City📜 Cedar

From the Library of Congress (5). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
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