Harrah, Oklahoma
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Harrah is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the
Oklahoma City metropolitan area The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is an urban region in the Southern United States. It is the largest metropolitan area in the state of Oklahoma and contains the state capital and principal city, Oklahoma City. It is often known as the Okla ...
. Located east of downtown Oklahoma City, Harrah had a population of 6,360 people as of the 2018 Census. The first settler of the area, who was Potawatomi, arrived in the 1870s, but the town was not incorporated until 1908. The town was settled by Americans, Polish immigrants, and other groups and had a cotton ginning center. The city is overseen by a city council and mayor and includes a police department and fire station.


Geography

Harrah is a small city in Oklahoma with a total land area of , all land. The city's elevation is above sea level."Harrah, Oklahoma"
a
Sperling's Best Places Website
(accessed April 14, 2013)
It lies partly in the Great Plains near the geographical center of the 48 contiguous states in the United States. It lies between the larger cities of
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
to the west and
Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
, to the east, in Oklahoma County. Harrah is located in the Crosstimbers
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
and the Frontier Country
tourism region A tourism region is a geographical region that has been designated by a governmental organization or tourism bureau as having common cultural or environmental characteristics. These regions are often named after historical or current administrati ...
.


Climate

Oklahoma is located in a
temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...
region and experiences occasional extremes of temperature and precipitation typical of a continental climate.Oklahoma's Climate: an Overview
University of Oklahoma. (accessed July 26, 2013)
Harrah lies in an area known as
Tornado Alley Tornado Alley is a loosely defined area of the central United States where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, ...
characterized by frequent interaction between cold and warm air masses producing
severe weather Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmos ...
. An average of 54
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
es strike the state per year. The city frequently experiences temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C).


History

The land that would become the town of Harrah had its first settler, Louis Navarre, in the 1870s.Honea, Ted
Harrah
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

(accessed January 13, 2010)
Navarre, was a member of the Potawatomi people who had signed an 1867 treaty to sell their
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
lands in order to purchase lands in Native Territory with the proceeds. They also became citizens of the United States and thus became known as the Citizen Potawatomi.Kraft, Lisa A.
Citizen Potawtomi
" Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. (accessed July 26, 2013)
In 1890, Navarre and the Citizen Potawatomi participated, unwillingly, in the allotment process implemented through the
Dawes Act The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pres ...
of 1887. With this Act, the Citizen Potawatomi people were forced to accept individual allotments. In the
Land Run A land run or land rush was an event in which previously restricted land of the United States was opened to homestead on a first-arrival basis. Lands were opened and sold first-come or by bid, or won by lottery, or by means other than a run. The s ...
of 1891, the remainder of the Potawatomi reservation in Oklahoma was opened up to non-Indian settlement, with about of the reservation given away by the government to settlers. Frank Harrah, for whom the town is named, purchased from Louis Navarre's allotment in April 1898 and early settlers included a large number of Polish immigrants. More than two million Poles entered American ports between 1897 and 1913, and the immigrants formed small communities around
Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United St ...
coal mines. Originally named Sweeney, after E.W. Sweeney, who operated a ferry beginning in 1891, the town was renamed Harrah on December 22, 1898, and was incorporated in 1908. The town was almost renamed Clubb. In the 1940s Harrah was a center of
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
ginning. Its population was 741 in 1950. By 1990 4,206 people lived in Harrah.


Demographics

As of the 2018
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
, there were 6,360 people. As of the 2010 census, The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
was 428 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 84%
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 1%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 7.3% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.7% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 6.3% from two or more races.United States Census Bureau 2010 Demographic Profile for Harrah, Oklahoma a
U.S. Census website
(accessed July 26, 2013)
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
of any race made up 4% of the population. Of the 1,960 households, 33% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.6% consisted of married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.3% were non-families. 22.7% of the households are occupied by a single individual, and 26.1 percent had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.02. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.8% under the age of 18, 30.3% from 18 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.5 years. The population is 52.1% female and 47.9% male. The median income for a household in the city was $56,302, and the median income for a family was $76,725.U.S. Census website - Harrah, Oklahoma
United States Census Bureau 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (accessed July 26, 2013)
The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...
for the city was $25,545. About 6.1% of families and 8.4% of the population 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 t ...
, including 17.1% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.


City government

The City of Harrah has a
city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
made up of elected officials and led by a
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
. A council-appointed city manager runs the day-to-day administration of the city and oversees city staff.Departments
City of Harrah

(accessed January 20, 2010)
The city also holds a municipal court twice a month. As of April 2013, the city council consists of Mayor Larry Fryar and council members Kimberly Bishop, Tom Barron, Duane Patterson, and Cass Smith. The City of Harrah includes several departments, including a small fire department consisting of several paid firefighters and many volunteer firefighters. The police department includes full-time detectives, patrol officers, part-time officers, and voluntary reserve officers. The city also offers a comprehensive set of public utilities managed by the utility department and a public works department.


Education

The city lies in the Harrah school district, with some western parts of the city in the Choctaw-Nicoma Park school district. Both districts offer primary and secondary school education. Harrah schools spend approximately $3,204 per student and have 16 students per teacher.Best Places - Harrah
(accessed July 26, 2013)
No higher education institutions exist in Harrah.
Oklahoma Baptist University Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) is a private Baptist university in Shawnee, Oklahoma. It was established in 1910 under the original name of The Baptist University of Oklahoma. OBU is owned and was founded by the Baptist General Convention of ...
is located approximately 30 miles to the southeast in
Shawnee, Oklahoma Shawnee ( sac, Shânîheki) is a city in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 29,857 in 2010, a 4.9 percent increase from the figure of 28,692 in 2000. The city is part of the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical ...
, and other options lie 30–45 minutes to the west in Oklahoma City and to the southwest in Norman.


Notable people

* Jason Boland, Red Dirt singer and guitar player for Jason Boland and The Stragglers. * Lance Cargill, political consultant, former Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. *
Matt Grice Donald Matthew Grice (born July 29, 1981) is an American police officer and retired mixed martial artist. He was in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, fighting in the featherweight division before suffering a traumatic brain injury in a traffic ...
,
UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
fighter * Tim Holt, Western genre actor, buried here in 1973 *
Dale Robertson Dayle Lymoine Robertson (July 14, 1923February 27, 2013) was an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the roving investigator Jim Hardie in the television series ''Tales of Wells Fargo'' and railroad owner Ben ...
,
western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
actor was born in Harrah in 1923 *
Lloyd Waner Lloyd James Waner (March 16, 1906 – July 22, 1982), nicknamed "Little Poison", was a Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. His small stature at and 132 lb (68 kg)
, Hall of Fame Baseball player with the Pittsburgh Pirates *
Paul Waner Paul Glee Waner (April 16, 1903 – August 29, 1965), nicknamed "Big Poison", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams between 1926 and 1945, most notably playing his first 15 se ...
, Hall of Fame Baseball player with the Pittsburgh Pirates * Brady Manek, NBA basketball player who grew up in Harrah


References


External links


City of Harrah official website




{{authority control Oklahoma City metropolitan area Cities in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Cities in Oklahoma