Baker is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Fallon County,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, United States. The population was 1,802 at the 2020 census. It was named after A. G. Baker, an engineer with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.

History

Baker was built along the transcontinental rail line of the

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), better known as the Milwaukee Road , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States from 1847 ...

near where the railroad created a lake to supply water to its

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s. The city was known as Lorraine for a brief time before being renamed in honor of Milwaukee Road engineer A.G. Baker. A successful Milwaukee Land Company campaign to attract homesteaders to the area allowed the city to grow and serve a large community of dryland farmers. Additional growth occurred following the 1912 discovery of oil and natural gas deposits nearby. In 2014, Baker was described as "a busy, noisy, traffic-jammed, bursting-at-the-seams boomtown on the edge of the oil fields." On June 11, 2016, an EF-3 Tornado struck Baker destroying several houses and damaging dozens more, killing multiple horses in the area and injuring six people.

Geography

U.S. Route 12 passes through town. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

rock is the predominant feature. Nearby Medicine Rocks State Park has many unusual sandstone rock formations.

Climate

According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Baker has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Baker was on July 23, 2007, June 26, 2012, and August 12, 2018, while the coldest temperature recorded was on February 14, 2021.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 1,741 people, 763 households, and 459 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

was . There were 884 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.1%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.3% of the population. There were 763 households, of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.8% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.89. The median age in the city was 39.3 years. 23.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.4% were from 25 to 44; 27.8% were from 45 to 64; and 16.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.6% male and 49.4% female.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,695 people, 694 households, and 455 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 855 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 98.11%

, 0.24%

, 0.53% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.06%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.12% from other races, and 0.65% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.24% of the population. There were 694 households, out of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.7% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.98. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.8% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 19.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 97.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $30,893, and the median income for a family was $42,375. Males had a median income of $30,667 versus $17,500 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,461. About 7.7% of families and 10.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.3% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

O'Fallon Historical Museum is home to the world's largest steer. The Fallon County Library serves the town of Baker.

Education

Baker Public Schools educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Baker High School has an enrollment of 140, which places it in class B within the Montana high school sports system. The school

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

is the 'Spartan'. The Spartans have won 6 State Football Championships under long time coach Don Schillinger.

Media

The Fallon County Times is the local newspaper. It is published weekly. Two radio stations are licensed in Baker: KFLN AM, a country station, and KJJM FM, featuring classic rock music.

Infrastructure

U.S. Route 12 passes through town from east to west. Montana Highway 7 runs north to south through town. The Baker Municipal Airport is located southeast of Baker's central business district.

Notable people

* Bill Bowman, North Dakota state senator * Irene Lentz, Hollywood

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costum ...

* Tyler Lyson, paleontologist (from North Dakota but attended Baker High School) * Shann Schillinger, NFL player for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

* Jack Westrope,

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

jockey

References

External links

Chamber of Commerce page

Baker schools
{{authority control Cities in Fallon County, Montana County seats in Montana Cities in Montana