Harrah is a city in

Oklahoma County Oklahoma County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 796,292, making it the most populous county in Oklahoma. The county seat is Oklahoma City, the state capital and ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, United States, and a part of the

Oklahoma City metropolitan area The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is an urban region in Central Oklahoma. 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 Oklahoma City Metr ...

. Located east of downtown Oklahoma City, Harrah had a population of 6,245 people as of the 2020 Census, a 22.6% increase from 2010. The first settler of the area, who was

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

, 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 In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

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 The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

near the geographical center of the 48 contiguous states in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It lies between the larger cities of

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

to the west and

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

, to the east, in Oklahoma County. Harrah is located in the Crosstimbers

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

and the Frontier Country tourism region.

Climate

Oklahoma is located in a

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

region and experiences occasional extremes of temperature and precipitation typical of a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

.Oklahoma's Climate: an Overview
University of Oklahoma. (accessed July 26, 2013) Harrah lies in an area known as

Tornado Alley Tornado Alley, also known as Tornado Valley, is a loosely defined location of the central United States and, in the 21st century, Canada where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to st ...

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. These vary depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmospheric conditions. High ...

. An average of 54

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of 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, although the ...

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

people who had signed an 1867 treaty to sell their

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

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) Cotton Gin - Flickr - USDAgov

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 P ...

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 ...

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 of Oklahoma (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American reservation occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. At roughly , it is the second-largest reservation in area after the Navajo, exceeding t ...

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 (), first recorded in ancient India, 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 ...

ginning. Its population was 741 in 1950. By 1990 4,206 people lived in Harrah.

Demographics

As of the 2022

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 ...

, there were 6,425 people. As of the 2010 census, 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 503 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 84%

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 ...

, 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 ...

, 7.3% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.7% from other races, 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 () 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 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 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, 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 $68,661, and the median income for a family was $76,725.U.S. Census website - Harrah, Oklahoma
United States Census Bureau 2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (accessed July 26, 2013) The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $32,778. 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 ...

, 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, borough counc ...

made up of elected officials and led by a

. 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 2024, the city council consists of Mayor Danny Trent and council members Bernadette Klimkowski, Tim Rudek, Jeff Brzozowski, and Steve Scalzo. 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

Most of the city lies in the Harrah Public Schools, 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 () is a city in and the county seat of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, 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 Oklah ...

, 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 Matt Grice (born July 29, 1981) is an American 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 accident in Shawnee, Oklahoma ...

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 TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

fighter *

Tim Holt Charles John "Tim" Holt III (February 5, 1919 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He was a popular Western star during the 1940s and early 1950s, appearing in forty-six B westerns released by RKO Pictures. In a career spanning more ...

, Western genre actor, buried here in 1973 *

Dale Robertson Dayle Lymoine Robertson (July 14, 1923 – February 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 own ...

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 (60 kg)

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 ...

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 s ...

Baseball player with the Pittsburgh Pirates

References

External links

City of Harrah official website

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