Foraker is a town in Osage County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named for Ohio Senator Joseph B. Foraker. The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve is southeast of town. The official population peaked at 415 in 1910 and has declined steadily since 1930. As of the 2020 census, Foraker had a population of 18.
Foraker was listed as a ghost town in the 1977 book Ghost Towns of Oklahoma. The author, John Wesley Morris, quoted one long-time resident as saying: "Stores gone, post office gone, train gone, school gone, oil gone, boys and girls gone – only thing not gone is graveyard and it git bigger." 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.
The agriculture boom subsided, but the town was briefly revitalized by discovery of the Burbank Oil Field in 1920, which made Foraker an oil industry equipment supply center. In 1922 the Osage Railway, one of the Muskogee Roads, was opened from Foraker to Shidler, ten miles away, making Foraker an oil shipping point. The population rose to about 2,000 in the early 1920s. The Osage County oil boom soon declined and with it Foraker's fortunes. The population dropped. The Osage Valley railroad was abandoned in 1953 and the Midland Valley Railroad was abandoned in 1968. The town business district fell vacant. Foraker is now in a region dominated by large cattle ranches. A lonely and picturesque old cemetery in the prairie approximately one mile east of what remains of the town is the chief landmark.
The nearest post office is at Shidler.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Foraker had a population of 18. The median age was 47.5 years. 0.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 5.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 100.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 100.0 males age 18 and over.
There were 8 households in Foraker, of which 50.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 62.5% were married-couple households, 0.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 25.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 0.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 0.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 10 || 55.6%
|-
| Black or African American || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 2 || 11.1%
|-
| Asian || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Some other race || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Two or more races || 6 || 33.3%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1 || 5.6%
|}
2000 census
As of the census
Notable people
As a child the singer Patti Page (born Clara Ann Fowler) lived with her family for a time on Maple St. in Foraker.
Rodeo champion and Oscar-winning actor Ben Johnson (The Last Picture Show) was born and raised on his family's ranch near Foraker.