Harrah is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. 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, 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. 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 to the west and Shawnee, to the east, in Oklahoma County.
Harrah is located in the Crosstimbers ecoregion and the Frontier Country tourism region.
Climate
Oklahoma is located in a temperate region and experiences occasional extremes of temperature and precipitation typical of a continental climate. Harrah lies in an area known as Tornado Alley characterized by frequent interaction between cold and warm air masses producing severe weather. An average of 54 tornadoes strike the state per year.
The city frequently experiences temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C). Navarre, was a member of the Potawatomi people who had signed an 1867 treaty to sell their Kansas 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.
thumb|A cotton gin in the 1940s
In 1890, Navarre and the Citizen Potawatomi participated, unwillingly, in the allotment process implemented through the Dawes Act of 1887. With this Act, the Citizen Potawatomi people were forced to accept individual allotments.
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. By 1990 4,206 people lived in Harrah.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Harrah had a population of 6,245. The median age was 37.3 years, 25.6% of residents were under the age of 18, and 16.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 90.1 males age 18 and over.
There were 2,413 households in Harrah, of which 36.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 52.8% were married-couple households, 15.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 25.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census
! Race !! Percent
|-
| White || 77.6%
|-
| Black or African American || 1.6%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 6.2%
|-
| Asian || 0.8%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || <0.1%
|-
| Some other race || 1.1%
|-
| Two or more races || 12.6%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 5.0%
|}
2010 census
As of the 2010 census, the population density was 503 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 84% white, 1% African American, 7.3% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.7% from other races, and 6.3% from two or more races. Hispanic 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 living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.3% were non-families. 22.7% of the households were occupied by a single individual, and 26.1% 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.
City government
The City of Harrah has a city council made up of elected officials and led by a mayor. A council-appointed city manager runs the day-to-day administration of the city and oversees city staff. The city also holds a municipal court twice a month.
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. Both districts offer primary and secondary school education. Harrah schools spend approximately $3,204 per student and have 24 students per teacher.
No higher education institutions exist in Harrah. Oklahoma Baptist University is located approximately 30 miles to the southeast in Shawnee, Oklahoma, 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, UFC fighter
- Tim Holt, Western genre actor, buried here in 1973
- Dale Robertson, western actor was born in Harrah in 1923
- Lloyd Waner, Hall of Fame Baseball player with the Pittsburgh Pirates
- Paul Waner, Hall of Fame Baseball player with the Pittsburgh Pirates