Baker

History

Baker was built along the transcontinental rail line of the Milwaukee Road near where the railroad created a lake to supply water to its steam locomotives. 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 city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Sandstone rock is the predominant feature. Nearby Medicine Rocks State Park has many unusual sandstone rock formations. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Baker has a cold semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Baker was on July 12, 2026, while the coldest temperature recorded was on February 14, 2021. | source 2 = National Weather Service (mean maxima and minima 2006–2020) | source = }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  395
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  292
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  282
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  276
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  264
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  261
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  218
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  215

Largest nearby schools

• Longfellow School
  Elementary · Baker · 158 students · 15.8:1 ratio
• Baker High School
  High · Baker · 128 students · 9.1:1 ratio
• Lincoln School
  Elementary · Baker · 107 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• Baker 7-8
  Middle · Baker · 58 students · 11.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2026-08-13
  2 km SE of Amidon, North Dakota
• M 2.6 — 2013-07-29
  18 km SE of Ekalaka, Montana