Harrah

History

The land that would become the town of Harrah had its first settler, Louis Navarre, in the 1870s. 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. 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.

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. 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).

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,944
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,887
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  1,583
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,348
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,196
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,018
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  949
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  855

Most recent

• M 2.57 — 2026-09-14
  6 km E of Calumet, Oklahoma
• M 2.9 — 2026-09-11
  5 km N of Stroud, Oklahoma
• M 3.29 — 2026-09-04
  2 km SSW of Dibble, Oklahoma
• M 2.56 — 2026-06-13
  6 km ENE of Edmond, Oklahoma
• M 2.72 — 2026-06-03
  7 km S of Perry, Oklahoma
• M 2.9 — 2026-05-22
  10 km N of Stillwater, Oklahoma