Picher

Overview

A town built over its own mines

Picher sits in the far northeast corner of Oklahoma, on US 69 at the Kansas line, eight miles north of Miami. A lead and zinc strike on Harry Crawfish's allotment in late 1913 started the town, and it took the name of O. S. Picher, who owned the Picher Lead Company. The Picher Field became the most productive in the Tri-State district. From 1917 to 1947 it yielded more than $20 billion in ore, and more than 14,000 men worked its mines. The census counted 9,726 people in 1920, and the town peaked at 14,252 in 1926.

The mines ran under the town itself. When mining stopped in 1967, the pumps were shut off and the workings flooded, and in 1973 contaminated water began seeping out. In 1983 the area was added to the EPA's Superfund program as part of the Tar Creek site. Gray piles of chat, the waste rock from the mills, stood all around the town. A 2006 Army Corps of Engineers study found 86 percent of its buildings badly undermined.

The EPA judged the town dangerous because of possible mine collapses, and the residents were bought out. In May 2008 an EF4 tornado damaged 20 blocks of Picher and killed six people. The city stopped operating on September 1, 2009, demolition began in 2010, and the municipality was formally dissolved in 2013.

Video

A drive through the empty grid

A road-trip YouTuber drives Picher's streets on a cloudy day, past foundations, the water tower and the chat piles on the skyline. He stops at the Picher-Cardin memorial to read its panels and see the Gorillas statue, takes a short detour across the Kansas line, and films a block of abandoned brick houses from the street, saying he won't go inside. The last minute is the Blue Whale of Catoosa, elsewhere in Oklahoma. The video was posted in December 2025 with the trees in leaf, so it was filmed some months earlier. The memorial panels he reads aloud put the start of demolition in 2011; our sources say early 2010.

Play “The Ghost Town of Picher, Oklahoma” from YouTube

Timeline

Boom, pollution and buyout

1. Late 1913A lead and zinc strike on Harry Crawfish's allotment starts the town. Newspapers report it was "born overnight." It is named for O. S. Picher, owner of the Picher Lead Company.
2. Mar 1918Picher incorporates.
3. 1917–1947The Picher Field is the most productive in the Tri-State district, with more than $20 billion in ore. More than half the lead and zinc used in World War I comes from it.
4. 1926Peak population: 14,252. The 1920 census had counted 9,726.
5. 1927248 mills run in the Picher Field.
6. 1967Lead and zinc mining stops. The pumps shut off and the mines fill with water, which begins seeping out in 1973.
7. 1983The area is added to the EPA's Superfund program as part of the Tar Creek site.
8. 2006An Army Corps of Engineers study finds 86 percent of Picher's buildings, including the school, badly undermined.
9. May 10, 2008An EF4 tornado damages 20 blocks of the town and kills six people.
10. 2009The Picher-Cardin schools graduate their last class in May. The city stops operating as a municipality on September 1.
11. 2010–2011Demolition begins in early 2010. By 2011 only one business building and six homes are left. The EPA dates the end of the buyout to 2011.
12. Nov 26, 2013The municipality is formally dissolved.
13. 2015–2017The mining museum is destroyed by arson in April 2015, and a church burns in March 2017.

What's here

Empty streets and gray hills

By January 2011 only six homes and one business were left, and most commercial buildings were then scheduled for demolition. In March 2014 the high school, a church and the mining museum still stood. The museum was destroyed by arson in April 2015, and the church burned in March 2017.

The newest account we found is KJRH's, from March 2026. It describes the chat as still there and the town gone, a small memorial beside the Gorillas mascot statue for the school's state football title, a county building reportedly damaged by fire, and about a block of abandoned housing with danger signs and "keep out" painted on the brick. The Quapaw Nation, which leads the chat cleanup, runs one renovated unit. 405 Magazine wrote in March 2024 that the water tower "continues to stand tall," and it is still standing in the video on this page, posted in December 2025.

• Chat piles of mine waste
• A block of abandoned housing
• Memorial and Picher Gorillas statue
• Water tower (seen in a video posted December 2025)

The historic maps below trace the town. The 1954 sheet shades Picher and Cardin as built-up areas among mine symbols. The 1961 sheet shows Picher's street grid hemmed in by tailings, with Harrell Park marked on a tailings area south of downtown and Cardin at the southwest corner. By 1986 the neighboring camps of Treece, Zincville and Douthat are named on the same sheet.

Historic maps

Picher on USGS maps, 1954–1986

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19541:250,00019611:24,00019861:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

US 69 runs through Picher. Miami is the nearest city with services, about 15 minutes south, and Joplin, Missouri, is about 35 minutes away by way of Baxter Springs, Kansas. Both routes were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Picher in photos

An empty building beside US 69, September 2013The water tower, 2013Downtown, April 2008The Gorillas statue, 2023Abandoned duplexes, March 2023A chat pile, 2006A house torn open by the May 10, 2008 tornado, its kitchen cabinets still standing, May 14, 2008 (FEMA)US 69 through the empty town, looking south, August 2023

Visitor reports

Been to Picher?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Picher

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Oklahoma index.

• Cardin1.2 mi SW · Ottawa
• Zincville1.4 mi NE · Ottawa
• Douthat1.6 mi S · Ottawa
• Quapaw2.9 mi SE · Ottawa
• Hockerville3.0 mi E · Ottawa
• Peoria10.1 mi SE · Ottawa
• Afton20.9 mi S · Ottawa
• Bernice25.0 mi S · Delaware

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, "Picher" (C. Allan Mathews and Frank D. Wood, updated 2019): founding, name, incorporation, populations, production, mills, mine closure and seepage, Superfund listing, tornado, buyout, end of incorporation, remains in 2011.
2. Wikipedia, "Picher, Oklahoma", retrieved October 2026: 2006 Army Corps study, tornado date and rating, last graduating class, 2013 dissolution, buildings standing in 2014, museum and church fires, Gorillas memorial, 2010 census, coordinates.
3. KJRH, "A closer look at the Tar Creek Superfund site in 2026" (March 5, 2026): what remained in Picher on the station's visit, danger and keep-out signs, the memorial and statue, the Quapaw Nation's cleanup.
4. US EPA, Tar Creek (Ottawa County) cleanup activities: the buyout managed by the Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust, begun in 2009 and complete in 2011; chat pile cleanup.
5. Quirky Travel Guy, "What's It Like To Visit A Ghost Town Full Of Toxic Waste? Welcome To Picher, Oklahoma", dated January 2, 2024, but describing a drive through town while the mining museum still stood (it burned in April 2015): fenced chat piles and a road closed with a "U.S. Property, No Trespassing" sign; its 2024 note that some side roads are closed because of chat and sinkholes.
6. 405 Magazine, "Picher: Oklahoma's Best-Known Ghost Town" (Linda Miller, March 2024): the water tower still standing; chat as a hazardous byproduct of lead and zinc mining.
7. Dashborderless, "The Ghost Town of Picher, Oklahoma", YouTube, uploaded December 23, 2025: the video on this page; the memorial panels, the Gorillas statue, the water tower still standing, the abandoned housing block seen from the street.
8. ghosttowns.com, "Picher": fact-sheet cross-check (county, 2WD roads).
9. Commons file pages for each photo: dates and places taken. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• An empty building beside US 69, September 2013: formulanone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The water tower, 2013: formulanone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Downtown, April 2008: peggydavis66, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The Gorillas statue, 2023: NevinThompson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Abandoned duplexes, March 2023: TheDoctorWho, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• A chat pile, 2006: Kelly K, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• A house torn open by the May 10, 2008 tornado, its kitchen cabinets still standing, May 14, 2008 (FEMA): Barry Bahler, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• US 69 through the empty town, looking south, August 2023: NevinThompson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Tulsa 1954, 1:250,000; Picher 1961, 1:24,000; Neosho 1986, 1:100,000.