Harker, Florida

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

{{More citations needed|date=November 2019}}

{{Infobox settlement

|name = Harker

|official_name =

|settlement_type = Unincorporated community

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|pushpin_map = USA Florida

|pushpin_label_position =

|pushpin_map_caption = Location within the state of Florida

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|image_map =

|map_caption = Location within Collier county

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|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = Florida

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = Collier

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|unit_pref = Imperial

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|population_as_of = 2000

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|population_density_km2 = auto

|timezone = Eastern (EST)

|utc_offset = -5

|timezone_DST = EDT

|utc_offset_DST = -4

|elevation_footnotes =

|elevation_ft = 23

|coordinates = {{coord|26|20|36|N|81|20|36|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}

|postal_code_type = ZIP codes

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|blank1_name = GNIS feature ID

|blank1_info = 295336

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}}

Harker was an unincorporated community located in Collier County, Florida, United States, about {{convert|40|km|mi}} East of the city of Bonita Springs and {{convert|8|km|mi}} Southeast of the town of Immokalee.{{Cite gnis |id=295336 |name=Harker, Florida |access-date=November 22, 2019}} Most maps indicate that Harker is located on State Road 29 between West Main Street to the North and Oil Well Road to the South.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} West of Harker is Summerland Swamp, and to the East is the Okaloacoochee Slough.

Harker is believed to have been settled as a farming community in the 1930s.{{cite news |title = Historical Map of Collier County, Florida |newspaper = Naples Daily News |date = July 31, 1976 |url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12763421/the-naples-daily-news/ |accessdate = February 15, 2022 |quote = Harker....Believed to have been settled as a farming area in the 1930's.}} It was a stop on the Haines City Branch branch of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and was home mainly to farm workers who road the train daily to work sites farther south. Farms in Harker were known for their "squash, potatoes, and large tomatoes". Harker is one of at least 15 communities in a contiguous 40-mile line that are now gone.{{cite book|last=Hammond|first=James|title=Florida'sVanishing Trail|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HV80mOj8p0AC&pg=PA70|year=2008|publisher=The author|isbn=978-0-578-00385-6|pages=70, 202}}

State Road 29{{cite book|last=Carter|first= Luther J.|date=1974|title=The Florida Experience: Land and Water Policy in a Growth State|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|ISBN=0-8018-1646-7}} and the railroad were both built through Harker in the 1920s.{{cite book| last =Turner | first =Gregg M. | title =Railroads of Southwest Florida | publisher =Arcadia Publishing | series =Images of America | date =December 1, 1999}}