Oker (Goslar)

Oker
District of Goslar
View over Oker and Sudmerberg from the Harz mountains
Coat of arms
Oker
Coordinates: 51°54′11″N 10°29′17″E / 51.90306°N 10.48806°E / 51.90306; 10.48806Coordinates: 51°54′11″N 10°29′17″E / 51.90306°N 10.48806°E / 51.90306; 10.48806
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Goslar
Town	Goslar
Elevation	208 m (682 ft)
Population (2014-12-31)
• Total	5,599
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	38640, 38642, 38644
Dialling codes	05324
Vehicle registration	GS

Oker is a borough of Goslar in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1952 a mining town in its own right within Wolfenbüttel district, it was incorporated into the Goslar municipality on 1 July 1972.

The settlement is situated on the northern edge of the Harz mountain range. The river Oker gives its name to the location, where the stream together with its Abzucht tributary leads out of the Oker valley between the Hahnenberg and Adenberg mountains in the south and the Sudmerberg hill in the north. Oker is divided into two unofficial districts: Oberoker (Upper Oker) south of the Vienenburg–Goslar railway line (and nearer to the Harz range), and Unteroker (Lower Oker) north of it.

Founded in 1527 by the Wolfenbüttel duke Henry V of Brunswick-Lüneburg as a smelting site for the processing of ore from the Rammelsberg mines, Oker for centuries was a centre of smelting technology in the Harz region. The Oker lead and copper works (Bleihütte Oker) operated from 1527 to 1970; lead was melted from secondary raw materials by a successor company until 2001. Together with the neighbouring zinc oxide works (Zinkoxydhütte Oker) and the zinc works in Harlingerode, it was gradually taken over by the Preussag conglomerate (present-day TUI) from 1923.

On 1 April 1819 an agency of the Brunswick Postal Service was opened on the old mail route from Wolfenbüttel to Harzburg (Neustadt). It was moved to the railway station on the opening of the Vienenburg–Goslar railway on 23 March 1866.