The Cherokee Outlet, or Cherokee Strip, was located in what is now the state of Oklahoma in the United States. It was a 60-mile-wide (97 km) parcel of land south of the Oklahoma–Kansas border between 96 and 100°W. The Cherokee Outlet was created in 1836. The United States forced the Cherokee Nation of Indians to cede to the United States all lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for a reservation and an "outlet" in Indian Territory. At the time of its creation, the Cherokee Outlet was about 225 miles (360 km) long. The cities of Enid, Woodward, Ponca City, and Perry were later founded within the boundaries of what had been the Cherokee Outlet.
Oklahoma, the Cherokee Outlet, and Indian reservations established in the state and in the Cherokee Outlet.
Jesse Chisholm, a mixed-blood Cherokee, pioneered cattle drives through the Cherokee Outlet.
Most of the cattle drives going north from Texas passed through the Cherokee Outlet.
Photograph of the land rush by William S. Prettyman who participated in it and served as a mayor of Blackwell
Enid is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, and is named after Enid, a character in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King. In 1991, the Oklahoma state legislature designated Enid the "purple martin capital of Oklahoma." Enid holds the nickname of "Queen Wheat City" and "Wheat Capital" of Oklahoma and the United States for its immense grain storage capacity, and has the third-largest grain storage capacity in the world.
Downtown Enid (2007)
The Broadway Tower, Enid's tallest building, was built during the city's "Golden Age".
Enid is the county seat of Garfield County, and is home to the county courthouse.
Downtown Enid in wintertime.
