Enid

Enid is a county seat in Garfield County in northern Oklahoma, spreading across flat prairie land with wide streets and low residential neighborhoods. The downtown area features squat buildings along the main avenue, surrounded by parking lots and commercial strips.

Settlement began during the Cherokee Outlet land run in September 1893, when homesteaders rushed into the newly opened territory and staked their plots. The railroad company laid out the town plan before the run, turning prairie into a populated settlement within months.

This town takes its name from a figure in an Alfred Tennyson poem, chosen by a railroad official's wife during its founding days. Today the place serves as a trade center for farm goods and small businesses across the rural surroundings.

The town lies about an hour and a half by car north of Oklahoma City along the main highway through the region. Visitors find most services clustered along the thoroughfare, while residential streets spread in all directions.

The local library holds a collection of documents and photographs from the first days of the land run, including handwritten settler claims. A few buildings from the founding period still stand in the old core, showing the original timber construction of those early years.

Location: Garfield County

Inception: 1893

Elevation above the sea: 378 m

Website: http://enid.org

GPS coordinates: 36.39675,-97.87914

Latest update: December 17, 2025 07:31