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Enid, Oklahoma

Enid
City
Enid, Oklahoma
East on Broadway.JPG
Official seal of Enid
Seal
Nickname(s): "Wheat Capital of the United States", "Queen Wheat City of Oklahoma",
Motto: "Purple Martin Capital of Oklahoma"
Location in Garfield County and the state of Oklahoma.
Location in Garfield County and the state of Oklahoma.
Coordinates: 36°24′2″N 97°52′51″W / 36.40056°N 97.88083°W / 36.40056; -97.88083Coordinates: 36°24′2″N 97°52′51″W / 36.40056°N 97.88083°W / 36.40056; -97.88083
Country United States
State Oklahoma
County Garfield
Founded 1893
Government
 • Type Mayor-Council
 • Mayor Bill Shewey
 • City Manager Jerald Gilbert
Area
 • City 74.1 sq mi (191.8 km2)
 • Land 74.0 sq mi (191.6 km2)
 • Water 0.1 sq mi (0.2 km2)
Elevation 1,240 ft (378 m)
Population (2010)
 • City 49,379
 • Estimate (2013) 50,725
 • Density 670/sq mi (260/km2)
 • Metro 62,267 (US: 134th)
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s) 580
FIPS code 40-23950
GNIS feature ID 1092626
Website www.enid.org

Enid (ē'nĭd) is a city in Garfield County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 49,379, making it the ninth largest city in Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. 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.

In summer 1889, M.A. Low, a Rock Island official, visited the local railroad station then under construction, and inquired about its name. At that time, it was called Skeleton station. Disliking the original name, he renamed the station Enid after a character in Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King. However, a more fanciful story of how the town received its name is popular. According to that tale, in the days following the land run, some enterprising settlers decided to set up a chuckwagon and cook for their fellow pioneers, hanging a sign that read "DINE". Some other, more free-spirited settlers, turned that sign backward to read, of course, "ENID". The name stuck.

During the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, Enid was the location of a land office which is now preserved in its Humphrey Heritage Village, part of the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center. Enid, the rail station, (now North Enid, Oklahoma) was the original town site endorsed by the government. It was platted by the surveyor W. D. Twichell, then of Amarillo, Texas.


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