Waynoka is a city in Woods County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located on U.S. Highway 281 and State Highway 14, seventy miles west of Enid. The population, which peaked at 2,018 in 1950, was 708 at the time of the 2020 Census.

History

Founding years

Founded in what was then known as Indian Territory, Waynoka was established in 1887 when the Southern Kansas Railroad, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, built a rail line through the area. Shortly thereafter, on April 10, 1888, a post office was established, having the distinction of being the first to be established in the Cherokee Outlet. Its economy was based on the railroad and the large ranches in the area. When the Cherokee Outlet opened up for non-Indian settlement in the land run of September 16, 1893, Waynoka became the area's agricultural trade center.

Transportation Center

The Santa Fe Railway made the city a major railroad center when it built Oklahoma's largest rail yard in Waynoka. Ultimately employing a thousand machinists, boilermakers, sheet metal mechanics, fire builders, car men, switchmen, and engineers, it operated twenty-four hours a day. One of the nation's largest ice plants was built to supply ice for refrigerator cars hauling perishables on Santa Fe's main line from Chicago to Los Angeles. In addition, a roundhouse, maintenance and repair shops, a reading room, a depot, and a Harvey House were built by the railroad. Although the railroad eventually moved its maintenance operations from Waynoka, it continued train crew changes there until 1986. At the turn of the twenty-first century, between fifty and one hundred trains still passed daily through Waynoka on Oklahoma's fastest and busiest rail line. The line was finished in 1920, and acquired by the Santa Fe the same year.

The predecessor company of TWA, Transcontinental Air Transport, known as "TAT", built Oklahoma's first airport for Transcontinental in 1929 in Waynoka, at a site five miles northeast of town selected by Charles Lindbergh himself. TAT offered passengers coast-to-coast travel in forty-eight hours, Both Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, as officers in the company, reportedly became familiar faces in town.

Waynoka is linked by US Route 281.

The current Waynoka Municipal Airport (FAA Identifier: 1K5) is one mile southeast of town, and features a paved 3532’ x 60’ runway.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Little Sahara State Park is south of the city. The park offers over of rideable sand dunes ranging in height from 25 to .

Climate

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Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Waynoka had a population of 708. The median age was 42.6 years. 23.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 102.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 98.5 males age 18 and over.

There were 326 households in Waynoka, of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 38.7% were married-couple households, 26.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 37.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Percent

|-

| White || 84.6%

|-

| Black or African American || 0.4%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 2.5%

|-

| Asian || 0%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0%

|-

| Some other race || 3.1%

|-

| Two or more races || 9.3%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 6.8%

|}

2000 census

As of the census

The passenger and freight railroad stations originally built by the Santa Fe remain intact. The Waynoka Santa Fe Depot and Harvey House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Woods County, Oklahoma.

Other NRHP-listed locations in town are the First Congregational Church at 1887 E. Cecil St., and the Waynoka Telephone Exchange Building at 200 S. Main St.

References

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  • Little Sahara State Park
  • Illustrated Map of the Route of the Transcontinental Air Transport, Inc. (from the David Rumsey Map Collection)
  • Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
  • Transcontinental Air Transport, Inc.