[5] After the land opening of 1893, developers wanted to attract railroads to build through the former Cherokee Outlet to transport the large wheat crops to markets.

Two years later, the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad (later owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) constructed a line through Cherokee.

To gain access to the railroad, residents of the nearby community of Erwin, which already had a post office by that name, relocated to Cherokee.

The community was soon transformed into a dominant regional center for agricultural services, banking, wholesale-retail trade, and transportation, providing markets and services to the surrounding smaller communities, such as Ingersoll, Burlington, Driftwood, Byron, and Amorita.

The town grew around its twin railroad depots, and by 1909 Cherokee had three banks, three newspapers, three mills (flour, alfalfa, and planning), a concrete block plant, and a school desk factory.

In addition, oil-field activity within the county during the late 1920s and the mid-1930s contributed to the city's prosperity, with a half-dozen oil companies maintaining storage facilities near the railroad yards.

[6] By 1936, the city boasted eleven gasoline stations, five automobile dealerships, five garages, plus three lumber yards.

[6] The Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed construction of a National Guard Armory in 1937, along with a public library in 1939.

Its proximity to the Great Salt Plains area attracted sporting activities including bird-hunting excursions, which boosted the economy by bringing in hundreds of travelers.

[8] The population of Cherokee would peak in 1950, at 2,635, according to the U.S. Census, and continue to trend downward at each enumeration from that decade onward.

[6] Cherokee continues to be the home of one of three public school districts (in addition to Burlington and Timberlake) to educate the county's children.

[12] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.473 square miles (3.82 km2), all land.

[13] The Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge is located a few miles southeast of Cherokee.

[14] On 11 July 1909, at 3:00 in the morning, a heat burst south of Cherokee reportedly caused the temperature to rise briefly to 136 °F (57.8 °C), desiccating crops in the area.

[15] Cherokee has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with influences from a cool semi-arid climate (BSk) Please note: Many temperatures claiming to be above 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) are unverifiable claims due to improper equipment at site to confirm during the event.

[19] Cherokee is primarily a farming community, although historically, oil field activity has also played a significant role in the city's prosperity.