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".

[21] Enid's economy boomed as a result of the growing oil, wheat, and rail industries, and its population grew steadily throughout the early 20th century in conjunction with a period of substantial architectural development and land expansion.

Residential additions during this period include Kenwood, Waverley, Weatherly, East Hill, Kinser Heights, Buena Vista, and McKinley.

The greatest one-day precipitation total by an official rain gauge in Oklahoma was in Enid when 15.68 inches (398.3 mm) fell on October 11, 1973.

[40][41] Several politicians have called Enid home, including Oklahoma Territory's last governor Frank Frantz; U.S. Representative Page Belcher; US Congressman and former Enid mayor, Milton C. Garber; Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb; U.S. Representative George H. Wilson; and James Yancy Callahan, the only non-Republican territorial congressional delegate.

[42][43][44][45][46] Of the people in Enid, 61.9% claim affiliation with a religious congregation;[citation needed] 9.4% are Catholic, 39.2% are Protestant, 1.1% are Latter Day Saints and 12.2% are another Christian denomination.

Additionally, since 1996, Marshallese citizens were unable to get health programs offered by the federal government due to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act changing relevant laws.

The Oklahoma government has the ability to allow Marshallese citizens in its state borders to get access to these federal health programs, but it chooses not to do so.

[114] Local Reverend A.G. Smith,[118] Mayor William H. Ryan,[114][119] former Deputy Sheriff Lon Crosslin,[120] and the Enid Daily Eagle editorial staff praised the action.

[127] At least two Black men were tarred and feathered in separate incidents by the Klan in Enid in the 1920s, including Ed Warner and Walter O'Banion.

[129][130] On September 21, 1979 an 18 year old Black Enid High School student and football player named Mitchell Lee Sanford was hung from a tree.

[138][139][140] Enid has named streets for notable Black citizens, including opera singer Leona Mitchell in 1981[141] and professional athlete Lydell Carr in 2023.

[142] In 1990 Enid named its municipal building for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and in 1991 a monument bearing a quote from his "I have a dream" speech was erected on the property.

[145] In 2023 Ward 1 elected City Commissioner Judson Blevins, a white nationalist organizer with Identity Evropa, who marched at the Unite the Right rally.

[146] Local NAACP leader Lanita Norwood is a founding member of the Enid Social Justice Committee which has actively protested against Blevins,[147] and initiated a recall election for April 2024.

Enid's Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center preserves the local history of the Land Run of 1893, Phillips University, and Garfield County.

The Humphrey Heritage Village next to the museum offers visitors a chance to see the original Enid land office and other historical buildings.

Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse, located in the former Alton Mercantile building in downtown Enid, is an arts and sciences museum, which features Adventure Quest, an outdoor science-themed playground.

[166] Enid has produced several athletes, including NFL football players Todd Franz, Steve Fuller, Ken Mendenhall, John Ward, Jeff Zimmerman, Jim Riley, and the CFL's Kody Bliss.

USSF soccer player Andrew Hoxie, Major League Baseball pitchers, Ray Hayward and Lou Kretlow, Olympian and runner, Chris McCubbins, and Stacy Prammanasudh, an LPGA golfer, all were born or lived in Enid.

Made up of players from Enid and the surrounding areas, the team has achieved national ranking status three times, amassing a CFL League Championship in 2012, two Northern Division Championships, and 47 league All-star players, while helping numerous young men gain college athletic scholarships and boasting a 40-13 record in just five years.

Three Oklahoma State Poets Laureate, Betty Lou Shipley,[204] Bess Truitt and Carol Hamilton, grew up in Enid.

Actors Richard Erdman, Glenda Farrell, Lynn Herring, and Thad Luckinbill were all born in Enid, as was Emmy Award winning director, Sharron Miller.

Many musicians have called Enid home, including violinist Kyle Dillingham, jazz great Sam Rivers, jazz pianist Pat Moran McCoy, folk singer and banjoist Karen Dalton, fingerstyle guitarist Michael Hedges and opera singer Leona Mitchell, with the last two having streets in Enid bearing their names.

[212] Even some fictional characters hold Enid as their home town, including Paul and Amanda Kirby (portrayed by William Macy and Téa Leoni) in Jurassic Park III, Maggie Gyllenhaal's character, journalist Jean Craddock, in Crazy Heart,[213] and in The Rifleman, Lucas McCain and his son Mark lived in Enid before settling in North Fork, New Mexico Territory.

In 1901, Osborn H. Oldroyd wrote The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Flight, Pursuit (sic), Capture, and Punishment of the Conspirators which claimed that Sgt.

Boston Corbett, the man who killed John Wilkes Booth in Virginia, resided in Enid, employed as a medicine salesman.

[218] The book claimed that David E. George, a tenant at the Grand Avenue Hotel who committed suicide by poison in 1903, was actually John Wilkes Booth.

[229] In the CBS series The Big Bang Theory,[230] character Sheldon Cooper contemplates moving to Enid because of its "low crime rate" and "high speed internet" service, but decides against it because the city lacks a model railroad store.

'[231] In the FX series The Americans FBI agent Stan Beeman plans to relocate a family of Soviet defectors to Enid.