This community developed along the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad line (later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway), built in 1902.

In June 1908, Erick competed with Sayre for becoming the county seat, and only lost by a small margin in the election.

[5] The city prospered briefly in the era between WWI and WWII, when natural gas deposits were found in the area.

McLemore, Wheeler County, said negroes were driven out of Erick Oklahoma last night and from Texola, Oklahoma today by a mob seeking reprisal for the death of Mrs. Harry Vaughn, wife of a farmer in a nearby county in Texas, who was beaten to death Friday by a Negro.

"[9] In a separate incident in 1933, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow (better known as Bonnie and Clyde) kidnapped law enforcement officers from the Wellington, Texas area, drove them to a point near Erick, and left them tied to a tree with barbed wire cut from a fence.

According to Erick city clerk Nyla Tennery, "I can remember plainly when the book came out my parents and other people who stayed here were just real upset.

While civilian motorcar travel was greatly curtailed due to wartime rationing, by 1946 guidebooks listed the Erick Court and trailer park, the Elms Garage, cafés and filling stations.

Guidebooks promoted the tiny city as "the first town you encounter, going west, which has a true 'western' look with its wide, sun-baked streets, frequent horsemen, occasional sidewalk awnings and similar touches.

[17] The West Winds Motel, originally built with individual carport garages and promoted in its heyday with neon signage of bucking broncos, still stands but is no longer open to visitors[6] despite attempts to restore the property.

The former City Meat Market building is now the Sandhills Curiosity Shop, one of the many Route 66 stops on Pixar's research trips for 2006 animated film Cars.

Its owners Harley and Annabelle Russell, who bill themselves as the "Mediocre Music Makers", served as model for the country hillbilly accent used by Larry the Cable Guy's character Mater in the film.

Sheb Wooley, the actor, songwriter, and singer who recorded the saga of the "one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater" was born there in 1921.

Roger Miller, country superstar and author of "King of the Road," "Dang Me," "You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd," and many others, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but grew up in Erick from the age of three.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), all land.