[a] However, the first railroad line through Watonga was not built until 1901–02, when the Enid and Anadarko Railway (later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway) constructed a 60 miles (97 km) rail line from Guthrie.

[7] As of the 2000 census[update],[3] there were 4,658 people, 1,273 households, and 858 families residing in the city.

According to one report, Watonga's 42.9% reduction in population from 2010 to 2017 makes it the fastest shrinking place in Oklahoma.

The dairy industry grew in western Oklahoma and led to the opening of the Watonga Cheese Factory in 1941.

[11] Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores began with a single leased gas station in Watonga in the mid-1960s.

Love's is now in 41 states, is approaching 500 travel centers, and employs 25,000 nationwide.

[6] The city hosts an annual Watonga Cheese Festival in October.

The festival was formed in 1976 by the Watonga Chamber of Commerce because the town had the only cheese factory in Oklahoma at the time.

Ferguson Home Museum, which consists of the 1901 Victorian-style house of publisher T.B.

[25] Seven of 17 NHRP-listed sites in Blaine County are located in Watonga, including the Blaine County Courthouse, the Noble Hotel, and the United States Post Office Watonga.

Commercial air transportation is available at Will Rogers World Airport, about 68 miles to the southeast.

[26] Rail freight carriage of grain, fertilizer, and other agriculture-related products is provided by AT&L Railroad, which runs from Watonga to Geary to El Reno, Oklahoma, with overhead trackage rights on the Union Pacific from El Reno to Oklahoma City.