Waynoka, OK

Waynoka began as Keystone in 1887, when the Southern Kansas Railroad crossed the Cherokee Outlet. The railroad brought a post office in 1888—the first in the Outlet—and turned the town into an agricultural trade center after the 1893 land run. In 1907 the Santa Fe made Waynoka a division point; its 16-bay roundhouse, ice plant, switch yards, passenger station, and Fred Harvey eating house made the rail yard the town's working center. In that 1907 railroad era, the yard employed about 1,000 people around the clock.

The steam-era yards are gone. Trains still define the present-day map. The Santa Fe Depot and Harvey House have been restored, and the Air-Rail Museum occupies the old Harvey House. BNSF freight trains now use the Southern Transcon, while the Cimarron River Stampede brings a rodeo weekend each August, a tradition running since 1936. Waynoka is a Woods County place where a former rail division point still meets a working freight line, a museum, and an annual rodeo.