Erick

History

Erick was established in 1901 as an agricultural community on what would become the edge of the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was located on the National Old Trails Road, one of the predecessors to the 1926 numbered US Highway system. Large segments of that road became part of U.S. Route 66. At statehood in 1907, the town's population was reported as 686. In June 1908, Erick competed with Sayre for becoming the county seat and only lost by a small margin in the election. By 1909, Erick had become a busy community. In that year, it could boast of having 13 general stores, two hardware stores, multiple cotton gins and blacksmiths, a livery, a harness shop, a lumber store, five meat markets, several grocery stores, a bakery and confectionary, two banks, and two weekly newspapers (the Beckham County Democrat and the Erick Altruist. Baptists, Christian, Methodists and Presbyterians had organized churches. By the 1910 U.S. census, population had grown to 915, increasing to 971 in the 1920 census, and reaching a peak population of 2,231 in 1930 due to a brief oil boom. The city economy was bolstered by six cotton gins, a high-density cotton compress, and an ice plant, but in 1940, the census reported 1,591 residents. 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. The officers freed themselves, but the trail of the criminals had gone cold. John Steinbeck's 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath, was poorly received locally. According to Erick city clerk Nyla Tennery, "I can remember plainly when the book came out, my parents and other…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. Erick is located just south of I-40 and is on the historic US Route 66 (which is signed as a business route from Interstate 40). The town is also served by State Highway 30. Erick is the second-closest Oklahoma settlement to the Texas border on US 66 or I-40 (Texola is at the border, seven miles to the west). It is still a railroad town, being an end point on the route of Farmrail.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

  Tyrannus forficatus (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  107
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  93
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  93
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  81
• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  68
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  65
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  58
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  53

Largest nearby schools

• ERICK ES
  Elementary · Erick · 152 students · 13.8:1 ratio
• ERICK HS
  High · Erick · 57 students · 9.5:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2022-01-16
  8 km NW of Wheeler, Texas
• M 3.5 — 2021-08-09
  4 km N of Wheeler, Texas
• M 2.8 — 2021-08-08
  3 km N of Wheeler, Texas
• M 2.87 — 2019-07-06
  12 km WNW of Leedey, Oklahoma
• M 2.5 — 2019-01-13
  3 km NE of Wheeler, Texas
• M 2.6 — 2014-12-29
  16 km E of Memphis, Texas