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City in the United States

Watonga is a city in Blaine County, Oklahoma. It is 70 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. The population was 2,690 as of the 2020 United States census. It is the county seat of Blaine County.

Watonga is located on former Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Reservation lands that were allotted to individual tribal members and the excess opened to white settlers in the Land Run of 1892. Watonga is named after Arapaho Chief Watonga, whose name means "Black Coyote". The town began as a tent city on April 19, 1892. A post office opened in Watonga during the same year. 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 rail line from Guthrie.

Watonga's economy has largely been based on agriculture since statehood. In the early days, local farmers primarily were producers of wheat. The dairy industry grew in western Oklahoma and led to the opening of the Watonga Cheese Factory in 1941. It was one of the state's five active dairy product plants in 2004. The plant subsequently closed in 2007. 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. The city hosted the Diamondback Correctional Facility, owned by the Corrections Corporation of America from 1998, But the prison, housing Arizona inmates, experienced a riot in May 2004, and the contract to utilize the facility was not renewed, resulting in the prison closing in May 2010. The town Walmart closed in 2016.

Watonga has an aldermanic form of government. The town newspaper, the Watonga Republican, has been in publication since 1892. Watonga has the T. B. Ferguson Home Museum, which consists not only of the 1901 Victorian style house of publisher T. B. Ferguson, but also various artifacts of the era.

Roman Nose State Park, which opened in 1937 and was one of the state's seven original state parks, is seven miles north of Watonga, off State Highway 8 and 8a. It includes two lakes, the smaller being Lake Boecher, and the larger the 55 surface acre Lake Watonga. The park includes hiking trails, guided horseback rides and hayrides to a historic natural rock swimming pool, miniature golf, and an 18 hole par 70 golf course. In 1992, the building was restored by town volunteers, and is used as an event center. Rail freight carriage pertaining to 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.