Cherokee is the largest city within, and county seat of, Alfalfa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,476 at the 2020 census, a decline of 1.5 percent from 2010. After the land opening of 1893, developers wanted to attract railroads to build through the former Cherokee Outlet to transport the large wheat crops to markets. The Kansas and Oklahoma Construction Company, through its subsidiary the Cherokee Investment Company, bought 100 acres along its route, platted the town which it named Cherokee, and held a sale of lots on February 9, 1901. Cherokee officially incorporated in July 1901. Two years later, the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad constructed a line through Cherokee. To gain access to the railroad, residents of the nearby community of Erwin, which already had a post office by that name, relocated to Cherokee. Erwin then ceased to exist and Cherokee took its place. This post office was renamed "Cherokee" in March, 1903.