Abstracted from Oklahoma Historical Society encyclopedia: This 34.5-by-167-mile rectangle (36˚30´ N to 37˚ N and between 100˚ W and 103˚ W) was unattached to any state or territorial government from 1850 to 1890. [Today this approximately encompasses Cimarron, Beaver and Texas counties of Oklahoma, i.e., the Oklahoma Panhandle.] It was identified on most government maps as "Public Land" or "Public Land Strip." During the late 1880s it was popularly known as "No Man's Land." Some maps portrayed the Public Land Strip as part of Indian Territory, and some Strip ranchers had paid fees to Cherokees for use of the land. On such grounds, the Post Office Department assigned by fiat the name "Neutral Strip of Indian Territory" to the Public Land Strip. From the establishment of Beaver City's post office until 1890, the Strip's post offices were assigned to the Neutral Strip of Indian Territory (postmarked N. S. I. T.). Thereby the Post Office Department reinforced the erroneous view that the Public Land Strip was part of Indian Territory. Between 1885 and 1890 Strip residents actively sought rights to homestead their claims. The most ambitious effort was the attempt to gain territorial status under the name of Cimarron Territory. Although failing Congressional approval, the Cimarron Territory Provisional Government met from late 1886 into early 1889. The 1890 Organic Act made the Strip part of Oklahoma Territory and brought it homestead rights. The entire Strip was designated the Seventh County, soon renamed Beaver County, and a land office was placed at Beaver City, county seat for the entire Panhandle. During 1890 and 1891 government surveyors partitioned the land into sections, and the squatters' self-surveyed quarter-section lines were corrected. The old-settler squatters who could verify their claims received up to three years' credit toward the homestead requirement of five years' residency. A new stage of economic development that blossomed when the first railroad, a Rock Island line through Liberal, Kansas, and Dalhart, Texas, obliquely transected the center of the Oklahoma Panhandle in 1901.
Maps I have seen show any of the names above and more. Locally, this is still referred to as "The Strip" for the place and time period. I think categorization should decide which name should be used in WT and if the dates 1850-1890 would be the inclusive period. There's significantly more detail at the link.
