Sayre, Oklahoma
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sayre is a city in and the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of Beckham County, in western
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
, United States. It is halfway between
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
and Amarillo on
Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
and the former U.S. Route 66. The population was 4,809 at the time of the 2020 census, an increase over the 4,375 figure from the 2010 census, and the largest population ever recorded by a census since Sayre's founding.


History

After the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
,
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
wanted to stimulate the economy and aid the growth of the nation. One way that they achieved this was to promote the building of the western railroads. Upon completion of the
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
- Central Pacific joining in 1869 with the
Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as the last spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-Carat (purity), karat gold final Rail spike, spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting t ...
, other railroads trying to capitalize on commerce and trade also began crossing the western country. This included the Great Northern and Burlington in the far north, and the Southern Pacific on the extreme southern border. Eventually this would lead to rails crossing
Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
, present-day Oklahoma, around the start of the 20th century. A new rail line was extended from Weatherford to Texola by McCabe & Steen Contractors in July 1901.
Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...
s would buy land near where the new tracks were being laid, and also near a source of water. The Choctaw Town Site and Improvement Company did this, and when the
Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (CO&G), known informally as the "Choctaw Route," was an American railroad in the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Origins The company, originally known as the Choctaw Coal and Railway Company, completed it ...
crossed the North Fork of the Red River in Western Indian Territory an instant town sprang up, which incorporated on 14 September 1901. The Choctaw Townsite & Improvement Company began selling lots to new "
Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands illegally in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbyi ...
" arriving to start a new life. The seeds of a new town were sown, businessmen came to sell their wares to the new town folk, and within one year the town's population was up to around 1,000.
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
n Robert Heysham Sayre, a stockholder of the railroad, gave his name to the newly formed town in 1901.Linda D. Wilson, "Sayre," ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''
Accessed April 15, 2015.
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company (called the "Rock Island") leased the new line. The Rock Island would complete its march to the Pacific by filling in the line to Tucumcari, New Mexico. During the period of 1901–1907, Sayre was part of Roger Mills County in
Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...
. At the time Oklahoma became a state, Beckham County was created and Sayre, which was within the boundary of Beckham County, was named as the temporary county seat. An election in 1908 confirmed Sayre as the permanent seat, with voters preferring it to the town of Erick. The Beckham County Courthouse was completed in 1911, and is still in service over a century later. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The discovery of oil and gas nearby caused the population to boom between 1920 and 1930. In the 1930s U.S. Route 66, a dream forwarded by fellow Oklahoman Cyrus Avery, would come through Sayre, cementing the town's fate to fuel the cars and feed the people exploring the country. In 1940 film director
John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...
used Sayre's Beckham County Courthouse in the film ''
The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize ...
'', based on the famous book by
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
. During the 1970s Sayre and the surrounding area benefited from the
natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
and oil development in the Panhandle-Hugoton field, the largest-volume gas field in the United States, and the world's largest known source of
helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...
. Between 1973 and 1993 the field produced over 8 trillion cubic feet (230,000,000 m³) of gas.


Geography

Sayre is located on the North Fork of the Red River, at an elevation of and west of Oklahoma City. The area is dominated by low rolling red clay hills. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , of which , or 0.36%, is water.


Demographics

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 4,114 people, 1,132 households, and 678 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,399 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 74.99%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 18.25%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 2.53% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 1.92% from other races, and 1.90% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 5.35% of the population. There were 1,132 households, out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.8% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.1% were non-families. 36.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.87. In the city, the population was spread out, with 14.6% under the age of 18, 14.0% from 18 to 24, 40.9% from 25 to 44, 16.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 197.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 216.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $21,713, and the median income for a family was $30,000. Males had a median income of $22,167 versus $18,147 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $10,378. About 15.9% of families and 20.7% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 26.1% of those under age 18 and 14.0% of those age 65 or over.


Economy

Sayre's economy has been based on agriculture and the production of oil and gas. By the 1930s, the town had five oil companies and one gasoline plant in operation. United Carbon Company built a
carbon black Carbon black (with subtypes acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid cataly ...
plant there. Circa 2000 the Flying J truck stop opened on a plot of land along
Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
in Sayre; it paid $150,000 in annual sales taxes and had 117 employees. The city government had purchased the land and sold it to the developer at cost in order to attract the development.Kilborn, Peter T.
Rural Towns Turn to Prisons To Reignite Their Economies
" ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. August 1, 2001. Retrieved on April 11, 2016.
The North Fork Correctional Facility, a privately owned, medium-security prison opened in 1998. This prison had 270 employees as of 2001, and that year Peter T. Kilborn of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote that the prison "is responsible for lifting Sayre's spirits and reigniting its economy." Circa 2003 the community experienced economic issues when prisoners from Wisconsin were recalled from the prison.


Education

Southwestern Oklahoma State University at Sayre or SWOSU@Sayre, is an accredited junior college serving western Oklahoma. It was founded in 1938 as Sayre Junior College and merged with SWOSU by an act of the Oklahoma Legislature in 1987. Western Technology Center, Sayre campus provides the opportunity for adults and high school students to get occupationally-specific training. Sayre Public Schools is a member of the WTC district. Sayre Public Schools is a school district serving the cities of Sayre and Elk City in
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
. It includes the following schools: * Sayre Elementary School * Sayre Middle School * Sayre High School In 1994–5, the district was the defendant in a liability suit eventually decided by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.


Government

Sayre has an aldermanic form of city government.


NRHP listings

The following sites in and around Sayre are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
: * Beckham County Courthouse (NR 84002968) * J. W. Danner House (NR 02000169) * Sayre Champlin Service Station (NR 04000130) * Sayre Rock Island Depot (also known as the Shortgrass Country Museum, NR 00000654) * Sayre City Park (NR 04000127) * Sayre Downtown Historic District (NR 02000972)


Notable people

* Maxie Anderson, hot air balloonist, member of the first crew to cross the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
in a balloon * Leo Meyer, served as mayor of Sayre from 1905 to 1906. He moved to Guthrie in 1907 when he was chosen as the new state's first assistant Secretary of State.


References


External links


Sayre – Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Sayre, Oklahoma Government Website

Sayre Public Schools
{{Authority control Cities in Beckham County, Oklahoma Cities in Oklahoma County seats in Oklahoma Populated places established in 1901