Sayre, Oklahoma
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Sayre is a town located in Beckham County, in Western Oklahoma, the United States. It is half-way between Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Amarillo, Texas on Interstate 40 (I-40), and the historic "Route 66". As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 4,114. It is the county seat of Beckham CountyTemplate:GR.
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History
After the Civil War in the United States, Congress wanted to stimulate the economy and aid the growth of the nation. The biggest way that they achieved this was to promote the building of the western railroads. Upon completion of the Union Pacific-Central Pacific joining together in 1869 with the Golden Spike, 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, the Southern Pacific on the extreme southern boarder.
Eventually this would lead to rails crossing Indian Territory, present day Oklahoma, around the turn of the millennium from the 1800’s to the 1900’s. A new rail line was extended from Weatherford, Oklahoma, to Texola, Oklahoma, by McCabe & Steen Contractors, in July of 1901. Entrepreneurs would buy land near were the new tracks where being laid, and also near a source of water. The Choctaw Town site and Improvement Company did this, and when the railroad crossed the North Fork of the Red River in Western Indian Territory an instant town sprang up, on 14 September 1901.
The Choctaw Townsite & Improvement Company began selling lots to new “Sooners” arriving to start a new life. The seeds of new town were on, 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. The chief engineer, and a stockholder, for the railroad gave his name to the newly formed town, Robert Heysham Sayre, of Pennsylvania.
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company (called CRI&P), later just the “Rock Island” or Rock Island Line, leased the new line. The Rock Island would complete their march to the Pacific by filling in the line to Tucumcari, New Mexico.
In the 1930’s Route 66, a dream forwarded by fellow Oklahoman Cyrus Avery, would come to Sayre, cementing the town’s fate to fuel the cars and feed the people exploring the country.
In 1940 film director John Ford would use Sayre’s Beckham County Courthouse in the film The Grapes of Wrath, based on the famous book by writer John Steinbeck.
During the 1970's Sayre and the surronding area would benefit from the natural gas 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. Between 1973 and 1993 the field produced over 8-tillion cubic feet (230,000,000 m³) of gas.
One famous son of Sayre is balloonist Maxie Anderson. Born in Sayre, during the height of the Great Depression, 10 September 1934, Anderson along with Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman were the first people to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon, the Double Eagle II, in 1978.
Geography
OKMap-doton-Sayre.PNG
Location of Sayre, Oklahoma
Sayre is located at 35°17'56" North, 99°38'12" West (35.298940, -99.636556)Template:GR. It is located on the North Fork of the Red River. The area is dominated by low-rolling red clay hills.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.8 km² (3.4 mi²). 8.8 km² (3.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.29% is water.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 4,114 people, 1,132 households, and 678 families residing in the city. The population density is 469.9/km² (1,215.9/mi²). There are 1,399 housing units at an average density of 159.8/km² (413.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 74.99% White, 18.25% African American, 2.53% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.92% from other races, and 1.90% from two or more races. 5.35% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 1,132 households out of which 26.7% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.8% are married couples living together, 10.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.1% are non-families. 36.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 18.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.20 and the average family size is 2.87.
In the city the population is 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 are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 197.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 216.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $21,713, and the median income for a family is $30,000. Males have a median income of $22,167 versus $18,147 for females. The per capita income for the city is $10,378. 20.7% of the population and 15.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 26.1% of those under the age of 18 and 14.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
External links
- Sayre, Oklahoma website (http://www.sayreok.net/)