Sayersville

Sayersville (originally Sayers) is near the east bank of Big Sandy Creek a mile west of State Highway 95 and seven miles north of Bastrop in north central Bastrop County. In 1886 land developer William Elliott founded the town under the name Sayers beside the new Missouri, Kansas and Texas line. The community name changed to Sayersville in 1889 when the post office opened; Henry M. Green was the first postmaster. Sayersville was initially conceived as a cotton-processing center but later became a producer of fuels such as cordwood and, after 1913, lignite from the new Sayers Mine. The town also served as a supply center for local farmers, miners, and employees of the brick factory in nearby Lasher (before the factory shut down in 1915). Between 1911 and 1916 Sayersville had a school, a church, and several stores. During the 1920s the local cordwood industry was extinguished by more popular fuels such as natural gas. The post office had closed by 1922, and in 1928 the Sayers Mine suffered a subterranean fire that halted operations. Within ten years the railroad had discontinued local passenger service, and by 1940 the town reported about fifty residents and two businesses. The historically biracial population of Sayersville continued to number about fifty until the mid-1960s, after which no further population statistics were available. Lost in 1985 was the town's best known natural feature, an enormous elm tree. The old church building remained in the early 1980s, but the only remaining business was the Bucking Hill Bar, built in 1953. During the 1980s the bar served as the meeting place for the Sayersville Historical Association.