Wayland

Wayland, on Farm Road 1852 fifteen miles from Breckenridge, sixteen miles from Eastland, and seventeen miles from Ranger in south central Stephens County, was a stagecoach way station. It was named for being "on the way" to more important towns but achieved some standing as a small community. The population was thirty in 1885, 100 in 1890, and fifty in 1910. The oil development of the 1920s and the choice of Wayland as an oil supply shipping point on the Eastland, Wichita Falls and Gulf Railroad in 1920 spurred growth. The population reached 250 in 1930 but fell to seventy-five in 1940, when the town had a school, a church, and a store. The Wayland post office was opened in 1877 and closed in 1945. The population was forty in 1960 and fifteen in 1980 and 1990. As late as 1974 Wayland was notable for country music sessions at the schoolhouse on the third Saturday of every month, which attracted players and fans from throughout the region.