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A weekday in
Fayetteville is like a Sunday anywhere else.
TE photo, April 2003 |
Suggested
Slogan:
"There's no wrong side of the tracks in Fayetteville"©
Official Slogan: "Great Weekend Get-Away"
Entering
Fayetteville
A short five miles from busy Highway 71 on FM 955, you'll pass green
fields, contended sheep, and few cars. Take a deep breath and cross
the tracks; you're entering The Fayette Zone (population 258). |
Town Square
Fayetteville's square is complete on four
sides with no gaps - which is something of a rarity in Texas. Several
buildings, although now serving different purposes, still retain the
original storefronts, in some cases even the previous signage.
At least four of the current buildings were previously saloons. The
JP's office is conveniently next to the Beer Hall (and Confectionery).
Included on the square are durable benches with plenty of vacant seats
and a bandstand that is kept freshly painted and in good repair. The
former Humble Gas Station (c. 1926) has recently been reopened, selling
antique automobile parts.
There used to be a windmill on the Fayetteville square as well as
a well. A fire in 1893 took out four downtown buildings and until
recently, the firehouse occupied a prominent place on the corner of
the square. |
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The
Precinct Courthouse
The Second Floor once held two cells for prisoners.
Fayetteville, like Round
Top has a white wooden precinct courthouse on its square. Precinct
courthouses weren't required by law, but the citizenry felt they would
be nice to have in case of rainy elections. This one dates from 1860,
the same date as the LaGrange Masonic Building. The Fayette County
community of Winchester
also once had a precinct courthouse. ... more |
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Fayetteville
is said to be "the smallest municipality in America that
has a chiming clock."
Photo ©Hester + Hardaway |
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The
recently restored Red and White. Attached to it is the ghost of the
Dawn Theater.
TE photo, 2001 |
The
Red & White and The Dawn Theater
My uncle, Joe Mynar, owned and operated The Dawn Theater for many
years and I went to many movies there throughout the Fifties and I
into the early Sixties. Another uncle, Rudy Mynar, owned and operated
The Red and White Store (attached to the Dawn) for many years - my
cousins and I spent a lot of time there also. My cousin, Tom Rohde,
operated the popcorn machine for years at the theater. My dad, John
Mynar, ran the Mynar Cafe in town.
- Jo Ann Mynar, December 01, 2003 |
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Former
drug store sign
TE photo, 2001 |
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West
Side Shamrock
Photo © Hester + Hardaway |
The
West Side Market and Lake Fayette
Visiting fishermen can get ice, gas and supplies (beer) at the West
Side Market including the hard to find imported-from-Nebraska "Water
Dogs." These are a mysterious sort of salamander that attract fish
like a magnet attracts steel filings.
Fishermen can spend the weekend at Fayette Power Plant Lake, The heated
waters of Lake Fayette provide year-round fishing and record catches. |
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The
Water Tower
"Under this sign you will find postage"
Photo ©Hester + Hardaway |
The
Fayetteville Water Tower is a classic small
town tower dating from the late 20s. People who know about such things
say the maintenance and upkeep of this tower make it one of (if not
the) best example of its type in Texas.
The lack of a high school mascot in screaming colors or spray painted
names gives it a Class "A" Rating from the Water Tower
Appreciation Society. |
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Fayetteville
from the newly installed water tower ca. 1929
Square in upper left corner
Photo
courtesy Joe Babin, Fayette Realty
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The
Fayette Area Heritage Museum
-
On the Square.
There's not an uninteresting item in the place - from the prehistoric
(a saber-toothed tiger skull) to the recent (an autographed 8x10 of
Sissy
Spacek, whose great-grandfather was a prominent Fayettevillian).
The museum also serves as the Chamber of Commerce.
Fayetteville celebrates "Lick Skillet Days" every year the
third weekend in October to commemorate the time when it was known
by that name. Latecomers to picnics and celebrations where told to
"lick the skillet" after the food had all been eaten. You have to
admit it's better than "Get-here-earlier-next-year-Days."
Today, even as a tourist attraction with antique stores, cafes
and bed & breakfasts, Fayetteville retains its hometown charm.
It's increasingly hard to find the 19th century combination of church
bells, mockingbirds, the chiming of the courthouse clock, train horns
and coyotes.
There is no "wrong side of the tracks" in Fayetteville. The
railroad curves around Fayetteville with four crossings. Regular engineers
politely "feather" their horns at night, but when a substitute engineer
fills in - the whole town knows it. At one time four passenger trains
a day went through Fayetteville, including World
War II Prisoner-of-War trains.
Fayetteville
Tourist Information
Fayetteville
Chamber Of Commerce -979-378- 4021.
Contact info: email: fayettevilletx@yahoo.com
web: fayettevilletx.com |
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SPJST
Hall No. 1
TE photo, 2001 |
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The
Sunday School Class picnic
Courtesy Fayette Heritage Museum & Archives |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Early settlers
congregated around what was to become Fayetteville for security from
Indian attacks. Andrew Crier, a son of John Crier, one
of the three initial settlers was murdered by Indians. John Crier,
was one of Austin's "Old Three Hundred" and although he never
had a landmark named after him, the other two founding settlers did.
Judge James Cummins gave his name to Cummins Creek and
Captain James Ross had Ross
Prairie named after him.
The town was first referred to as Fayetteville in 1837, it was also
known as a precinct voting place named Alexander after the
man who owned the polling place. One P. J. Shaver bought up
all the available land centered around his hotel (the first in town)
which was also the stage stop on the Bastrop-San Felipe stage route.
He platted the town and gave the streets the names they keep today.
It almost became Shaverville, but Shaver himself requested that it
be named after his birthplace of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
A Masonic Lodge was formed in 1859 and the town furnished over 50
men to the Southern Cause during the Civil War. The town was incorporated
in 1882 and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad came through in
1887, the rails set in place by contracted convict labor.
The English surnames gave way to Moravian and German ones after waves
of immigrants entered the area. |
Nearby Destinations
& Scenic Drives
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| A bluebonnet
field near Fayetteville. TE photo |
I was born
in Fayetteville, and spent my first 14 years there before my family
moved to La Grange. The pictures of some of the buildings, particularly
the old KJT building
bring back many memories of wedding dances and church feasts that
I attended as a child. I go back occasionally to reminisce about
my childhood and visit the cemetery
where my father and my grandparents are buried. Thanks for the memories.
- Doris (Liska) Eldridge, August 09, 2003
A very nice
site to visit when you want to remember a great time (better a lot
of great times) in Fayetteville, as an exchange student from Germany.
- Felix Bach, Irxleben, Germany, July, 26, 2003
Subject:
Thanks from Japan!
Just wanted to thank you for a great site.
I grew up in Fayetteville and went to school there (K-12, Class
of '90). I've been living in Okinawa, Japan for the past eleven
years. Five as a Marine, the last six as a contractor still working
for the military.
I was able to download some pictures that brought back lots of memories,
from Jr. almost decapitating himself when we were TP'ing the square
at Halloween (if you saw it it was funny), to Lutz burnin' rubber
around town. I now have a screensaver to give me a taste of home.
- Sean Dominey
I really enjoyed
this site. I am a decendent of James P. Shaver. His daughter
Emma Lou married Carroll M. Breeding, and his daughter Mary A. Breeding
married my Grandfather Clarence L. Collins. The Breeding home place
is right outside of Fayetteville. We had a reunion there a few years
ago. I really enjoyed seeing pictures from Fayetteville; it's like
being back there. l'lI look forward to seeing new things on your
site. - Sandra Prochnow
Note: James Shaver was Fayetteville's Founder.
Ah, Fayetteville!
It's very beautiful there.
One time years ago, on a wandering-the-back-roads day trip, my pals
and I had lunch on the square. We stopped in at that red brick hotel
on the corner, to see what it was like. Nobody was home, though
we walked right in, up and down the stairs, in and out of rooms...nobody
at all. I kind of liked that. - Carol Pirie, Assistant Director,
Texas Film Commission
Did I mention
the biggest bass I've ever personally caught, was in Fayette County?
..... - Kramer Wetzel, May 21, 2002
I learned more
than I ever wanted to know about our fair city. How do you do it?
It's beautiful, edifying, sarcastic, ironic, delightful, thoughtful,
irreverent, and BRAVE!! And I love the view from your backyard.
- Paul Hester, Fayetteville
More "You
must remember this ..."
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Vignettes
and Tidbits:
A rooster “found” in the village of Fayetteville in the summer of
2010 has been named “Sweet Pea” in remembrance of Billie
Freeman’s little lost hen. The rooster appeared one day – said
to have jumped from a moving truck. He currently forages for insects
in one of three yards – running briskly across the street when it
becomes necessary to cross. - Editor |
Fayetteville
Country Scene
TE Photo, April 2003 |
Sources:
Fayette County:
Past and Present, Edited by Mrs. Marjorie L. Williams, 1976
Fayette County
- Her History and Her People, Frank Lotto, 1902
An Early History of Fayette County by Leonie Rummel Weyland and
Houston Wade, 1936
Personal Interview
with Martha Tauch, Flatonia, Texas, November, 1999
Editor's Note:
We thank Hester & Hardaway for their exceptional photographs of
Fayetteville.
The staff of TE would like to say hello to their Fayetteville
neighbors. |
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