Fayetteville, Texas, AKA Lick Skillet, Lickskillet. (original) (raw)

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).

Fayetteville Town Square

Town SquareFayetteville'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.

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

	Fayetteville is said to be "the smallest municipality in America that has a chiming clock." Photo �Hester + Hardaway

	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

	Former drug store sign TE photo, 2001

	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.

	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.

Fayetteville from the newly installed water tower ca. 1929
Square in upper left corner
Photo courtesy Joe Babin, Fayette Realty

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

	SPJST Hall No. 1 TE photo, 2001

Fayetteville History

	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

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 ..."

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.