Upon completion of the Union Pacific-Central Pacific joining in 1869 with the Golden Spike, other railroads trying to capitalize on commerce and trade also began crossing the western country.

Eventually this would lead to rails crossing Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma, around the start of the 20th century.

The Choctaw Town Site and Improvement Company did this, and when the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad crossed the North Fork of the Red River in Western Indian Territory an instant town sprang up, which incorporated on 14 September 1901.

The Choctaw Townsite & Improvement Company began selling lots to new "Sooners" arriving to start a new life.

Pennsylvanian Robert Heysham Sayre, a stockholder of the railroad, gave his name to the newly formed town in 1901.

An election in 1908 confirmed Sayre as the permanent seat, with voters preferring it to the town of Erick.

In the 1930s U.S. Route 66, a dream forwarded by fellow Oklahoman Cyrus Avery, would come through Sayre, cementing the town's fate to fuel the cars and feed the people exploring the country.

Sayre is located on the North Fork of the Red River, at an elevation of 1,800 feet (550 m) and 128 miles (206 km) west of Oklahoma City.

[7] Circa 2000 the Flying J truck stop opened on a 28-acre (11 ha) plot of land along Interstate 40 in Sayre; As of 2001[update] it paid $150,000 in annual sales taxes and had 117 employees.

[11] It was founded in 1938 as Sayre Junior College and merged with SWOSU by an act of the Oklahoma Legislature in 1987.

[12] Western Technology Center, Sayre campus provides the opportunity for adults and high school students to get occupationally-specific training.

[13] It includes the following schools: In 1994–5, the district was the defendant in a liability suit eventually decided by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.