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KILGORE,
TEXAS
Oil
Boom Town
Texas' Official "City of Stars"
Gregg County, East
Texas
U.S. Hwy 259 and State Hwy 31, 42, & 135
33 miles
W of Marshall on Hwy 31
26 miles
E of Tyler on
Hwy 31
120 miles E of Dallas off
I-20
Population:
11,301 (2000) 11,066 (1990)
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Oil
Derricks in Kilgore
Photo courtesy Sam Fenstermacher, October 2006 |
In
the 1940s, a drive through Kilgore was unlike any other excursion into East Texas.
More than 1,000 wooden oil derricks -- perhaps the most visible evidence
of the East Texas oil boom -- lined
the town’s streets. During the Christmas season, lights were hung on many of the
derricks. And one plot of ground was known as “the world’s richest acre.”
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View of "the
world's richest acre" in downtown Kilgore.
Over 1,100 producing wells
in Kilgore at the height of the boom
TE photo 5-02 |
Then,
the underground oil pools played out. Kilgore’s oil derricks began to disappear
and Kilgore soon looked like any other East
Texas community.
Today, steel replicas of the old derricks are back,
thanks to the work of the Kilgore Historical Preservation Society. And the Christmas
lights are back, too.
Each Christmas, Kilgore lights up its derricks
and produces a sample of what the town looked like some sixty years ago. The lights
are turned on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving and remain lit until after
January 1.
Stars top the sixty replica derricks, helping the city maintain
its title as the state's official "City of Stars." Kilgore is also among the stops
on the Holiday Trail of Lights, which includes
Marshall and Jefferson
in East Texas and Natchitoches
and Shreveport
in Louisiana.
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Another
view of the "the world's richest acre"
TE photo 5-02 |
On
Oct. 3, 1930, in a Rusk County pasture, 70-year-old "Dad" Joiner brought in the
Daisy Bradford 3 and unknowingly tapped into the world's largest pocket of oil.
The resulting oil boom brought thousands of producers and drillers into
East Texas, turned the quiet little
communities into raucous boom towns and made millions for oil producers.
The boom also brought con men, prostitutes, thieves and other criminals before
Texas Rangers were assigned to clean up the area.
When the Rangers filled
up the jails, they chopped a hole at each end of an old church building, ran a
chain the length of the building, and chained and padlocked prisoners to the chain.
If a prisoner need to use a restroom, a bucket was passed down the chain.
Even though the oil patch isn’t as prosperous as it once was, oil remains
a big part of the economy of Kilgore and the city remains a popular destination
place for tourists who want to learn how oil in Texas
began. |
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Former depot with
oil derricks in Kilgore, Texas
TE photo 5-02 |
Kilgore
has carefully preserved the legacy of its boom years with the East Texas Oil
Museum near the campus of Kilgore College.
Visitors from more than
120 countries have visited the museum, which is not only the cornerstone of oil
history in East Texas, but one
of the leading destinations for tourists in East
Texas.
This Christmas, if you remember the old wooden derricks from
East
Texas’ past, come to Kilgore for a hefty dose of nostalgia from the forties.
From "All
Things Historical" December 19, 2005 Column.
Published with permission
Kilgore
Hotels > Book Your Hotel
Here & Save |
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The
former Crim Theatre in Kilgore
TE photo 5-02 | |
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The
former Texan Theatre, "all interior was done in western style decor."
- Jean Broussard. TE photo 5-02 |
Old
neon drug store sign
TE photo 5-02 |
Beall
Brothers tile sidewalk sign. The first Beall Store ?
TE photo 5-02 |
1931 date plate. Relic
of boomtimes.
TE photo 5-02 |
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pole and miniature oil derrick
TE photo 5-02 |
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Kilgore
Hotels > Book Your Hotel
Here & Save
Kilgore ChroniclesGussie
Nell Davis by
Archie P. McDonald
Gussie Nell Davis and the Kilgore RangerettesFDR
and Nine Acres by Bob Bowman
"With luck -- and an infusion
of funds -- a historic Kilgore home built in the 1930s could be on its way to
regaining its stature as one of East Texas’ most interesting homes. Set in sylvan
splendor in the middle of the East Texas Oil Field, the home of oilman Tom Potter
is best known as Nine Acres, a place where President Franklin D. Roosevelt probably
visited in the thirties."
Playmates
by George Lester. A memoir |
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