History
Baker Ranch School
Since there were no public schools in rural Ector County, R.W. Smith and Teague Baker in 1906 erected an 8'x10' school building in Baker's pasture. They hired a teacher at $15 a month, plus room and board, which each furnished on alternate months.
History
Comanche War Trail
A Barred, Bristling flying wedge--the Comanches--Rode into 18th century Texas, driving the Wichitas and Caddoes East, the Apaches West, becoming lords of the south plains. Harassed the Spanish and Anglo-Americans along frontier from Corpus Christi on the Gulf up to the Red River. Wrote their name in blood clear down to Zacatecas, Mexico.
History
Earl George Rodman, Sr. and William Douglas Noel
Earl George Rodman, Sr. (1896'1976) and William Douglas Noel (1914'1987) brought the petrochemical industry to Odessa. Rodman and Noel came together in 1946 to form the Odessa Natural Gasoline Company and enjoyed major success as their venture matured. While both men had previous experience in the petroleum industry, their backgrounds differed considerably.
History
Ector County
Created February 26, 1887 from Tom Green County organized January 15, 1891, named in honor of Matthew Duncan Ector 1822-1879. Member of the Texas legislature a confederate officer and outstanding jurist Odessa, The County Seat.
Architecture
Ector County Courthouse
Seat of justice for Ector, created out of Tom Green County in 1887 and organized in 1891. The 1891 courthouse was frame, the remodelled town sanitarium, moved to the present square. Its first floor had rooms for the sheriff, court clerks and Odessa school, while the county and district courtroom was upstairs. As the only public building in town, it provided space for dances.
Industry & Science
Ector County Discovery Well
The discovery of Oil in Ector County December 28, 1926, marked the beginning of a new economic era for this region. The first Well, " J.S. Cosden No.1-A W.E. Connell ", was named for the driller and owner of land. Its meager initial output of 38 barrels per day did not cause much excitement, but experts insisted that vast oil deposits lay under area (permian basin).
History
Ector County Land Rush
Here in 1904 a fight involved almost every man in Ector County, over filing a claim for 4 sections of public land. Elias Dawson and Charlie Lewis each brought friends to help him file. Before courthouse doors opened, several men had clothes or boots torn off, in foes' efforts to find filing papers.
History
Ector County Newspapers
In 1895, William C. "Uncle Billy" griffin came to Odessa from Midland and began publishing Ector County's first Newspaper, the Odessa "weekly news'. The "weekly news" lasted only a year, and was followed by six other short-lived weekly publications until Agu. 1927, when production of Odessa "times" and Odessa "news" began. In Oct. 1928, the two weekly papers were merged as the Odessa "news-times".
History
Ector County's First Dry Hole
Drilled in 1924 near this site. Geologists were forecasting oil and urgently-needed potash, but Pennsylvania experts (using a chilled shop core drill) gave up the well at 900 feet, on "Red Bed" Rock--A substance new to them. Loss in this and a second drilling was $150.000. In 1927 a well was brought in just west of Odessa, and in a few years oil was found within yards of the first dry hole.
History
Ector High School
With the discovery of oil in Ector County in 1926, the area saw a continuous influx of people to work in the oil fields. As the general population grew so did student enrollment in area schools. As a result, on March 10, 1955, the Ector County Independent School District (ECISD) school board approved plans for a new high school to be built on a twenty-acre tract of land in the 800 block of West…
Industry & Science
El Paso Natural Gas Company's First Compressor Transmission Engine
A landmark tool in man's conquest of energy. This compressor went into use in Culberson County, Tex., on Oct. 1, 1931, and served until 1969, aiding in the rise of the southwest as an industrial empire. This was the first compressor transmission engine at the number one transmission station of El Paso natural gas company, founded in 1928 by Paul Kayser, a Houston attorney.
History
Emmet V. Headlee, M.D.
Emmet V. Headlee was a fourth-generation physician; his great-grandfather, Elisha Headlee, was a civil war surgeon. His grandfather and father practiced medicine in Teague (Freestone Co.), and Emmet was born there in 1900. At age thirteen, he saved a friend from drowning, an act which earned a stipend from the Carnegie Hero Fund which helped pay for his college courses.
History
First National Bank of Odessa
Early banking in west Texas prior to federal and state regulations often consisted of handshakes and few contracts. Lending services were first offered in Odessa by B. Blankenship & Co., General Merchandise (established 1897). The city's first state charter was for Odessa National Bank, opening in 1902 and operating for one year.
Civic & Local
Gardendale
Located in northern Ector County, Gardendale is an area known for horse ranches, oil production and pecan orchards. Prior to 1950, the area was owned by a Sherman physician and called Neathery Ranch. In the late 1950s, Odessa realtor and land developer Fred Gage and his associates purchased 6,500 acres of land for development.
Military
General Matthew D. Ector
Enlisted 1861. Lieutenant 3rd Texas Cavalry. Fought Arkansas, Missouri and Indian territory. As colonel led 14th Texas Cavalry Kentucky invasion. Made brigadier general 1862 to command famed Ector's brigade in Tennessee and Mississippi battles. Wounded four times without leaving Chickamauga field. Under constant fire 70 days in Georgia. Lost leg in Atlanta 1864.
History
Goldsmith
Opened as oil field June 14, 1935, with flow of 1140 bbls. of crude oil daily from discovery well. Within a month, shacks and tents housed 350 people. Harry L. Tucker in May 1937 platted town of Ector City. Name later changed to honor C. A. Goldsmith, owner of the land.
History
Homer Robert Henderson
Texas Ranger; deputy sheriff; county commissioner in Ector and (later) in Crane County. Born in Wilson County; one of 12 children of Robert and Mary Elizabeth (O'Neal) Henderson. Came to Odessa as member of company a, Texas Rangers, under command of Capt. J. A. Brooks, in 1906. This was in period when Rangers kept the peace during citizen's filing of land claims.
History
LeGrande Survey of 1833
Made in era of Mexico rule in Texas for John Beales, who through partnerships, acquired 70,000,000 acres of land and gained the title of "Texas" largest land king. Alexander LeGrande's survey covered about 2,000 miles in west Texas, Oklahoma Panhandle and Eastern New Mexico then south to the 32nd parallel. Hardship and tragedy plagued LeGrande's abandoned survey.
History
Mrs. John L. Morris (Marjorie)
Originator, promoter of the Globe of the Great Southwest, world's most nearly authentic replica of the Globe Theater in England made famous by the plays of William Shakespeare. Mrs. Morris was educated at North Texas State University and joined the English faculty at Odessa College. In 1961 the college named her "Teacher of the Year.
Industry & Science
Notrees
Post Office established 1944 in drug store of C. J. Brown, Jr., who named it in response to U.S. Postoffice Dept. request for title suitable to locality. Residents have since made history by planting shade trees. Now production hub of permian basin; center of gas processing industry, and home of Otto's boys ranch.
History
Odessa
After the Texas and Pacific Railway extended its line to the South Plains of Texas in 1881, the Odessa Land and Townsite Company of Zanesville, Ohio, began promotional efforts to attract settlers to its property along the rail line.
History
Odessa Land & Townsite Company
The Texas & Pacific Railroad transferred 640 acres of its land grants here in 1886 to John Hoge of Zanesville, Ohio. He formed the Odessa land & townsite company to promote sale of town lots. Prime house lots sold for $150 and business lots for $200.
Nature
Odessa Meteor Crater
East and South (route marked) is located the Odessa Meteor Craters, formed in prehistoric time when a great shower of nickel-iron meteorites collided with the earth. Geologists estimate that the time of the meteor fall was about 20,000 years ago. The shower was composed of many thousands of individual meteorites of various sizes which fell over an area of about 2 square mile.
Industry & Science
Odessa Petrochemical Complex
In the 1950s, the Odessa Petrochemical Complex was the largest of its kind in the world. The first business to occupy the future complex was the Odessa Natural Gasoline Company founded in 1946 by four west Texas businessmen: W.D. Noel, E.G. Rodman, M.H. McWhirter and J.B Tubb.
History
Odessa Telephone Exchange
Began operation about 1897, with Edna Fielding as "central" (operator). After Miss Fielding's death in 1902, the Rev. G. B. Ely, a baptist minister, purchased the exchange. Pioneer rancher A. Quincy Cooper bought the system in 1911, and extended service to rural areas, utilizing barbed wire fences as telephone lines. While checking his repairs on a barbed wire line on Jan.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
