C.S. Nicks
Van, Van Zandt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Charles Sparkman Nicks was a photographer with a dream, ambition and a talent for inventions. His photographs of the discovery of oil in 1929-1930 Van, Texas, document the birth of this new oil town and preserve its history for future generations. Nicks was born in Tennessee but, in 1900, the family relocated to Galveston, where two brothers, Allen and Eliga, were employed as photographers. When C.S. was 27, he married Jenny Christian and, during World War I, he opened his own photography studio in Nashville, Tennessee. He was offered a better-paying job at Socony Vacuum Company taking pictures of new service stations. While there, C.S. developed a device to accurately measure gasoline. Nicks also developed, along with a fellow engineer, a portable darkroom and a digital read-out meter for gasoline pumps. Nicks lost his savings in the financial crash of 1929. Seeking employment, he joined his brother, Allen, a photographer in Tyler. Oil had just been discovered in nearby Van, so Nicks opened a studio there. He was the only professional photographer to document Van’s oil discovery and development as a town. He took part in all civic activities and was an organizing officer of the lions club. C.S. Nicks captured the visual history of oil drilling, oil field fires, the confusion and people of boom-town Van and other east Texas towns that would otherwise be lost to time and memory. With his camera he left behind evidence that will live on through his photographs and provide proof of the effort, joys and hardships of the people who influenced the formation of Van.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Charles Sparkman Nicks was a Tennessee-born photographer and tinkerer who devised gas-measuring devices and a portable darkroom before the 1929 crash wiped out his savings. Seeking work, he opened a studio in Van, Texas, just as oil was discovered nearby in 1929–1930. As the only professional photographer on the scene, Nicks documented the derricks, oil-field fires, and boom-town crowds that transformed the town.
Why it matters
His camera preserved the raw energy of a Texas oil boom that would otherwise have vanished from memory, giving a face to the men and moments that made the state's petroleum age.
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Related people
- · Charles Sparkman Nicks
Related events
- · Van oil discovery
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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