City of Big Lake
Big Lake, Reagan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The land on which the original townsite of Big Lake was located was owned in 1903 by T. H. Taylor who sold 320 acres to the Orient Land Company, which agreed to build a railroad station and lay out a town to be called Big Lake. The city took its name from a lake created by rain which gathers in a natural land depression about one and one half miles from here. Once filled by spring-fed water, it is now the largest dry lake in Texas. In pioneer days it was the only known fresh water between the Concho River and springs at Fort Stockton and was a campsite for Indians, Mexican traders and cattle drivers. Oldest house in Reagan County, the John Gardner house, is located near its banks. The town was established in 1911. Its first economic activity was a stockpen built by the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, a hotel, and a grocery store. It grew up around the line of the railroad, and by 1915 had about fifty families. Big Lake was incorporated on May 28, 1923, and in 1925 became the seat of Reagan County. Land additions were made in 1914 and 1925. Today the city is a center for the oil and gas industry.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Big Lake took its name from a rain-fed depression that was once the only fresh water between the Concho River and Fort Stockton — a campsite for Native peoples, traders, and cattle drivers before it became the largest dry lake in Texas. The Orient Land Company platted the town along the railroad, and it grew from a stockpen and grocery in 1911 to the seat of Reagan County by 1925. Oil and gas later made it a regional energy center.
Why it matters
Big Lake's rise from a frontier watering hole to a railroad and oil town mirrors the twentieth-century transformation of West Texas.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
For most of the nineteenth century, the dry country of West Texas between the Concho River and Fort Stockton was hard to cross, mainly because of water. In that arid landscape, a reliable source of fresh water could decide whether travelers survived. The shallow basin that gave Big Lake its name was once such a place: a depression that filled with rain and, in earlier times, spring-fed water.
The early twentieth century brought a new force into this country, the railroad. Around 1900, ambitious rail projects were pushing into far West Texas, promising to connect ranching country to distant markets. Railroad companies often founded towns as they built, buying land, laying out streets, and putting up stations to create customers for the line.
Big Lake's timing also placed it at the edge of one of the great transformations in Texas history. In the 1920s, oil discoveries in the Permian Basin began turning ranchland into oil fields. That shift reshaped the economy of the whole region and eventually the whole state.
People & events
The land for the original townsite belonged in 1903 to T. H. Taylor, who sold 320 acres to the Orient Land Company. In exchange, the company agreed to build a railroad station and lay out a town called Big Lake. The company was tied to the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, an ambitious line that aimed to link the American Midwest with the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Long before the railroad arrived, the lake itself was the draw. According to the marker, it was the only known fresh water between the Concho River and the springs at Fort Stockton, so it became a campsite for Native Americans, Mexican traders, and cattle drivers. The oldest house in Reagan County, the John Gardner house, stands near its banks, a link to those pioneer days.
The town itself was established in 1911. Its first businesses were a railroad stockpen, a hotel, and a grocery store, which says a lot about the economy: this was cattle country, and the railroad was how livestock got to market. Big Lake grew along the tracks, and by 1915 it was home to about fifty families. Land additions followed in 1914 and 1925. The town incorporated on May 28, 1923, became the seat of Reagan County in 1925, and grew into a center for the oil and gas industry.
Its place in the American story
Big Lake tells the story of the American West in three chapters. First came the water source, where Native peoples, traders, and drovers stopped on their way through dry country. Then came the railroad town, created by a land company to serve the line and the cattle trade. Finally came oil, which turned a small ranching community into part of a major energy-producing region.
The railroad chapter reflects a pattern seen across the Great Plains and the West, where railroad companies and their land affiliates founded many towns. Where a station went, a town often followed. Where it didn't, a settlement could wither.
The oil chapter connects Big Lake to one of the defining economic stories of twentieth-century America. The Permian Basin became one of the nation's most important oil-producing regions, and Reagan County was among the places where that story took off in the 1920s. Energy production from this corner of Texas helped fuel the country's growth and still matters to the national economy today.
If you visit
The lake that gave the town its name lies about a mile and a half from the marker. Today it is usually dry, described on the marker as the largest dry lake in Texas. Seeing that wide, flat basin helps you imagine what it once meant: the only dependable water for many miles, where travelers and herds would have stopped with relief.
As you drive around town, notice how it is laid out along the railroad corridor, the classic shape of a railroad-founded town. Pumpjacks and oilfield activity in the surrounding country show the industry that defines Big Lake today.
Big Lake sits in wide-open West Texas, so fuel up and plan your distances before you go. It fits well into a road trip across the Permian Basin, alongside other ranching and oil-boom towns, and the huge skies and long horizons are part of the experience.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · T.H. Taylor
- · John Gardner
Themes & tags
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