Dad's Corner
Holliday, Archer County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The result of a 1923 oil boom, development of a town at this site included some twenty-two businesses, including a food stand operated by a man with the nickname "Dad", which provided a name for the settlement. Located at this crossroads were a hotel, cafe, school, stores, ice house, and more. Early residents remembered tales of lawlessness and Texas Ranger patrols. The county's largest oil field was one-half mile southeast, and many area residents changed from cowboys to oil field workers. After the boom, Dad's Corner became a ghost town. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When oil was struck in Archer County in 1923, a wildcat boomtown erupted at this crossroads almost overnight, complete with a hotel, cafe, school, ice house, and roughly two dozen businesses. It took its homespun name from a food-stand operator known simply as "Dad." As the county's largest oil field drew workers half a mile to the southeast, cowboys traded their saddles for drilling rigs, and residents long remembered a rowdy stretch of lawlessness patrolled by the Texas Rangers. When the wells and the boom played out, Dad's Corner emptied into a ghost town.
Why it matters
Dad's Corner captures the boom-and-bust rhythm of the Texas oil age, when a single strike could conjure a town from open range and just as quickly return it to prairie.
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Related people
- · "Dad"
Related events
- · 1923 Archer County oil boom
Themes & tags
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