Ector County Discovery Well
Penwell, Ector County, Texas
Marker Inscription
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). In 1929, Robert Penn's Gusher catapulted Odessa to boom-town fame. Oil has sustained the area economy since then, although the discovery Well was pugged and abandoned in 1940. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On December 28, 1926, a well drilled on W.E. Connell's land struck oil in Ector County, quietly opening the vast Permian Basin that lay beneath the West Texas plains. Its first-day yield of 38 barrels stirred little excitement, but geologists were certain of the riches below, and Robert Penn's 1929 gusher soon turned Odessa into a booming oil town. Petroleum has anchored the regional economy ever since, even though the discovery well itself was plugged and abandoned in 1940.
Why it matters
This modest first well marked the opening of the Permian Basin, one of the most productive oil regions in American history and an engine of 20th-century Texas growth.
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Related events
- · Discovery of oil in Ector County (1926)
- · Permian Basin oil boom
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Penwell
Penwell, TX
Penwell was the cradle of Ector County's oil boom, born as the wide-open town of "Derrick City" in 1927 after driller Josh Cosden's late-1926 discovery—though the crowd scattered when the first well pumped only twenty barrels a day. A far richer strike on Robert Penn's land in 1929, followed by the 600-to-700-barrel Penn Well, revived the field, and a bustling tent city grew up around the post office established in 1930. It endured as a distribution and shipping hub, earning the name "The Crossroads of the Oil Patch."
Sand Hills Section House
Monahans, TX
Built in 1903 by the Texas & Pacific Railway, this section house sheltered one of the track foremen stationed every twenty miles along the line. In the harsh Permian Basin, such houses offered water and human aid to men bogged down in sand or stranded in storms, a lifeline for the crews who kept the rails running.
Notrees
Notrees, TX
When a post office was established in C. J. Brown Jr.'s drugstore in 1944, the sparse West Texas locale was given the fitting name "Notrees" in response to a Post Office Department request for a title suited to the place. Residents later answered the joke by planting shade trees. The community grew into a hub of the Permian Basin's gas-processing industry and home to Otto's Boys Ranch.
Million Barrel Tank
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When crude oil gushed out of the West Texas Permian Basin in the late 1920s, production briefly outran the pipelines and refineries that could handle it. Shell Oil's answer, in 1928, was this astonishing open earthen reservoir—covering eight acres and lined to hold more than a million barrels—built around the clock by crews using hand tools and horse-drawn scrapers. It was filled to the brim only once, later flirted with a second life as a lake-side recreation park, and finally settled into its role as a monument to the boom that made it.