Goldsmith
Goldsmith, Ector County, Texas
Marker Inscription
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. In 2 years, Goldsmith had cafes, taverns, a hospital, movie theater, hotels, motels, shops and a newspaper First residents paid 25 cents at only bath in town -- a shower sprayed from an overhead tank. Now a gas processing and distribution center. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Goldsmith sprang to life as an oil field on June 14, 1935, when the discovery well gushed 1,140 barrels of crude a day and shacks and tents soon housed 350 people. First platted as Ector City by Harry L. Tucker in 1937 and later renamed for landowner C. A. Goldsmith, the boomtown quickly gained cafes, a hospital, movie theater, hotels, and a newspaper—though its lone bath was a 25-cent shower from an overhead tank. It endures today as a gas processing and distribution center.
Why it matters
Goldsmith is a classic Permian Basin oil boomtown, capturing the explosive growth that petroleum brought to West Texas in the 1930s.
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Related people
- · Harry L. Tucker
- · C. A. Goldsmith
Related events
- · 1935 Goldsmith oil field discovery
Themes & tags
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