KMA Oilfield
Electra, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Covering 135,000 acres and holding more than 3,000 wells, the KMA Oilfield has impacted the north Texas area since the early twentieth century. In January 1919, four local businessmen, Joseph A. Kemp (1861-1930), S.I. Munger (1855-1921), H.M. Munger (1854-1923) and Reece S. Allen (1874-1946), joined together to form the Kemp-Munger-Allen Oil Company and bought a plot of land in southwestern Wichita County. From its inception, the KMA Oilfield continuously produced oil from depths of 75 to 4,300 feet and almost all major oil companies profited from the operation. KMA's first oil well began flowing in October 1919 and by August 1921, the oilfield produced 7,200 barrels of oil per day. However, with production declining and the appearance of saltwater, investors had to find alternate methods for oil acquisition. Deep Oil Company's 1931 discovery of the 3800-ft. oil zone led to the 1937 Kadane-Mangold 2000-barrel-per-day gusher and the 1942 Ellenberger 4300-ft. oil zone. Pressurized gas and saltwater injection advances in the 1940s and 1950s ensured continued oil recovery in the KMA field. Over the years, the success of the KMA Oilfield led to the boom of the old town of Kemp City. As the town expanded in size, residents called for a post office. Because Kemp, Texas, already existed to the southeast and KMA was not accepted as a word, the postmaster added an "a" and a "y" to KMA to designate the town as Kamay, naming the town after the oilfield that spurred the region's initial boom. (2018)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Formed in January 1919 by four Wichita Falls businessmen—Joseph Kemp, the Munger brothers, and Reece Allen—the Kemp-Munger-Allen Oil Company gave its initials to a vast field that eventually spread across 135,000 acres and more than 3,000 wells. From its first well in 1919, the KMA field produced through decades of deeper discoveries and engineering advances like pressurized-gas and saltwater injection that kept the oil flowing. Its boomtown grew so large it needed a post office, and because "KMA" wouldn't do as a name, the postmaster added letters to christen the town Kamay.
Why it matters
The KMA field shows how oil discovery not only enriched companies but literally created towns, planting communities like Kamay on the North Texas map.
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Related people
- · Joseph A. Kemp
- · Reece S. Allen
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Kadane Discovery Well
Electra, TX
Amid the Great Depression, as the shallow wells of the KMA Field ran dry, veteran operator George E. Kadane and his sons gambled on drilling deep where geologists saw little promise. On November 11, 1937, they struck oil at 3,800 feet, bringing in the Mangold No. 1 as a gusher and sparking a fresh Wichita County boom at the spot mapped as "Kadane Corner." The field they helped open eventually yielded some 250 million barrels from more than 2,000 wells over forty years.
Site of Valley View School
Kamay, TX
Valley View School grew out of two 1897 country schools that merged in 1918, just as the 1918 discovery of the Kemp-Munger-Allen oil field and new irrigation lakes flooded rural Wichita County with families. Enrollment swelled to nearly 600 by the late 1930s, and the district built and rebuilt to keep pace. As farm mechanization and the oil industry's decline thinned the population, the district consolidated with Iowa Park in 1970 and its buildings were eventually dismantled.
The D. S. Dudley Show
Mankins, TX
Born in the era of the Wild West circus, the D. S. Dudley Show became the chief livelihood of tiny Mankins for more than half a century. Prize-winning bronc rider Dick "Cheyenne" Dudley bought the show in 1914, served overseas in World War I, then returned to marry a local woman and tour the Southwest eight months a year with as many as 250 performers and exotic animals. The troupe wintered in Mankins, and later generations of the family carried the show on.
Alex Albright
Dundee, TX
Alex Albright, born in Nebraska in 1861 and raised in the cattle business, came to Dundee in 1890 and opened a general store before building his 1,400-acre Elm Lodge Ranch. Starting with purebred Lincoln sheep, in 1910 he imported prized karakul sheep from Asia—reportedly with help from former President Theodore Roosevelt and the Czar of Russia—and bred a flock of 1,200 that won prizes worldwide. His second wife Marie assisted him in the ranching enterprise.