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.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The story of this vast oilfield begins just after the First World War, in January 1919, in the southwestern part of Wichita County. It was a moment of enormous energy in the American oil industry — the war had proven how essential petroleum was to modern power, and North Texas was one of the regions where fortunes were being sought in the ground.
This was still the Progressive and early modern era, when local businessmen with nerve and capital could stake a claim on the future. Land that had been valued for ranching and farming was suddenly being read for what might lie far beneath it, and a single plot of ground could become the seed of an entire industry.
What unfolded here over the following decades wasn't a single lucky strike but a long, evolving enterprise — one that would keep reinventing itself as the easy oil gave out and engineers found new ways to coax more from the earth.
People & events
In January 1919, four local businessmen joined forces: Joseph A. Kemp (1861–1930), S. I. Munger (1855–1921), H. M. Munger (1854–1923), and Reece S. Allen (1874–1946). They formed the Kemp-Munger-Allen Oil Company and bought a plot in southwestern Wichita County — and the company's initials, K-M-A, would end up naming both a field and a town.
The first well began flowing in October 1919, and the field proved its worth quickly: by August 1921 it was producing some 7,200 barrels a day. But early success brought early trouble, as production declined and saltwater began appearing in the wells.
What followed is a story of persistence and ingenuity. A 1931 discovery opened a deeper oil zone around 3,800 feet; a 1937 gusher, the Kadane-Mangold, came in at some 2,000 barrels a day; and a still-deeper zone was reached in 1942 near 4,300 feet, the one the marker records as the Ellenberger. Through the 1940s and 1950s, engineers used pressurized gas and saltwater injection to keep the oil coming long after the first flush was gone. In time the field would span 135,000 acres and hold more than 3,000 wells.
Its place in the American story
This field is a vivid example of a distinctly American phenomenon: how the discovery of oil didn't just enrich companies but literally drew towns onto the map. As the operation grew, so did a settlement beside it, until the residents needed a post office of their own.
The naming that followed is the kind of quirky, true detail that makes local history delightful. A town called Kemp already existed elsewhere in Texas, and plain "KMA" wasn't accepted as a name — so the postmaster added an "a" and a "y" and christened the place Kamay, after the very field that had called it into being.
Just as important is what the field shows about the maturing of the oil industry itself. The later chapters here — deeper drilling, gas and saltwater injection — trace the shift from simply tapping gushers to the patient engineering of recovery. That know-how, developed at working fields like this one, became part of how America kept its wells producing for generations.
If you visit
Set your sights on the Kamay area of southwestern Wichita County, the ground the inscription actually describes — an oil-patch landscape where the real action lies in the wells scattered across the acreage rather than in any single dramatic site.
As you take in the scene, remember that you're looking at something that unfolded over more than half a century: the wells here represent not one strike but wave after wave of deeper discoveries and clever engineering that kept the field alive. Reading the marker's timeline against the working landscape is the best way to appreciate that persistence.
And don't miss the town's name. If your route carries you through Kamay, you're driving through a place whose very name is a piece of oil history — four business partners' initials, nudged by a postmaster into a word. It's a small, human footnote to a field that reshaped this stretch of North Texas.
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
- · 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
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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.
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