Penwell
Penwell, Ector County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Birthplace of Ector County's Oil boom. First civic development here was wide-open town, "Derrick City", platted March 1927, after Dec. 28, 1926, oil discovery by driller Josh Cosden on land of W. E. Connell, near the old farming and cattle station, Judkins. However, when Connell well began pumping only 20 barrels a day, the boom crowd moved away. The city was abandoned. As nearby counties off the railroad struck oil that had to be shipped by the Texas & Pacific to refineries, Ector County in 1927 had a "Truck Drivers Boom" --a foretaste of the leadership in supply and servicing that was to develop progressively. Then on Oct. 14, 1929, on Robert Penn's land here, a 375-barrel per day well came in. With that showing, exploration continued, soon followed by the Penn Well, the 600 to 700-barrel a day gusher. In a busy, bustling and prosperous tent city, the Penwell Post Office was established June 30, 1930. This has remained a central distributing and shipping point for numerous fields in several permian basin counties, thereby establishing and earned reputation as "The Crossroads of the oil patch".
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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."
Why it matters
Penwell's rise, collapse, and rebirth trace in miniature the explosive Permian Basin oil boom that reshaped West Texas into a center of American energy.
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Related people
- · Josh Cosden
- · Robert Penn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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