Silver
Silver, Coke County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A pioneer ranching center, settled about 1880. Early land owners included S.M. Conner, W.G. Jameson and W.R. Walker. Dr. J. E. Reed for 50 years was only physician here. R.B. Allen was outstanding civic leader. Post office, named for peak. Oil discovery, 1946, brought drilling, refining, employees' camps, much growth. the town became busy oil-gas center. After camps closed, 1966, the population declined. (1969)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Silver began about 1880 as a pioneer ranching center in Coke County, its earliest landowners running stock and its lone physician, Dr. J. E. Reed, serving the area for half a century. The town took its name from a nearby peak. When oil was discovered in 1946, drilling, refining, and workers' camps transformed the quiet ranch community into a busy oil-and-gas center, until the camps closed in 1966 and the population fell away.
Why it matters
Silver's arc from frontier ranch to oil boomtown and back captures the twin engines—cattle and petroleum—that built and reshaped West Texas.
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Related people
- · J. E. Reed
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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