Thurber
Thurber, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Most important mine site in Texas for 30 years. Coal here, probably known to Indians, was "discovered" in 1886 by W. W. Johnson, who with his brother Harvey sold out to Texas and Pacific Coal Company in 1888. (T. and P. Coal Company provided fuel for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, but was independently owned.) Town was named for H. K. Thurber, friend of T. and P. Coal Company founders. Most dynamic firm member was Robert D. Hunter (1833-1902), developer of 7 of 15 mines. Next president was E. L. Marston, Hunter's son-in-law, who left mining largely to William K. Gordon (1862-1949), an engineer who brought daily output to 3,000 tons. Then in 1917, Gordon (backed by management of coal company) was primarily responsible for discovery of Ranger oil field, 20 miles west. Adoption of oil- burning railway locomotives cut demand for coal. Last mine here closed in 1921, and the 10,000 or more inhabitants of Thurber began to move away. The coal firm changed its name to Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company and was sold in 1963 to Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Inc., for $277,000,000.00. Renamed Texas Pacific Oil Company, it is now one of largest independent domestic energy suppliers. Much coal (by estimate 127,000,000 tons) remains underground. (1969)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Thurber was Texas' most important coal town for three decades. After coal was 'discovered' here in 1886, the Texas and Pacific Coal Company built a bustling company town of 10,000 people whose mines fueled the state's railroads. Engineer William K. Gordon pushed daily output to 3,000 tons — and in 1917 helped discover the nearby Ranger oil field, an irony that helped doom coal as railroads switched to oil. The last mine closed in 1921 and Thurber emptied, though millions of tons of coal still lie underground.
Why it matters
Thurber captures the boom-and-bust arc of American industrial towns and the pivot from coal to oil that reshaped Texas and the nation.
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Related people
- · Robert D. Hunter
- · William K. Gordon
Related events
- · Discovery of the Ranger oil field
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Thurber's First Coal Mine
Thurber, TX
Just southeast of this spot, brothers William and Harvey Johnson sank the first coal mine in the area, tapping seams 65 feet down. After Harvey's death and mounting financial trouble, the operation passed to R. D. Hunter's Texas and Pacific Coal Company, which grew the surrounding company town of Thurber into a fully unionized settlement employing some 2,500 miners of eighteen nationalities. Railroads hungry for fuel made the coal valuable, and a landmark 1903 strike cemented the union's hold.
Site of Thurber Brick Plant
Thurber, TX
In the coal-and-clay company town of Thurber, general manager W. K. Gordon spotted opportunity in the local shale and convinced Texas and Pacific Coal Company to open a brick plant in 1897. Powered by a Corliss steam engine crews called "Old Hunter," the five-acre works employed some 800 men at its peak. Its bricks paved marquee stretches of Texas—Congress Avenue in Austin, Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, and even the Galveston Seawall—before the plant fell silent in 1931.
Home of Stephen Bethel Strawn
Strawn, TX
Tennessee-born Stephen Bethel Strawn came to Palo Pinto County in 1859 as one of its first settlers, married the next year, and served in the state troops guarding the frontier during the Civil War. He built this house in the mid-1870s and in 1880 founded the town of Strawn to entice the Texas & Pacific Railway through the area. A rancher, landowner, banker, and investor in local coal mining, he embodied the many roles a frontier town-founder played.
Bankhead Highway through Eastland County
Ranger, TX
The early automobile spurred a national road-building push, and Senator John H. Bankhead's 1916 Federal Aid Road Act channeled matching funds to states to upgrade their highways. The resulting Bankhead Highway ran coast to coast from Washington, D.C., to San Diego, entering Eastland County over the notorious "Big Hill" that challenged early cars. Through Ranger, Olden, Eastland, and Cisco the route passed oil-strike sites, a WPA roadside park, brick-paved stretches from Thurber, and Conrad Hilton's first hotel. Much of it now follows Highway 6 and the I-20 access roads.