Historic Midland

HISTORIC MIDLAND 

An Illustrated History of Midland County 

Edited by Bill Modisett 

A PUBLICATION OF THE MIDLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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HISTORIC MIDLAND 

An Illustrated History of Midland County 

Edited by Bill Modisett & Nancy Rankin McKinley 

Published for the Midland County Historical Society 

Historical Publishing Network 

A division of Lammert Publications, Inc. 

San Antonio, Texas

First Edition 

Copyright © 1998 by Historical Publishing Network 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, 

including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to 

Historical Publishing Network, 8491 Leslie Road, San Antonio, Texas 78254. Phone (210) 688-9008. 

ISBN: 0-9654999-3-6 

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-067049 

Historic Midland: An Illustrated History of Midland County 

❖ 

Aerial view of downtown Midland in 

1926, taken from atop the Courthouse 

looking east. The construction on the 

right in the foreground is the Thomas 

building on N. Loraine. The building 

was constructed by Dr. John B. 

Thomas and is still in use today. 

editors: 

cover artist: 

contributing writers for 

“Historic Midland”: 

contributing writer for 

“Sharing the Heritage”: 

Bill Modisett, Nancy Rankin McKinley 

Tom Lovell 

Bill Modisett, J. P. “Pat” McDaniels, 

Glaze Sacra, Bill Collyns, Alve Butler, 

Charles W. Green, Eddie Klatt, Ed Thompson, 

J.C. Williamson, Ed Todd, Dr. Viola M. Coleman, 

Roger M. Olien, Hank Avery, James Mims, 

Bill Clanton, Tom Craddick, Jack Swallow, 

Ernest Angelo, Jr. 

Johnnye Montgomery 

Historic Publishing Network 

president: 

vice president: 

project manager: 

director of operations: 

administration: 

Ron Lammert 

Barry Black 

Pat Steele 

Charles A. Newton, III 

Donna Mata 

Dee Steidle 

2 ✦ HISTORIC MIDLAND

CONTENTS 

4 FOREWORD 

6 DEDICATION 

7 CHAPTER 1 Midland: land of cowboys; Midland—before time; removal of the 

red man; establishment of Midway; the first settlers; Midland 

cowboys enjoyed fun, games—and still do!; Midland country 

ranges offered lessons 

25 CHAPTER 2 early Midland: city of windmills; pappy lee’s dough filled the 

Scharbauer hotel; cotton is king for Midland County farmers; 

many communities faded to memories; fire department history 

full of protection; medical care evolved from saddle bags to 

medical center; police department grows with the community 

45 CHAPTER 3 discovery of oil made Midland; good ole days in the oil patch; 

optimism rules the oil patch; bombardier school found character 

of Midland; success of the black community; Spraberry Trend gave 

Midland County oil wealth; insignificant weed bill brought U.S. 

district court 

59 CHAPTER 4 a tall city rises; minority community enjoys noteworthy 

achievements; political development put Republicans in power; 

foundations give a “glow” to life in Midland; lower city taxes 

marked 1970s effort; newspapers participated in building of Midland 

76 SHARING THE HERITAGE 

128 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Credits & Contents | 3

DEDICATION 

❖ 

Nancy Rankin McKinley 

Historic Midland: An Illustrated History of 

Midland County is dedicated to Nancy Rankin 

McKinley, a driving force behind historical 

preservation in Midland County, one of the organizers 

of the Midland County Historical Society 

and the only president the Society has known. 

A native Midlander, she was born the daughter 

of Porter and Julia Estes Rankin, both who 

were early-day settlers of Midland. Her grandparents 

and great-grandparents were established 

in Texas before it became a state in 1846. She 

attended Midland schools and was graduated 

from Midland High School. 

In addition to her love of and work in the 

field of local history, Mrs. McKinley is a tireless 

worker for the First Christian Church in 

Midland and chaired a committee in 1990 

which published The First Christian Church, 

Disciples of Christ, Midland, Texas 1890-1990, 

which was published to celebrate the church’s 

centennial. Today, she continues to serve the 

church by working regularly in its library. 

When the Midland County Historical 

Commission was organized in 1962, Mrs. 

McKinley was the first choice for chairman and 

was appointed by the Governor of Texas and the 

Midland County Judge. She was also instrumental 

in organizing the Midland County Historical 

Society, a group of volunteers who share the 

interests of the commission. She continues to 

serve both organizations to this day. 

A leader in restoring the Brown-Dorsey 

Medallion Home, Mrs. McKinley continues to 

work tirelessly to obtain funding and furnishings 

for this historic home. The home was dedicated 

as a Bicentennial project in 1976 and has 

been open to the public since that time. 

She also served on the Centennial Committee 

and helped to plan and carry out the celebration 

of Midland’s 100th Birthday in 1985. The same 

year, she organized and published The Pioneer 

History of Midland County, Texas 1880-1926, a book 

which told the story of Midland from its beginnings 

through 1926. In addition, Mrs. McKinley 

serves as editor of a quarterly newsletter published 

by the society. 

Mrs. McKinley’s love of history is also exhibited 

in other ways. She organized the Aaron 

Estes Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic 

of Texas in 1954 and has served her chapter in 

the statewide organization in many offices. The 

chapter was named for her ancestor and has 

included many of her relatives over the years. 

The Children of the Republic of Texas has benefited 

from her assistance, and she is sponsor of 

the local chapter. A longtime member of the Lt. 

William Brewer Chapter of the Daughters of the 

American Revolution, she is also a member of 

the Seven Brother Theus Chapter, United 

Daughters of the Confederacy. 

Her interests do not stop in Midland. She was 

an organizer and charter member of the Permian 

Historical Society, serving as treasurer and program 

chairman, as well as in other offices. She also 

served in the West Texas Historical Society and is 

a member of the Texas State Historical 

Commission. She served the Texas Historical 

Survey Committee as Region 16 chairman in 1967 

and later helped to obtain workers for Midland 

County and the West Texas area. 

Yet the most time-consuming aspect of Mrs. 

McKinley’s historical efforts has been the Midland 

County Historical Museum. Housed in the basement 

of the Midland County Courthouse during 

its early years, the museum was later moved to the 

basement of the Midland County Public Library. 

In the 1990s, the museum moved into a new, 

ground-level facility adjacent to the library— 

largely due to the efforts of Mrs. McKinley. There 

the museum took on a new life and is now open 

four afternoons a week, manned by volunteers 

and managed by Mrs. McKinley. She can be 

found there in her office fielding questions from 

researchers, providing other help, and conducting 

tours for school children. She also hosts 

meetings of various groups and takes artifacts 

and stories to schools to educate our children 

about the history of their city. 

Nancy’s life has not all been spent on history. 

She was widowed, and, with a son, John, to 

raise, she worked as a legal secretary for some 

years, worked for the Permian Corporation and 

Midland County, and was associated with the 

Haley Library after well-known historian J. 

Evetts Haley moved that facility to Midland in 

the 1970s. Nancy’s son, John, and grandson, 

John Patrick McKinley, live in Colorado, and 

visits from them are high points in Nancy’s life. 

It is for these efforts and for possessing an 

unending passion to preserve the rich and 

important history of Midland, that we proudly 

dedicate this volume to Nancy Rankin McKinley. 


MIDLAND: LAND OF COWBOYS 

It can be truthfully said that a land region’s general characteristics determine the kind of people 

who will settle it, and that was the case for what came to be commonly known as “the Midland 

Country.” It was a prime grazing land conducive to herds of sheep and cattle—and the herdsman and 

the cowboy discovered it as soon as the Indian threat had been removed. 

Sitting at the southern end of the Great Plains, the Midland Country is blessed to be a part of one 

of the five great grazing regions on the Earth. A marvelous “sea of grass” covers the entire Great 

Plains, and, during the 1880s, when the first permanent settlers arrived, that grass was stirrup-high 

in many locations. 

Although Herman Nelson Garrett, Jim Garrett, John Cullen and a man named Zakeros are said to 

have been the first herdsmen to locate in Midland County, they only opened the floodgates as word 

of the wonderful grazing land on the Staked Plains spread rapidly. 

Col. C.C. “Lum” Slaughter was the first man to located on the Staked Plains, establishing his Long 

S Ranch on the head of the Colorado River and Tobacco Creek near the New Mexico line in 1877. 

His top-quality cattle, bearing the Long S brand, ranged over a huge chunk of land 200 miles square 

and encompassing about 24 million acres. Slaughter later “purchased ranch land, fenced it and at one 

time owned in fee simple more than 1,000,000 acres of land and was for years the largest individual 

❖ 

Young Lee ‘heels a calf’ on the Frying 

Pan Ranch, Winkler County. Lee, 

born January 2, 1880, also worked on 

the “C” Ranch and the Quien Sabe 

Ranch and participated in the last 

trail drive in the Permian Basin. He 

helped “string” 2,000 head of cattle 

from Midland to Friona in 1923, a 

job that took 25 days. 

Midland: Land of Cowboys | 7

❖ 

Above: The Cowden brothers are 

pictured in this family photograph. They 

are, back row left to right, Walter, Tom, 

George Franklin, Jr.; front row, left to 

right, Jeff, George Franklin, Sr. and Fred. 

Below: Johnny Aber is pictured on his 

favorite horse. “Stockings” Aber was a 

well-known Midland cowboy who died 

at an early age in 1921. 

taxpayer in Texas,” according to “The Trail 

Drivers of Texas.” 

After Garrett’s arrival, ranchers began driving 

herds to the Staked Plains in an almost unending 

sequence. Ben and George Wolcott established 

the first ranch in Midland County at Peck 

Springs in the spring of 1884. Later that year, 

they sold out to George Gray and moved their 

ranching activities to the Guadalupe Mountains. 

Other ranchers arrived in 1884, too. The 

Cowden brothers—George, John M. and Billy— 

drove their herds to the white sand country near 

the southeastern New Mexico corner and the 

border of Texas. Two years later, they moved up 

Monument Draw to get out of the sand and 

establish the famous JAL Ranch. 

Tom Martin, W. Peppers and Lump Mooney 

established the Cross Tie and Railway Ranch 

about eight miles south of Midland at the old 

Salt Lake in the fall of 1884. Martin fenced the 

first pasture ever fenced in Midland County and 

at one time owned and controlled about 35 

miles south of the Texas & Pacific lines. 

With ranchmen establishing ranches 

throughout the Midland Country—and needing 

a convenient location at which to purchase 

supplies on a regular basis—the tiny community 

of Midland, situated along the Texas & 

Pacific tracks well north of the trail along which 

drovers Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving 

pushed restless cattle to Bosque Grande and 

Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 1866, increasingly 

became that supply center. By the 1880s, 

“speed wagons” from Slaughter’s Long S Ranch, 

which lay north of Big Spring and extended 

into Garza County, made the long haul into 

Midland to buy multiple wagonloads of supplies 

from Pemberton Bros. & Youngblood and 

other suppliers. 

The Cowdens came from the JAL Ranch in 

southeastern New Mexico and the Holts from 

Clabber Hill, north and east of Midland. Nelson 

Morris fenced the first pasture west of Midland, 

known as the X pasture, and stocked it with 

black muley cattle in 1885. The crew from 

Morris’ Chicago Ranch, headquartered at 

Andrews, rode into Midland on their own range 

for the C Ranch, as it became known, bordered 

on the western edge of Midland and spread into 

Ector, Andrews and Martin counties. 

The “C” Ranch became one of the best known 

Midland ranches. It was owned by Nelson Morris 

Packing Company until 1913, when it was 

purhcased by wealthy Canadian David Fasken. 

The new owner sent his nephew, Andrew Fasken, 

to Midland to manage the ranch. 

In 1916, David Fasken—banking on shortline 

traffic between Midland and the Andrews- 

Seminole area—began construction of the 

Midland & Northwestern Railroad. He borrowed 

two second-hand locomotives from the 

Texas & Pacific, built a turning-Y near the pre- 


sent intersection of Midkiff Road and Wall 

Street, and began laying track towards Andrews. 

Eventually the tracks ran for 66 miles, and 

for several years the Midland & Northwestern 

made the tedious haul between Midland and 

Andrews, carrying mostly freight and passengers. 

But it proved uneconomical, and, after a 

bad washout in 1920, the railroad never 

reopened its service, although attempts were 

made for several years. In 1926, permission was 

granted to abandon the line. 

Hilory G. Bedford, Jr. was manager of the “C” 

Ranch between 1931 and 1946. The ranch was 

then leased to Foy Proctor from 1947 until his 

death in 1988. It then was leased to Melvin 

Cotton. 

By 1887, John Scharbauer had purchased a 

ranch near Marienfeld and started a ranching 

tradition that would continue more than a century. 

Marienfeld’s name was changed to Stanton 

in 1890. 

Due to its central location and its proximity to 

the railroad and to major trails, Midland began 

developing as a major shipping center first for 

the sheep industry and later for the cattle industry. 

While a number of major ranches and a large 

number of smaller ones consumed Midland 

County’s acreage, Midland remained the supply 

center for a huge area of the Permian Basin, 

stretching nearly to San Angelo on the south, Big 

Spring on the east, Lubbock on the north and 

southeastern New Mexico on the west. 

In addition to their ranch homes, many cattlemen 

in the outlying area also maintained 

homes in Midland, and their children were educated 

in Midland schools. 

Soon cattlemen and ranches dotted the landscape 

around Midland. A.W. Dunn started the 

Block Ranch 25 miles south of Midland. Major 

Wells sold the Five Wells Ranch, located 40 

miles north of Midland, to W.E. Connell of 

Midland. In 1895, that ranch was sold along 

with its cattle to John Scharbauer. 

E.H. “Lish” Estes located the Seven Z Seven 

Ranch near Monument Springs, New Mexico in 

❖ 

Above: Two early-day cowboys on 

Midland area ranches stand beside 

their mounts in this photograph from 

the late 19th century. Their dress was 

typical of the cowboys working the 

range in that era. 

Below: The “C” Ranch was awarded 

an Official Historical Medallion in 

1966. The first privately owned land 

in the Midland area, purchased by 

Nelson Morris of Chicago, then 

known as the Chicago Ranch. It had 

the first wire fence and windmill in 

West Texas and the world’s largest 

herd of Black Angus cattle. 


❖ 

Top: O.B. Holt Ranch—Mr. Holt 

came to Midland in 1885 driving a 

herd of 300 steers. 

Middle: Quien Sabe cowboys included 

from left, Ben Driver, Fred Truelove, 

Rabe Preston, Gill Haynes, Jason 

Curry, Bob Preston and Cleo Gaither. 

Below, right: The headquarters of the 

Quien Sabe Ranch located south of 

Midland was a picturesque setting 

with tall trees and a picket fence. 

1885, although two years later he sold out and 

moved to Mexico. 

Uncle Henry McClintic, Frank Crowley, Burl 

Holloway, W.H. and Dave Brunson, and Finis 

Ewing “Faze” Rankin also were early-day ranchers 

in the Midland Country, but the pasturage, 

while providing exceptionally nutritious grasses 

and weeds for cattle, typically suffered from a 

lack of rainfall, and, in many seasons, the land 

could not support many cattle per acre. In some 

counties west of Midland, cattleman talked in 

terms of how many sections of land it took to 

support one cow! 

The Preston brothers—Sam, Rabe, Tom, 

Barney, Kirby, Bob and Ed—left their mark on 

this country, as did W.F. “Wild Bill” 

Scarborough, whose widely known Frying Pan 

Ranch in Winkler and Loving Counties became 

synonymous with outstanding cowboys. There 

were many great cowboys through the years 

who called the range around Midland “home” at 

one time or another. 

Henry M. Halff, nephew of San Antonio 

entrepreneur and rancher Mayer Halff, brought 

his new wife, Rosa, to Midland about 1905, and 

they lived in the cowtown for many years. Halff 

owned and operated the famous Quien Sabe 

Ranch, which came to Midland’s southern 

boundary, as well as other ranches, and, during 

the 1920s, the breakup and sale of the Quien 

Sabe lands into small parcels promoted the 

growth and development of Midland. 

While stock tanks increased the ability of 

ranchers to assure a steady supply of cattle on 

the land, windmills truly assured ranchers of 

adequate water in most years regardless of rainfall. 

In some cases, windmills meant land that 

was not productive in terms of ranching actually 

could be brought into production. 

Through the years of the 20th century, ranches 

changed hands and, in many instances, were 

passed down to family members. Often, however, 

the ranches retained the names and the 


❖ 

Top: Cowboys for the “C” Ranch sit on 

their horses at the ranch headquarters 

near Andrews, northwest of Midland. 

Many of the cowboys on the “C” Ranch 

were well-known around Midland. 

Bottom, left: W.F. Scarborough Frying 

Pan Ranch. Mr. Scarborough moved 

his family to Midland and built his 

home on S. Main Street in 1908 and 

established this ranch in Winkler 

County. 

Bottom, right: Bob Preston, one of the 

well-known Preston brothers, sits atop 

a thoroughbred Hereford in this 1909 

photograph. 

brands of the original owners, as in the case of 

the Scharbauer ranches, started by John 

Scharbauer. 

Other long-term Midland area ranches 

included the Texas Ten Ranch Ltd., which was 

the descendant of a ranch started in Midland 

County in 1905 by William Bryant; the Lazy Z 

Ranch, a 28-section ranch in Martin County 

which was established in 1928 by George W. 

Glass family; the Powell Ranch, started in 1891 

by A.B. Powell, who came to Sterling County; 

the Long X Ranch, part of the holdings of 

Reynolds Cattle Co., which was incorporated 

in 1884. 

Shortly before and after the turn of the century, 

another wave of migration brought more new 

settlers to the Midland Country—Thomas Oscar 

Midkiff in 1895, the John M. King family in 1897, 

John Alva Haley and family in 1906, and Symeon 

and Florence Castellaw in 1914. Midland was a 

growing community and was fast becoming headquarters 

for a vast ranching empire. 

Charlie Quinn built the first stock tank in 

this country and Frank Divers the next tank on 


❖ 

Above: Clay McGonagill, 1904—one 

of the greatest early day cowboys, 

World Champion Roper, once roped in 

Madison Square Garden. He was 

killed in a ranching accident in 1921. 

Above, right: Main Street Midland 

once was Abilene Street; south of the 

RR tracks it was Main. 

Right: Mules pull a wagon to the next 

camping spot. This scene was 

reminiscent of late 19th and early 

20th century work on the cattle 

ranges around Midland. 

Below, left: Cattle roaming on a ranch 

outside of Midland during the 1900’s. 

Below, right: Home of Henry M. Halff. 

His uncle, Mayer Halff, came to Texas 

in 1850. They later established the 

Quien Sabe Ranch in Midland County. 

Mr. Halff contributed a great deal to 

the progress of land development. 

the TAX Ranch, 100 miles west of Midland in 

New Mexico. The stock tanks assured the cattle 

of ample water and made larger herds possible. 

Ranchers continue to do their job much the 

same as they always have. A few modern conveniences 

may be the most visible signs of change 

during the past century. Ranching is a way of life 

in the Midland Country, and many 

claim it is the one true way of life to 

this land area. 

The Midland Country is charred 

with the indelible brand of a cattle 

kingdom. 

Midland—Before Time 

Long before skyscrapers loomed 

along the Midland horizon, before 

the arrival of transplanted 

Californians pushing herds of sheep 

to this “promised land,” before the 

Comanche and the Kiowa hunted buffalo across 

this grassy plain, it was here. 

Prior to the arrival in the mid-16th century of 

Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, Hernando de Soto 

and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, with their 

dreams of shimmering cities of gold, it lay 

undisturbed by mankind. 


❖ 

Left: The Scharbauer Horse Ranch, 

operated during the early 1990’s by 

Clarence Scharbauer and his family. 

Below: The Midland Man Official 

Texas Historical Marker is in place on 

the South lawn of the courthouse and 

is included in a Walking Tour of the 

Downtown Historical Markers. All 

Official Texas Historical Markers 

were applied for and awarded to the 

Midland County Historical 

Commission, Nancy R. McKinley, 

chairman. 

Even before the dawn of the small woman 

whose cranial bones would be discovered 

11,600 years later—during the eons when 

ornithopods walked through the shallow sea 

covering this region—its destiny was already 

being written, literally, in the sands that one day 

would encompass the Permian Basin. 

Before anything else came the land. 

Lying along the southern margin of what 

Spanish conquerors would call the Llano 

Estacado or Staked Plains, Midland County is 

located at the southernmost point of the High 

Plains, formed in eons past by great rivers funneling 

torrents of soil-laden water down from 

mountainous regions as the continent was being 

shaped and molded by cataclysmic forces. The 

High Plains, part of the Great Plains, essentially 

were built by delta formation along that ancient 

seashore. 

Throughout the Permian Basin, evidence has 

been found in abundance of the earlier life that 

flourished here—plant, animal and human. 

From the fluted “Folsom” spear points that 

placed Paleo-American hunters here 11,000 

years ago, to the skeletal remains of Bison 

antiquus, to tracks left behind when 

Iguanodonts stepped in soft mud at the bottom 

of the Permian Sea that covered 

much of Texas during the Late 

Cretaceous period 165-65 million 

years ago, and fossilized images of 

trilobites found in rock on ranches, 

it’s quite clear that life teemed here 

in earlier eons. 

By far the most compelling evidence 

of the earliest known human 

life in Midland County, however, is 

contained in the archaeological find 

credited to Keith Glasscock of 

Pampa, Texas, a pipeline welder 

who, during a break from his work 

in June 1953, was searching sand 

dunes on the Scharbauer Ranch 

about six miles south of Midland 

for arrowheads and other relics 

from the Paleo-Indian culture. 

Glasscock’s young son found 

fragments of bone in a “sand 


❖ 

Right: Taking a break. 

Below, left: View of the west side of 

Main Street in 1890 in front of the 

Wimberley store. 

Below, right: F.E. “Faze” Rankin 

prepares to remove the rattles from a 

rattlesnake killed by his wife, Eliza, 

on their ranch in Upton County. 

Rattlesnakes were plentiful in the 

Midland Country. 

blowout” including part of a human skull, a rib 

bone and two metacarpals. An amateur archaeologist, 

Glasscock immediately recognized the 

potential importance of the find and notified Dr. 

Fred Wendorf at the Laboratory of Anthropology 

in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In a subsequent excavation, 

about 100 fragments of bone from a 

human skull were found. 

The skull was heavily fossilized and extensive 

attempts to determine its age placed it well 

beyond the date of other arrowheads and relics 

found in that area. In fact, the age of the socalled 

“Midland Man” was generally determined 

to be between 10,000 and 12,000 years—making 

it the oldest human remains found in the 

New World! 

Dr. Wendorf later revealed that due to the 

small size of the bones, they were from a female 

about 30 years old at the time of her death. The 

“Midland Man,” as the relic had been dubbed, 

was not a man after all. 

She came to be known as “Midland Minnie,” 

and, although the age of the bone fragments was 

disputed at first because none that old had ever 

been found in North America, human skulls 

that are perhaps 48,000 years old have now 

been found in North America, and scientists 

accept that the find called “Midland Minnie” is 

10,000-15,000 years old. 

Removal of the Red Man 

The Native Americans ruled Texas for several 

thousand years before the arrival of Anglo- 

American settlers in the late 19th century. When 

Francisco de Coronado arrived on Texas soil in 

1540, he found the Comanche and other tribes 

of Indians living here. 

Paleo-Indian projectile points have been collected 

throughout Midland County, particularly 

from sites adjacent to known waterings, includ- 


ing the Scharbauer site, which lay along 

Monahans Draw, an intermittent waterway 

which authorities say would have been in existence 

even during “Midland Minnie’s” day. 

Notably, relics found at the Scharbauer site in 

addition to “Midland Minnie” included projectile 

points called “Folsom” and “Midland.” 

While both are lanceolate in shape, only the 

“Folsom” is fluted. Also found at sites in 

Midland County are points called “Plainview” 

and “Firstview.” 

In addition to the Scharbauer site, early man 

points have also been found at the Salt Lake 

south of Midland, at Peck’s Lake, the R.D. Jones 

farm, and Stephenson’s Lake. 

During the Archaic Period, ranging from 

5,000 B.C. to A.D. 900, the climate in the 

Midland region was becoming drier and the 

mammoth and large bison (Bison antiquus) had 

become extinct. Hunters hunted the modern 

buffalo (Bison bison), deer, antelope and other 

small game. 

Although no Archaic period sites have been 

found in Midland County, isolated Archaic dart 

points have been found, indicating that hunters 

and traders were moving 

through Midland County 

during the Archaic period. 

Several sites dated to 

the Late Prehistoric period 

(A.D. 900-A.D. 1500) 

have been found in 

Midland County and in 

the City of Midland proper, 

indicating that Indians 

were both moving through 

Midland County and 

camping here for a time. 

During the Early 

Historic period, it’s clear 

that Indians—definitely 

Comanche and possibly 

Apache—were active in 

Midland County. In fact, 

the Comanche War Trail 

began in Indian Territory, now the State of 

Oklahoma, proceeded southward past the Big 

Spring where it turned sharply southwestward, 

came past Mustang Springs and on to the 

Monahans Sandhills from where it turned 

toward present-day Fort Stockton, where permanent 

water was available at Comanche 

Springs. From there, the trail took the 

Comanche southward to the Big Bend country, 

across the Rio Grande and into Mexico. 

Numerous sites containing burned rocks, 

stone artifacts and debris have been found at Big 

Spring, Mustang Springs and Comanche 

Springs, attesting to their use both by the 

Comanche and by prehistoric peoples. 

The final raid by Comanche into Texas 

occurred in late June or early July 1879, and, 

❖ 

Above, left: Mrs. John P. McKinley 

displays original artifacts of the 

Midland Man Discovery, the oldest 

human skeletal remains ever found on 

the North American continent, housed 

for a number of years in the Midland 

County Historical Museum. The 

original materials are now at SMU. A 

replica of the skull and the full story 

of the discovery are still in the 

museum. 

Above, right: Official Texas Historical 

Grave marker for Texas Ranger W. B. 

Anglin, killed here in the last 

Comanche raid into this part of Texas 

in July 1879. 

Bottom: Memorial grave marker for 

Texas Ranger W. B. Anglin placed in 

the veteran section of historic 

Fairview Cemetery. 


❖ 

Germania section house built in 

1881-1882 by the Texas & Pacific 

Railway as a flag stop. Germania was 

established as a land promotion by the 

railroad in 1883. 

during a skirmish with the Frontier Battalion of 

the Texas Rangers, under the command of 

Captain June Peak, Private W.B. Anglin was 

killed by the Indians at the site of a freshwater 

lake northwest of Midland. 

That lake is now known as Anglin Lake. 

Establishment of Midway 

It was the coming of the Texas & Pacific 

Railroad to a point equi-distant between El Paso 

and Fort Worth in 1881 that more than anything 

else marked the beginning of Midland. 

During the early part of 1880, the Texas & 

Pacific had graded through the site of what was 

then referred to as “Midway” because of its location. 

The distance either to Fort Worth in the 

east or to El Paso del Norte in the west was 308 

miles. Yet it was the following year before the 

rails extended through Midland. Through much 

of the western portion of the 600-plus miles lay 

the mysterious and awe-inspiring Staked Plains, 

the region Captain Randolph Marcy, one of the 

earliest white explorers to cross the plains, had 

solemnly referred to as the “Great Zahara of 

North America.” 

Marcy had even predicted that building a 

railroad across this awesome land mass would 

not be difficult because of the levelness of the 

terrain and the absence of obstacles to cross. Yet 

it still required 350 men using 60 teams to build 

the Texas & Pacific. It was a massive project, 

requiring 24 cars of iron, 75 cars of crossties 

and 12 carloads of water. 

During Midway, or Midland’s, first days, “a 

box car was set off which served as post office, 

depot and trading house for some years,” 

according to a paper by Jo Dean Downing. “Men 

would bring their wool, tagged with the owner’s 

name, and put it in the box car to be shipped to 

Ft. Worth, where it was weighed and sold. The 

money was then brought to the men to whom it 

belonged.” 

The rails slowly crept westward, as the hills 

of the landscape around Big Spring flattened 

into the gentle undulations of the Staked Plains, 

or Llano Estacado. West of Midway, crews laying 

tracks through the white sandhills found they 

could locate water by digging where willow 

trees were growing and in shallow ponds. That 

water became not only important for the crews 

laying the tracks, but also to fill partially buried 


water tanks at stations placed about every ten 

miles along the tracks. 

Jay Gould’s company, which was building 

tracks westward for the T&P, and Collis P. 

Huntington, constructing tracks eastward to 

join his Southern Pacific with the Galveston, 

Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway, raced for 

Sierra Blanca in 1881. 

Huntington’s workers reached Sierra Blanca 

four or five months before the T&P, and by the 

time the T&P reached Sierra Blanca on 

December 16, Gould and Huntington had 

reached an agreement on track rentage to El 

Paso, marking the completion of the second 

transcontinental railroad. The first Texas & 

Pacific train puffed into El Paso in late 

December 1881 over the G.H.&S.A. tracks. 

Soon after the laying of the T&P tracks, section 

houses—large, two-story structures with 

four water barrels half-buried and fenced—were 

established from Big Spring to Sierra Blanca. 

The section houses were painted bright red. 

Stations were located at Midway, Warfield, 

Antelope, Odessa and many other sites that 

eventually became cities along the Texas & 

Pacific line. 

In an article by J.C. Rathbun that appeared in 

The Staked Plain on May 13, 1886, it was noted 

that, “The Railroad Company will soon erect at 

this point a handsome depot building as well as 

an emigrant home for the free use of prospectors, 

settlers and Midland Town Company 

which includes some of the most influential and 

enterprising men of Texas and several of the 

Northern states, will improve and beautify the 

town and who will deal liberally with all who 

will erect buildings at Midland, etc.” 

After construction of what was called “one of 

the neatest depots and extensive platforms on 

the Texas Pacific Ry.,” Midland became something 

of an attractive destination for young men 

and women wanting to “head west” during the 

last years of the 19th century and the first years 

of the 20th century. The West was beckoning 

and the settlers came in droves. 

It remained that way for more than 70 years 

and then, faced with staggering losses on their 

passenger service, the final passenger train for 

the Texas & Pacific pulled out of the Midland 

depot in the early morning darkness of March 

22, 1969. An era had come to an end for 

Midland—an era that more than any other had 

marked the reason for Midland’s existence. 

The Texas & Pacific was critical to Midland’s 

development—transporting 

much-needed building materials, 

new residents, even life-sustaining 

water to early settlers, and 

providing a conduit for produce 

from the Midland country. Wool, 

mutton, cattle, antelope and other 

products were shipped on the 

train by Midland’s early residents 

to markets back east or to the 

❖ 

Above: Map of Texas and Pacific 

Railroad showing the route of the 

famous Sunshine Special across Texas. 

Below: Texas and Pacific Railroad 

tracks lead into Midland. The 

railroad’s coming was second only to 

the advent of the windmill, that 

brought settlers into this part of Texas 

in 1881. 

PHOTO BY CURT WILCOTT, 

MIDLAND REPORTER-TELEGRAM 


❖ 

Right: Numerous people turned out 

for the opening of the Slaughter 

townsite ten miles northeast of 

Midland along the Texas & Pacific 

Railway. The townsite was opened in 

1907. 

Below: Herman Nelson Garrett family. 

Mr. Garrett came to Midland about 

1892 and became its first permanent 

settler. He lived out his days here and 

contributed to the growth of Midland 

in numerous ways, building on Main 

Street and donating land for the 

building of Midland College. 

northern states. Later, oilfield supplies, products 

and equipment would traverse the tracks. 

Midway became more than a location along the 

tracks. It became Midland, a thriving community 

standing on the threshold of the Llano Estacado. 

Its very name, in fact, tied it to both what had 

come before and what lay ahead in the distance. 

The First Settlers 

Although the first white man known to be 

living in the area that would become Midland 

County is commonly acknowledged to have 

been a buffalo and antelope hunter named 

Christopher Columbus “Lum” Medlin, the first 

permanent residents are usually identified as 

Herman Nelson Garrett, his brother Jim Garrett 

and John Cullen. 

Living in California, Herman Garrett began 

hearing glowing reports from his uncle, Clark 

Gillett, of the fabulous ranchland in Texas. The 

reports told of exceptionally tall grass, good climate 

and all-season ranching. So in 1882 the 

three men climbed aboard the eastbound train 

with 300 head of sheep each and rode to the 

railhead at El Paso del Norte where they 

unloaded their sheep. 

That was May 10, 1882, and they headed east, 

pushing their flocks on foot, the railroad from 

Fort Worth still being under construction at that 

time. Their journey proceeded well until they 

reached the Pecos River, where the sheep balked, 

unwilling to enter the brown, swift water. 


❖ 

Left: Elisha Hamilton Estes 7Z7 

cattle. Mr. Estes, born 1849 in 

Navarro County, brought his wife, 

Caroline Lee, and their children to the 

Midland area in 1884. 7Z7 was one 

of the famous brands of that day. 

Below, left: Troy Eiland came to 

Midland in 1910 with his parents, 

Edward Eason and Mary Ellen 

Eiland. Troy worked for D. W. 

Brunson as a cowboy and later 

established his own ranch, the L7. 

Garrett was able to obtain lumber from Pecos 

and, according to a paper by W.L. Simmons presented 

to the Midland Historical Society in 

1963, “With the help of the construction crew 

of the Texas and Pacific, a solid floor was laid on 

the railroad bridge. Between trains they drove 

the sheep over and were soon over and on their 

way to Midland.” 

Herding the sheep on foot was slow, and 

Garrett and his companions did not reach the 

land where Midland would develop until 

December 2. They spent their first night there in 

a location which later would become the first 

location of First National Bank, a site now occupied 

by the Oil and Gas Building. 

Upon his arrival, Garrett found a man, C.C. 

“Lum” Medlin, living at Mustang Springs, the 

flowing water source located a few miles east of 

what today is downtown Midland. Early-day 

explorer Captain Randolph B. Marcy had discovered 

Mustang Springs on his 1849 expedition 

across the Llano Estacado and identified it 

as an important water source for those crossing 

the plains. 

Medlin, 29 years of age, was a hunter who in 

earlier years had lived on the buffalo trade, but, 

by the time of Garrett’s arrival, the buffalo were 

Below, right: At the corner of Missouri 

and S. Baird is the site of early an 

water well, Midland’s first, dug by 

hand in 1884. It supplied water to the 

entire town. The Official Historical 

Marker for this well is erected in the 

atrium of the Federal Building on 

Wall St. 


❖ 

Above, left: Bryan Estes, youngest son 

of E.H. and Caroline Estes, cowboyed 

for his father at the Mastodon Ranch. 

mostly gone, the Indians removed and Medlin 

hunted mostly antelope, which provided him a 

modest living. He sold antelope meat to the 

crews working on the Texas & Pacific tracks and 

ranged throughout West Texas and Southeastern 

New Mexico on his forays. 

In 1880 Medlin was living at Cedar Lake, 

then the largest salt lake on the southern Staked 

Plains, with two or three companions. Medlin 

also lived in Lincoln County, New Mexico 

Territory; and McDonald, Tatum, and 

Lovington, New Mexico. 

Medlin died of pneumonia at the age of 44 

while on a trip to Midland on April 22, 1898. 

He is buried in a Martin County cemetery. 

A man identified only by the name Zakeros 

was probably the next sheepman to locate in 

Midland County, although J.T. Mullenax located 

here in 1883, and a number of others arrived in 

Above, right: Gus Miller’s hat, chaps 

and saddle, given to the Midland 

County Historical Museum by his 

wife, Esther, after Gus passed away on 

Aug. 3, 1965. Gus cowboyed at the 

Billy Bryant ranch for many years and 

was known as an outstanding cowboy. 

Right: Wagon load of watermelons 

from the Z. Taylor Brown 

experimental farm south of Midland 

parked in front of George Elliott’s 

mercantile store in the early 1900’s . 


1884, including Theo Ray, who would become 

Midland County’s first sheriff; and J.S. Curtis, 

Robertson Willingham, George Pemberton, and 

Zachary Taylor Brown, who bought a sheep 

ranch near Midland and became the first person 

to cultivate a field in Midland County. 

Midland Cowboys 

Enjoyed Fun, Games— 

And Still Do! 

By J.P. “Pat” McDaniel 

Since the first herd of bovines arrived in 

Midland County in the later 1800s, there have 

been “shepherds” to look after them. These 

good-natured fellows became known as “cowboys.” 

The romanticism that has surrounded 

this type has been sustained by countless stories, 

legends, lies, and truths for over 150 years. 

Midland County cowboys were no less susceptible 

to these same conversations. 

The “Midland Country,” as it was called by 

pioneer Midlander and historian J. Evetts Haley, 

was settled by men of unfailing hope, courage 

and optimism. Such traits persist among today’s 

“Midland Country” cowboys. These families left 

established ranges and relatively comfortable 

climates to move their herds to unending seas of 

grass with questionable water resources. 

Men of the ranges usually will look for any 

opportunity for lighthearted competition and 

social involvement, and such was and is the case 

for Midland Country cowboys. For well over 

100 years, the area has boasted Cowboy 

Carnivals, Rodeos, Junior Rodeos, Sheriff’s 

Posse Rodeos, sanctioned Professional Rodeos, 

and today’s Ranch Rodeos. 

Early gatherings of men in working pens on 

area ranches always ended up in some unridden 

horse or unroped “outlaw” being the focus of a 

boastful wager among friends. Eventually such 

horseplay evolved into a loosely organized event 

of the week or month. The first recorded event 

of that sort occurred in 1898 and was dubbed a 

“Cowboy Carnival.” It was a one performance 

affair started by “Wild Bill” Scarborough and 

Charlie Goldsmith that was cut short by a surprise 

snowstorm and was never repeated. 

In September of 1914 the Midland County Fair 

and Fat Stock Show offered an event publicized as 

offering “horse races and high class amusements.” 

Spence Jowell hired a bunch of West Texas 

cowboys, including Clay McGonagill, and 

shipped them off to South America to compete 

with the gaucho. The year-long tour was highly 

successful. Tall tales have been told from those 

days that included cowboys such as Jowell and 

McGonagill. 

The Midland Fair, Inc. was organized around 

1935 and was a full blown Rodeo that was 

offered by Foy and Leonard Proctor and others 

including a stock contractor named Everett 

Coleman that brought animals with a heavy 

Brahman influence up from South Texas. 

At the end of the 1950s, the Midland Fair, 

Inc. was dissolved, leaving Midland without an 

organized annual event for ranching locals. 

In 1988, several Midland ranchers decided 

that something was needed for ranchers in the 

Midland Country area to do for Fourth of July. 

They had been to Abilene and Wichita Falls and 

❖ 

Above: Cowboys and visitors gather at 

Wall and Main Streets in front of 

Llano Hotel on the way to the rodeo 

grounds East of town. 

Below: A sandstorm darkens the sky 

over Midland in 1894. 


chuckwagon lunch and old-time preachin’ 

bring young and old alike to enjoy a simpler 

way of life. 

The spirit and sense of camaraderie are everpresent 

in today’s Midland cowboy culture. 

Good times, fellowship and outright fun are the 

order of the day just as it was at the “Cowboy 

Carnival.” 

❖ 

Porter Rankin, cowboy and member 

of a prominent pioneer family in 

Midland. 

had seen the events starting up that were called 

Ranch Rodeos. The Midland Ranch Rodeo 

Association was born. 

For 10 years since, area ranchers and cowboys 

have come to the Midland County Exhibit 

Building and Arena for a Chuckwagon Cookoff; 

Bit, Spur and Saddle Show, as well as the Ranch 

Rodeo, where real working cowboys vie for 

handmade spurs and headstall buckles and the 

pride in being known as the All-Around 

Champions. Five events patterned after actual 

working situations are put into stiff competition. 

The Midland Ranch Rodeo and related 

events are an annual delight to Midlanders. The 

Midland Country Ranges 

Offered Lessons To Learn 

By Glaze Sacra 

Thomas Allen Sacra was a boy looking for 

action and change. As a young boy, he helped 

his father in his cattle business in Sherman, 

Texas. In 1891, with drought conditions in the 

area, the cattle business was slow, and Tom was 

helping the family by working as a carrier boy 

for the Sherman Register. For a young man of 17 

years of age, life was not working out as he 

thought it should. 

So, like most young men, he wanted to see 

the world and take advantage of the big opportunities 

he was hearing about. He figured that 

his best chance would be to go to Kansas City, 

and he told his mother it was to see if he could 

further his education. But his mother saw things 

a little differently. In a letter dated March 1, 

1891, she wrote to her other son, John, that 

“Tom has gone to Kansas City left Sunday eve. I 

did hate to see him go. Your Pa said he had to 

go some where and so he went. I don’t see any 

thing but trouble it seems like.” 

With money being tight, Tom had to find a 

paying job quickly, and what he knew best was 

how to handle cattle. The first place he found 

work was the Kansas City stockyards. At the 

stockyards Tom met LaGrand (Lee) J. Woods, an 

old friend and ex-employee of Tom’s oldest 

brother, J.W. Sacra. Woods was working as a cattle 

buyer and cattle inspector. 

The Cattle Raisers Association of Northwest 

Texas thought enough of Lee to hire him to help 

put an end to the wholesale cattle stealing in their 

area. Tom was later employed by Mr. Woods and 

in 1896 took a herd of cattle to Matador, Texas 

for him. Tom continued working for Lee Woods 

in the Matador area until 1900. The time spent in 

Woods’ employ gave Tom many valuable contacts 

and a variety of experiences. 


About this time Midland, Texas had become 

an important cattle shipping center. Tom talked 

to other cattle traders and heard the stories of 

“Windmill Town,” as Midland was nicknamed in 

the late 1890s. If there was windmill water for 

all the cattle being shipped, then Midland was 

bound to be a good place to settle, he reasoned. 

After marrying Inez Glaze on December 2, 1900 

near Matador, Tom decided to move to Midland 

and start his family. 

What a time to go into business 

for yourself. The first classified census 

of livestock in 1900 showed 

Texas having 9,428,196 range cattle 

of all ages. This fact put Texas in a 

commanding position in the livestock 

industry of the world. The 

Texas & Pacific (T&P) Railroad had 

been working in the Midland area 

since 1881, which gave Tom access 

to the cattle markets in the “Queen 

City of the Prairie,” which Fort 

Worth liked to be called. With water, 

cattle, and easy access to markets via 

the railroad, Midland had it all! 

As the old experienced cattle 

traders will tell you, “It’s always the unexpected 

things that cause the biggest problems.” One 

was the frustration caused by Joseph F. Glidden’s 

invention of barbed wire. Barbed wire fences 

restricted and limited the movement of people 

and cattle on the once open ranges. 

The frustration about wire fences is best 

expressed by the Taos Indian, Standing Deer, in 

J. Evetts Haley’s book Charles Goodnight: 

Cowman & Plainsman, page 323: 

❖ 

Above, left: Charlie Welch takes 

visitors attending the annual Ice 

Cream Crank Off for a trot around 

the block in a surrey with a fringe on 

top. The Ice Cream Crank Off is an 

event staged at the Z. Taylor Brown- 

Sarah Dorsey Medallion Home by the 

Midland County Historical Society 

annually since 1986. 

Above, right: Baggage check for the 

first and only Cowboy Carnival held 

in Midland, December 6-10, 1898. 

A sudden snowstorm in the night 

closed the rodeo down. 

Left: Fredonya Lee Estes Reiger, born 

September 23, 1887. Her forbears 

came to Texas during the days of the 

Republic. 


❖ 

Lunch time—cowboy style—from the 

chuck wagon at the “C” Ranch. 

“Standing Deer asked a question that dumbfounded 

him: ‘How do you get back to Taos?’ 

“‘You surely know the way back to Taos,’ 

answered Goodnight. ‘Haven’t you lived in this 

country all your life?’ 

“‘Si, señor!’ answered the Indian. ‘¡Pero alambre! 

¡alambre! ¡alambre! ¡todas partes!—but 

wire! wire! wire! everywhere!’” 

The cattle drivers were having the same problem 

of not being able to use the old trails due to 

the barbed wire fences. This problem benefited 

the railroads, because they could transport the 

cattle to market. Cattlemen had to change their 

strategy for the movement and sale of their cattle. 

Instead of fattening the cattle by slowly grazing 

them to market, the cattle were fattened 

locally and shipped to market faster. 

The railroads could not solve another problem 

Tom encountered in some of the sandy areas 

around Midland. When buying a herd or putting 

a group of cattle together that needed to be 

moved from the sandy areas to a gathering range, 

a large number of the steers, older cows and bulls 

would become sore footed or lame. This problem 

translated into a loss of money and time. After 

watching the cattle for some time, Tom realized 

that cattle with the darker colored hooves had 

fewer problems. On further checking he found 

that the darker the hoof on an animal, the harder 

the hoof. With this new information he made 

arrangements to hold the cattle with light-colored 

hooves in hard ground grazing areas, thus allowing 

time for the hooves to toughen. 

The railroads having the shortest distance to 

market were not always the best. When dry conditions 

existed in the Midland area, cattle had to 

be moved off their home range in poor condition. 

When an owner who had run short of grass 

approached Tom, they took a hard look at moving 

cattle to a different railroad terminal in a different 

part of the state. One terminal that was 

accessible by herding around the fences was 

Bovina in Parmer County, Texas. Bovina was the 

original Hay Hook Line Camp for the XIT 

Ranch, and, in 1898, the Pecos and Northern 

Railway built a rail line through the ranch. Soon 

that area experienced a boom and, for a time, 

shipped a larger volume of cattle than any other 

shipping point in the world. 

The cattle business was good to Tom Sacra 

until a major drought started in 1917. The 

drought conditions became more severe during 

the Great Depression, and the bottom dropped 

out of the cattle market. Tom decided to move 

his cattle trading and ranching operations to 

Roswell, New Mexico, where there was a railroad 

and artesian water wells flowing with thousands 

of gallons of good pure water. 


EARLY MIDLAND: 

CITY OF WINDMILLS 

In the beginning there was nothing but the land, the grass and the sky, nothing to herald the rise 

of a vital community. 

There were no mountains, no rivers, no forests. Only the boundless Texas Plains stretching as far 

as the eye could see, the tall grass gently waving in the ceaseless breezes that swept across the land 

as quietly as a whisper. 

The grass was the attraction in the beginning. The State of Texas called the unsettled expanse west 

of the settled portion of Texas “Free Grass,” and, as a means of encouraging the railroads to lay tracks 

across the plains, granted more than 5 million acres of this land to the Texas & Pacific Railroad. At 

the time, the region was part of Tom Green County, a county so large and yet so sparsely populated 

that early-day newspaper publisher C.C. Watson noted that “when Midland County was organized it 

was hard put to find enough citizens of legal qualifications to hold an election—so hard put, in fact, 

that a few outlying sheepherders had to be voted, and possibly a saddle horse or two, that the election 

might be at least numerically all right to look upon and not be subjected to embarrassing inspections 

by the powers that be.” 

With the coming of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, a number of communities had already taken root, 

including Abilene, Colorado, Big Spring and Pecos. At Midway—a point on the plains designated by 

the Texas & Pacific that was halfway between Fort Worth and El Paso—the railroad pulled a boxcar 

off the tracks and left it, designating it as “Midway” or “Midway Station.” There were few residents 

other than herdsmen, mainly grazing flocks of sheep prior to the May 1884 sale of town lots by the 

Midland Town Company, a group of 17 men from Northern states and Texas who promoted settlement 

at Midland and which was headquartered in Zanesville, Ohio and operated by a Colonel 

Spangler. The Town Company advertised that they would “improve and beautify the town” and 

would “deal liberally with all who [would] erect buildings at Midland.” 

❖ 

Windmill photo taken by a soldier, 

John Crosby, who was stationed at 

Terminal in 1945. The photograph 

was taken facing north near Kansas 

and Colorado Streets, where the 

YMCA now stands. 

Early Midland: City of Windmills | 25

❖ 

Above: Picnic at China Grove, a 

popular gathering spot during the 

early years located about 15 miles 

southwest of Midland. The trees and 

windmill created an ideal spot. 

Below: Midland Depot on South 

Main—the Texas & Pacific came 

through Midland in 1881. Shortly 

thereafter it became popular for 

people to gather at the depot to see 

the train come in. 

Early in the settlement of Midway Station, 

the only water was hauled on the train from 

Monahans and stored in barrels half-buried 

under a shed to keep it cool. To ensure permanent 

water for the little community, Midland 

Town Company drilled wells at the corners of 

Wall and Weatherford Streets, Main and Texas, 

and Main and Wall. Water was readily obtainable 

from dug wells, which were from 35 to 46 

feet deep, or from bored wells that went from 50 

to 100 feet in depth. 

When the first sale of lots was held in May 

1884, business lots 25 by 140 feet sold for $100 

to $400, while residential lots of 50 by 140 feet 

sold for $50 to $200. A Homestead Addition 

composed of blocks 300 feet square offered lots 

on reasonable terms. Within two years 100 

“substantial houses” had been built, according 

to Watson, along with a courthouse and jail and 

a good school building. A circular distributed in 

Midland noted that the railroad company would 

soon erect at this point “a handsome depot 

building as well as an emigrant home for the 

free use of prospectors, settlers….” 

The Emigrant House was “pleasant, neat and 

comfortable. People could move in their household 

goods, cook meals in the community 

kitchen, and obtain vegetables 

from the adjacent garden 

at reasonable prices. Five or 

six families at a time could be 

accommodated [sic] in the 

house.” 

The initial sale of town 

lots in Midland brought in 

$53,000 to the Town 

Company, but it had a primary 

rival in the person of John 

Moody. Midway had already been laid out and 

surveyed, and only lacked the organization of 

the county. Meanwhile, Moody, as the story was 

related by C.C. Watson, “had already laid out 

our present day Moody Addition. The Town 

Company wanted the court house located centrally 

in their holdings; so did Moody. T.B. 

Wadley was asked by the Town Company to 

enlist the good offices of J.S. Curtis, then perhaps 

the most prominent sheepman and citizen 

of the county, with the exception of T.J. Martin, 

the one big cowman.” 

Curtis told him, “Sure, have the Town 

Company to deed the land and put $5,000 in 

escrow in the Colorado bank for the building of 

the court house. The rest will be all right.” 

Moody had been appointed presiding judge 

of the Midland election by the court in San 

Angelo. Judge R.D. Gage of Pecos was called by 

the Town Company to advise them how to protect 

their interests. Gage told them: 

“The presiding judge must be on time. You 

know Moody’s predilection for poker and 

booze. Get him in a game tonight and get his 

drinks mixed. 

“Failing this, be prompt in the morning, 

with watches moved up 20 minutes, and stay 

with it!” 

As Watson related the story, “They got Jim 

Holland over from Abilene, to maneuver the 

poker game. Jim was a salty little fellow, but reliable. 

The game took place in the saloon where 

Ol Carr was bartender and Ol swore he mixed 

Moody’s drinks seven times during the set-to. It 

failed to work. Moody meandered over the next 

morning from about where the Midland Hotel 

now stands to Rathburn’s printing office, about 

where the Scruggs Motor Company is located, 

got his tickets for the election and walked to the 

place of holding said election, now occupied by 

Everybody’s Store. He was met where The First 

National Bank stands. 

“Moody, you are late.” 

“No such a [blankety-blank] thing!” 

Watson wrote that six watches, all showing 

20 minutes ahead of Moody’s, were then shown 

to him. 

“You are late and we want those tickets.” 

“Not late an’ you can’t get ’em.” 

They did, however. Trace Service, a carpenter, 

had already been selected as presiding 


judge, and half an hour later Midland County’s 

16 legal citizens “and three or four Mexican 

sheepherders, saddle horses, etc. had voted and 

Midland County was declared an established 

fact, and sovereign within her confines.” 

Midland County was formally organized on 

March 25, 1885, and its first officers were E.B. 

Lancaster, Judge; Theo Ray, Sheriff; T.B. Wadley, 

Treasurer; and A.B. Rountree, Clerk. 

Midway’s first years were marked by tremendous 

growth. A post office was established while 

the area was still part of Tom Green County (San 

Angelo) and some settlers were already thinking 

about creating their own county. When application 

was made for a post office, it was learned 

that another community in Texas named 

Midway had already claimed that name. So the 

community’s name was changed to Midland. 

With that problem remedied, Charles H. Welch 

was sworn in as Midland’s first postmaster on 

January 4, 1884. 

Wadley, who had come to Midland when the 

community consisted of only the section house, 

the Town Company’s office and a nearby shanty, 

had opened the first lumber yard in Midland in 

1883, offering a means for the first residents to 

move out of their dugout houses into plank 

houses and for businesses to begin developing. 

After the Town Company won the election, it 

immediately donated $3,000 for a courthouse. 

The first courthouse built was a frame structure 

that served Midland until 1905. Included in the 

deal for the courthouse were 10 acres for a 

cemetery. In 1905, a three-story building constructed 

of Pecos red sandstone was built at a 

cost of $26,000 and served as the county courthouse 

until 1929. 

Early in Midland’s existence, businesses started 

to develop. Herman Klapproth opened the 

first saddle shop. Soon, the town’s businesses 

also included Stallings Hardware, McCullough 

Grocery and Palmer Drug Store. The first stores 

were located on Baird Street north of the Texas 

& Pacific Railroad tracks, but they later were 

moved to Abilene Street, which later became 

Main Street following a flood. 

During 1886 and 1887 a drought parched 

the community, but in 1888 came the flood. 

Businesses that were constructed of native 

adobe literally melted in the floodwaters, and 

their goods were lost. 

Newnie Ellis began selling caskets out of the 

back of his drug store, a move that led him to 

become the city’s first mortician. 

Yet Midland seemed destined to grow 

because, as Watson put it, “it was, and is, the 

center of the greatest section for open range cattle 

breeding that is known to the livestock 

industry…. The Texas Legislature had, about 

the time or soon after the organization of 

Midland County, passed the ‘Absolute Lease 

Law,’ giving stockmen a 10-year absolute lease 

on designated holdings at 3 cents per acre per 

annum, and the open, unfenced range was a 

thing of the past. The railroads, owning alternate 

sections under grants from the State, gave 

the stockmen the same absolute rights as did the 

State, and it was not long before the whole 

country was fenced and cross-fenced, and made 

into such pastures as would promote the best 

results in ranching. 

“This progressive step, of course, advanced 

the cattle industry immeasurably. The tradition- 

❖ 

Above: American Railway Express 

dray wagon, about 1920. The driver 

is Percy Mims, a member of a 

prominent early Midland family. 

Below: Midland County Courthouse, 

built in 1905. The tower in the 

background on the left housed the 

city’s first fire bell. 


❖ 

Above, left: A group of Midland 

College graduates in 1920 enjoy a 

party on the campus. 

Above, right: Prairie Lee School, located 

east of Midland in the early 1900’s. Later, 

it consolidated with the Stokes, McClintic 

schools to form Greenwood Independent 

School District. Many students attended 

this type of school throughout Midland 

County. Descendants of Prairie Lee still 

hold an annual reunion at the former site. 

Below: Aerial view of downtown 

Midland showing T & P Depot and 

early Haley Hotel in 1927. 

al ‘cattle barons’ were then in the making, and 

individual effort in the improvement of cattle 

became a concerted movement in livestock circles 

all about.” 

Passage a few years later of the “Four Section 

Act” enabled stockmen to purchase up to four 

sections of land from the state which they could 

“live out,”which encouraged more settlement of 

the vast West Texas region. 

The community of Midland quickly developed 

into the headquarters for a widespread 

ranching area stretching even into southeastern 

New Mexico and Far West Texas. Noted Watson: 

“It would be difficult to define its trade territory, 

even in this early day. ‘Remudas,’ with accompanying 

‘chuck wagons,’ from distance of more 

than 150 miles in many directions and from 

many sections, were in no wise uncommon, and 

the early day newspaper, or papers, pridefully 

noted that so and so were ‘visitors to the city’ at 

such and such time.” 

Many settlers came to the Midland region 

specifically due to the intense advertising by the 

Texas & Pacific Railroad. One account noted, 

“The advertisements were distributed extensively 

throughout the states describing the merits of 

the area. They told of abundant green grass and 

sufficient water, of a wonderful climate that was 

sure to do wonders for a person’s health. The 

settlers came by oxen-pulled covered wagons 

and by the railroad.” 

Then descended the ravages of nature, and, 

in 1886 and 1887, cattlemen in the region suffered 

severe losses as massive blizzards in 1886 

drove cattle on the open range to the Pecos 

River and froze many of them to death. In 1888 

a private bank was established by Wilson and 

Giles Connell and John Scharbauer to lessen the 

impact of such catastrophes. Two years later, the 

First National Bank of Midland received its 

charter. The first officers were A.W. Hilliard, 

president; Herman Nelson Garrett and W.H. 

Cowden, vice presidents; and Wilson Connell, 

cashier and general manager. 

Soon another bank was operating in 

Midland. Organized as the Odessa National 

Bank on Aug. 22, 1902, less than a year later the 

name was changed to The Midland National 

Bank, and it was reorganized at Midland on June 

18, 1903. Its first officers included D.W. 

Brunson, president; Burl Holloway and E.F. 

Elkin, vice presidents; W.B. Elkin, cashier; and 

C.B. McGonagill, bookkeeper. 

The first county schools opened in 1886, 

with children coming from as far away as New 

Mexico. Midland soon evolved into an educational 

center with many ranchers in the outlying 


counties maintaining two homes—one on their 

ranches, where they carried out their work, and 

one in the city of Midland, where their children 

attended the schools. 

North Ward Elementary School was the first 

large school building constructed in Midland 

County in 1893. On April 15, 1907, the citizens 

of Midland organized the Midland Independent 

School District and hired 12 teachers, who each 

were paid $50 a month. In 1912 there were 14 

schools operating in the system. The superintendent 

was William Wilson Lackey, a noted disciplinarian, 

and Midland’s schools were consistently 

rated among the best in the State of Texas. 

Local legend asserts that Lackey, who was hired 

in 1906 and was commonly known as W.W., 

even strapped on a revolver once and wore it 

into class as a means of asserting his authority 

over several unruly cowboys who were creating 

problems in the classroom. 

A newspaper account by E. Buford Isaacks 

noted that with the hiring of Lackey, the problem 

was resolved. He stated, “Mr. Lackey was a 

rather young man and a pretty good sized person. 

He soon let the students know who was 

boss. He made a number of enemies but the 

school ran smoothly….” 

A noted scholar, Lackey published a number 

of books of poetry and is widely remembered 

for starting Swedish gymnastics, an outstanding 

music program, and several other activities that 

were considered innovative for the early 20th 

century. 

By 1890 there were 1,033 people in the little 

cowtown. In 1900 that number had climbed to 

1,741. A decade later, Midland’s population 

stood at an amazing 3,464. 

E.H. “Lish” Estes brought the first load of 

“Bird Windmills” to Midland, and two or three 

were installed on the “C” Ranch at Andrews, but 

the windmills were not designed for West Texas 

and would not pump. A young cowboy named 

Bill Oden experimented with the wells until he 

learned that by removing every other slat and 

lengthening the stroke, the water would pump 

in a steady stream. Soon residents of Midland 

had adopted the windmill, and virtually every 

house had one. Midland came to be known as 

the “Windmill City.” 

Even during the earliest years, Midland’s residents 

recognized the importance of education, 

and in September, 1910, Midland Christian 

College opened, established by the trustees of 

Texas Christian University. The college’s first 

board of trustees included Dr. W.K. Curtis, E.F. 

Elkin, John M. Cowden and Burl Holloway. 

Although the college would suffer financially 

and close 10 years later, it did offer many young 

Midland men and women the opportunity for a 

taste of the college experience and pave the way 

❖ 

Above: Beulah and Elma Graves, 

Progressive Democrats, parade in 

front of the T.A. Sacra home. 

Below, left: Professor W. W. Lackey in 

1906. Lackey, Superintendent of 

Midland Public Schools, retired after 

some 30 years of faithful service. He 

was recognized as a great Latin teacher. 

Below, right: Midland College football 

team practice. The 3-story college 

building is shown in the background. 

The college operated from 1910-1920. 

The student body published an annual 

and The Antelope, a school 

publication setting out campus rules 

for conduct. A Historical Marker was 

placed at the site in 1970. 


❖ 

Above: Midland College Bus. This 

horse-drawn bus, furnished by the 

college, picked up students at the 

Llano Hotel at 100 North Main at 8 

a.m. and again at 9 a.m. and 

returned to the same place in the 

afternoon. 

Below: The stately columns of First 

National Bank made the building 

extremely recognizable in early-day 


later for another institution that would be 

known as Midland College. 

In 1915, “C” Ranch owner David Fasken, Sr. 

built a short-line railroad called the Midland & 

Northwestern Railroad which extended 42 miles 

from Midland to Seminole and which served the 

Andrews area ranching community. The 

Midland & Northwestern stopped running in 

1919 after torrential rains washed away part of 

the roadbed, and two years later the railroad 

went into receivership. 

By 1920, Midland was suffering from population 

decline as Midland County’s population 

was reported at only 2,449 and the city had only 

1,795 residents. Drought, fires and the agricultural 

depression had taken a toll on Midland, 

but some West Texans were starting to talk 

about a new industry on the horizon—and that 

industry was oil! 

Pappy Lee’s Dough Filled 

the Scharbauer Hotel 

By Bill Collyns 

When I was working for the Midland 

Chamber of Commerce in 1939, the World 

Championship Midland Rodeo brought people 

into town. Clarence Scharbauer was president of 

the chamber at that time. 

W. Lee O’Daniel became Governor of Texas. 

He was a flour salesman for the old “Light 

Crust Doughboys.” He would go on the air 

every morning and say, “The Light Crust 

Doughboys are on the air!” He became very 

popular. 

One day Clarence Scharbauer came in the 

chamber office and said, “How can we go about 

getting him out here for the rodeo?” I said, 

“We’d better contact him or some of his people.” 

“Carl P. Collins of Dallas is Pappy O’Daniel’s 

finance chairman. Get Carl on the phone.” 

So I did. I told him about our event and 

asked if we could arrange a visit from the 

Governor. And he said, “Yes.” I said, “Fine.” 

“There’s only one thing,” he said. “He’s in the 

flour business. How much Light Crust flour do 

you have in Midland?” 

Clarence said, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” 

So I made every grocery store in town. 

Believe it or not, I didn’t find a sack of that flour. 

Clarence Scharbauer was a pretty fast acting 

man. We got Carl P. Collins back on the phone 

and said, “You know we made the rounds and 

that flour is so popular out here that they’re sold 

out completely.” 

And Carl P. said, “That’s good, but you ought 

to have more flour than that.” 

Clarence said, “Send me a truckload of flour.” 

Carl P. Collins said, “A truck? Hell, I’m sending 

you a railroad car!” 

And he did! We had to unload it but had no 

place to put it. Clarence said, “Put it in the 

hotel.” 

The Scharbauer Hotel had a large lobby. We 

stacked that flour there and I think it attracted 

about as much attention as the rodeo. 

Someone once asked me, “Whatever happened 

to all that flour?” 

I said, “ I imagine some of it is still being used 

on Scharbauer Ranch.” 


Cotton Is King for 

Midland County Farmers 

By Charles W. Green 

The cultivation of land for crop production 

in Midland County was first carried out by 

ranchers who farmed small acreages in feed 

crops and grew some vegetables and fruit in 

home gardens and orchards. 

One account credits Zachary Taylor Brown as 

being the first person to cultivate a field in 

Midland County, having planted pumpkins and 

watermelons on land located eight miles south 

of Midland in the year 1890. 

The first farming as an independent enterprise 

was reported to have begun about 1905. 

The citizens of Midland attempted to encourage 

the development of farming in Midland about 

1907. They subscribed $7,500 for the purchase 

of a section of land east of the city near the Texas 

& Pacific Railroad. They made an agreement 

with W. H. Campbell of Lincoln, Nebraska, a 

recognized expert, to farm the section according 

to his methods for a period of five years. During 

that time, he was required to produce half a bale 

of cotton per acre, 25 bushels per acre of corn, 

oats and wheat and also grew alfalfa, milo 

Maize, Kafir corn and other forage crops. If the 

agreed production goals were met every year for 

the five years, the farm would become the property 

of the Campbell Soil Culture Company. In 

addition, the farm was to be kept open to visitors 

at all times and all information gained was 

to be free to everybody living in Midland 

County. 

At first it was thought Midland County 

would not raise cotton on account of the altitude. 

The secret is that frost comes to Midland 

30 days later than it does in Houston, giving the 

late bolls ample time to form. A farmer tried it 

recently and had remarkable success. 

The development of farming in Midland 

County followed the pattern of other western 

Texas areas where farmers gradually moved 

westward into domain long utilized solely by 

cattlemen. The first agent for the Cooperative 

Extension Service was assigned to the county 

in 1909. 

Methods of soil preparation were soon developed 

that contributed to the prevention of soil 

blowing and the conservation of soil moisture. 

Usually, the land was left untouched until 

spring, as the crop residues and other plant 

remains tended to check wind erosion. If the 

land was plowed in the fall (when moisture conditions 

permitted) it was ridged at right angles 

to the prevailing wind direction. Methods to 

reduce soil blowing consisted of listing or deep 

breaking to keep the surface of the land rough 

or cloddy and the immediate breaking of crusts 

after rains. Farmers soon discovered that if soil 

drifting started in any part of a field it quickly 

spread over the entire field. If this occurred and 

moisture conditions permitted they immediately 

cultivated or listed any spots as soon as they 

started to blow. 

In 1911, W. J. Moran completed the first irrigation 

well; one that produced 2,000 gallons 

per minute. Henry Halff, a pioneer rancher and 

❖ 

Top: John Valentine Pliska and the 

airplane he built in his blacksmith 

shop in 1912. The plane was restored 

by George T. Abell and is now housed 

at Midland International Airport. 

Middle: Cotton storage barn located 

east of Midland used by all area 

farmers in the early 1900’s. 


❖ 

Above: Midland students perform a 

cantata under direction of Professor 

Rankin, 1898, in a photo taken in 

front of Dr. Curtis’ home at 

Thanksgiving time. 

Below: Miss Frank Luther, early day 

music teacher, takes a buggy ride to 

the Estes Ranch north of downtown 


land developer, also drilled wells and irrigated 

crops in the vicinity of Cole Park at about the 

same time. At the time water was applied by 

flooding down a furrow, and the very high permeability 

of the soil caused this to be a highly 

inefficient method of applying water. It was not 

until the advent of sprinkler systems that irrigation 

became economically feasible in Midland 

County. 

W. N. Locklar, who still farms in the Cotton 

Flat community, came to Midland County with 

his family in 1914. They first farmed south of 

the city on a farm now located two miles south 

of Interstate 20 on Midkiff Road. Names of pioneer 

families that Locklar remembers include: 

Countiss, Montgomery, Olliff Jones, Rayburn, 

Heidelberg, Whitmire, Wilson, Holzgraf, 

Robertson, Ingraham, Selman, Pliska, Long, 

Roberts, Whitefield, Mills, Truelove, Elkin, 

Wallace, Brunson, Porter and O’Neal. 

B. T. Graham of Greenwood moved to 

Midland in 1924 to farm. He remembers farming 

neighbors as follows: Charles and A. C. 

Collier, E. P. Lawson, Homer and Louis Wren, 

Joe and John Bell, J. M. King, Sr., Mac Fisher, C. 

C. Wise, Robert Saylor, J. M. Livingston, John 

Mathis, Neal Staton, W. E. Pigg, the Blancetts, 

McKees and Eilands. 

Phil M. King, John M. King, Jr. and Marijo 

King Collins are children of the late John M. 

King, Sr., who came to Midland in 1897 from 

North Carolina and homesteaded in the 

Greenwood community. They were born in the 

county and John and Marijo reside on parts of 

the original King farm and ranch land. Mrs. 

Collins recalls her father having land cleared 

and renting it on crop shares to Clark and 

George Bright. Phil remembers that practically 

every ranch, large and small, had some farmland 

on which feedstuffs were grown for work stock 

and cattle. Although there was a degree of 

antagonism between cattlemen and “sodbuster,” 

apparently it was not as strong as in some other 

areas of the Great Plains. 

Benny Bizzell came to Midland in 1923. His 

father, Elmer Bizzell, bought George Selman’s 

farm located south of town on what is now 

Rankin Highway. It is still owned in part by 

members of the family. Bizzell was a leader in 

the farming community who encouraged others 

to come to the county to farm, and assisted 

them in learning how to farm the sandy lands. 

The early farming pioneers who came and 

stayed to greet newcomers told them that this 

was “the best next-year country” as far as farming 

was concerned, and characterized it as 

“farming country that could promise more and 

do less, and promise less and do more” than 

anywhere else. 

Farmers continued to move into Midland 

County through the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s 

from the eastern parts of the state and nation. 

The seven-year drought of 1951-1956 and 

the development of aluminum pipe for sprinkler 

irrigation were factors responsible for rapid 


expansion of irrigated farming in the 1950s and 

1960s. Water wells were drilled into the 

Ogalalla sands yielding 30 to 350 gallons per 

minute with a few wells pumping 500 gpm and 

more. 

Heavy pumping during low rainfall years 

began to draw down the water table. In the midto-late 

1960s, a number of wells on the margins 

of the water formation were abandoned. By the 

early 1970s, spiraling energy costs for pumping 

water and the land-intensive system of handmoved 

lines caused further reduction in the 

number of acres irrigated. 

Research in cotton production technology 

introduced moduling which formed harvested 

cotton into 8 to 10 bale modules in the field that 

could be transported to the gin by special module-hauling 

trucks, thereby gaining increased 

harvest efficiency and reduced costs over hauling 

in two to four bale lots in cotton trailers. 

Another development in farm machinery, the 

advent of larger and higher powered farm tractors, 

allowed individual operators to farm 

increased numbers of acres. The cost of this larger 

equipment, the modulers and circle irrigation 

systems could range from $250,000 to $350,000. 

Because of the necessity of the economy of scale, 

one cotton producer in 1997 farmed the acres 

five to six producers operated 25-30 years earlier. 

The higher powered tractors and larger 

equipment allowed farmers to till the soil in a 

more timely and efficient manner to keep a 

rough surface on the land and reduce soil being 

moved by the wind. 

In the early 1960s pecan production attracted 

interest as a potential commercial enterprise. 

The development of drip irrigation seemed to 

offer a practical and efficient method of irrigation. 

Other factors, such as very low disease risk 

due to the dry climate, and few insects affecting 

pecans seemed to reinforce potential for this 

horticultural crop. As many as 15,000 to 20,000 

trees were planted during the 1960s and 1970s. 

Starting in the 1960s and steadily increasing 

in the 1970s and 1980s, land began to be taken 

out of farming by suburban development. This 

has been significant north, northwest and south 

and east of the city, and in the Greenwood community 

in the northeastern part of the county. 

Today there are approximately 125 producers 

farming the cropland in Midland County. In 1997, 

29,000 acres of cotton (12,000 irrigated) was harvested. 

Total value of crops range from $3-12 million 

annually due to variation in the amount and 

distribution of rainfall and market prices. The 

uncertainty of rainfall from year to year is the 

largest obstacle to successful production. Cotton, 

after nearly 100 years of production, still remains 

the best adapted and most water-efficient crop. 

Many Communities 

Faded to Memories 

The names Fighting Hollow, Antelope, Benge 

Corner, Bounce, China Grove, Pegasus, Toad 

Loop—even Midway—may not mean much to 

Midland County residents today, but at one 

point in the county’s past they, and many others, 

were a very real part of Midland County. 

❖ 

Above: Visitors and a band turned out 

for an event at Warfield, located 10 

miles southwest of Midland along 

tracks of the Texas & Pacific Railway. 

Below: Letter slot used by customers 

of the Midkiff Post Office. The rural 

post office, located on the Midkiff 

Ranch about 25 miles south of 

Midland, was operated by John R. 

Midkiff from 1902 through 1906. 


❖ 

Above: A Texas & Pacific Railway 

map encouraging the settlement of 

West Texas. 

Below: Opening of the townside of 

Slaughter, 1907, at the Ford Hotel, 

located 10 miles east of Midland on 

the T&P Railroad. 

Although today the only communities of significant 

population in Midland County are 

Midland (1997 estimate: 98,757) and 

Greenwood, located 12 miles east of Midland 

(1997 estimate: 8,300), during the latter years 

of the 19th century and the first years of the 

20th, numerous population centers, most of 

which remained unincorporated but were often 

centered around rural schools, sprang to life. 

Many were started primarily to provide education 

for the children of ranchers. 

Few of the communities ever reached any 

significant population levels, the exceptions 

being Greenwood, Midkiff, Dameron City, and 

Germania. 

Greenwood, which resulted from the 1949 

consolidation of the Prairie Lee, McClintic and 

Stokes rural school districts to form Greenwood 

Independent School District, and which, beginning 

in the 1970s, developed as a suburb of 

Midland, remains a growing community 

today—both through expansion of its population 

and commercial development. 

Although the school is the main focus of the 

community, by the 1990s Greenwood also 

included a large residential area concentrated 

about the school facility, a convenience store, a 

feed store, a newspaper office, specialty shops, 

restaurants, a car wash, a gravel plant, and other 

businesses. In outlying parts of the Greenwood 

Independent School District were various other 

businesses. 

Several churches also serve that community’s 

residents, including Greenwood Baptist Church, 

which was formed in 1907 by several families 

that had been meeting for church in an aban- 


doned saloon at the early-day community of 

Slaughter. The first Greenwood Baptist Church 

building was constructed in 1926 and added to 

as additional space was needed. By 1997 the 

congregation had outgrown the church facility 

and plans were well under way for construction 

of a new church building. 

Greenwood-area rancher John M. King, Sr., 

who helped to start the Greenwood Baptist 

Church, gave land on which the Greenwood 

school buildings and Greenwood Baptist 

Church are located. 

Midkiff, which was located at a point (31° 41' 

N 101° 54' W) about 25 miles southeast of 

Midland, was started in 1902 by John Rufus 

Midkiff as a way of getting mail to that area’s 

ranchers. Midkiff also operated a general store 

there, serving the needs of nearby ranchers. 

In 1906, Midkiff sold out to T.M. Cotton, 

who took over a year later. His daughter, known 

as “Miss Ada,” ran the post office until 1912. A 

school was operated for several years at Midkiff, 

eventually moved to Dameron City, and ultimately 

consolidated with other school districts. 

Many students from the Midkiff area attended 

school either in Midland or Rankin, in Upton 

County, once the Midkiff school closed. 

The Upton County community of Midkiff, 

which is only 1.5 miles from the site of the original 

Midkiff family post office, became known as 

“Hadacol Corner” during the 1940s-1950s 

Spraberry oil boom. It underwent significant 

commercial development during that boom. An 

oil camp also was started during the 1950s 

boom, although not at the original site of 

Midkiff. 

Several businesses, many of them oil-related, 

and churches continue to serve residents there 

today. 

Used by the Texas & Pacific Railroad to 

attract prospective residents to the Midway 

region in 1883, the community of Germania 

flourished for a few years, and a post office 

served that community from April 9, 1884 to 

May 25, 1887, according to an article called 

“Communities And Locales Of Midland County, 

Texas” by Julia Cauble Smith in Midland County 

Historical Museum. Postmasters who served the 

Germania community included Gustav Bahnact, 

appointed April 9, 1884; John Cottle, appointed 

Sept. 3, 1884; and Fred Noristhiemer, appointed 

Jan. 21, 1885 and reappointed June 21, 

1885. On May 25, 1887, the office was moved 

to Midland. 

Originally a flag stop on the Texas & Pacific 

Railway, Germania was located two miles south 

of the Martin County line and eight miles northeast 

of Midland along Interstate 20. The section 

house was built in 1881-1882. 

Many of the railroad workers were from 

Germany and the railroad gave them land as an 

inducement to settle in this part of the state. 

Ms. Smith’s article noted that “Germania was 

established as a land promotion by the Texas 

and Pacific railroad in 1883. T&P surveyed and 

laid out the town, offered other land owned by 

the railroad for sale, and gave prospective buyers 

free transportation to the area. A number of 

German-descent people settled there and 

named the community in honor of their native 

country.” 

According to Lee Meissner Foster, a halfdozen 

section houses were located on the south 

side of the railroad and served as homes for railroad 

maintenance workers. The highway was on 

the north side of the railroad and the store was 

on the north side of the highway. 

J.S. Moore, R.A. Moore and B.F. Reed were 

among the community’s first residents in 1885 

and 1886. Mrs. L.M. Sholte, who was the 

daughter of one of the railroad workers, remembered 

that when her father came in from work 

he would get his gun and go kill a rabbit for 

❖ 

This is another view of the opening of 

the townsite of Slaughter showing the 

crowd brought in by train for the 

occasion. 


❖ 

Above: Fire Department, 1910, 

Lonnie McCormick, Frank Prothro, 

and Luther Tidwell manning the twowheeled, 

hand pulled hose cart. 

Below: Luther Tidwell; Mayor Frank 

B. Haag; Abe Colts, City Engineer; 

J.C. Hudman, City Secretary; Jerry 

Phillips; Goody Schroder; and Red 

Roller pose with the new engine at 

Fire Station No. 2 in 1928. 

their supper. Often several people would share 

the meat of an antelope for a meal. 

While Germania remained a viable community 

for several years, a cotton exporter from 

Hillsboro named W.E. Jackson bought the land 

around Germania in 1924, built six houses as 

homes for farmers and their families, and Mr. 

and Mrs. Jim Glass of Whitney came to 

Germania as managers of the property. 

Ector Thorton of Stanton opened a store in 

Germania in 1924 and hired Grady Dawkins as 

manager. It operated as a company store for years. 

During World War II, Ms. Foster said, 

Charlie and Olga Williamson, who lived in a 

house behind the Germania store, got the name 

of Germania changed to Paul out of patriotism 

and a fear of prejudice. Several years after the 

war, the Lesters reopened the store and 

reclaimed the name of Germania. 

Although the old Germania section house 

and other buildings associated with the 

Germania community are long gone, as late as 

the 1990s 27 people still resided at Germania. It 

remained a farming community. 

Dameron City was established in 1909 at a 

site 1.5 miles from the original site of the 

Midkiff post office by promoters who even purchased 

materials at Midland lumber yards and 

began construction of buildings in southeastern 

Midland County. However, after two years, the 

promoters left the area without paying the lumber 

yard owners for the supplies, and the dream 

of Dameron City came to an end. 

Lumber yard owners were able to reclaim 

some of their materials from the tiny community. 

Other Midland County communities—most 

of them long gone, but some still most identifiable—include: 

Antelope, Benge Corner, Boone, Bounce, 

China Grove or China Mott, Chub, Cloverdale, 

Cotton Flat, County Line, Curry, Dwight, Estes, 

Estes Ranch, Fighting Hollow, Ingram, Kennedy, 

McClintic, Midland Army Airfield, Montgomery, 

Nobles, Paul, Peck Springs, Pegasus, Pleasant 

Valley, Prairie Lee, Ragsdale, Robinson, 

Slaughter, South Camp, Sprayberry, Stephenson 

or Stevenson, Stokes, Strickland, Terminal, 

Thaxter, Toad Loop, Tubb Wells, Valley View, 

and Warfield. 

Fire Department History 

Full of Protection 

By Eddie Klatt 

The Midland Fire Department has a proud 

tradition of serving the citizens of Midland 

County and the surrounding area. From the volunteers 

of old up to the modern day firefighter, 

there has always been a compassion for their fellow 

man and an unselfish attitude towards duty 

that has bound them together. 

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, 

Midland was a dusty, West Texas cowtown. Real 


fire protection was non-existent. The Midland 

Fire Department was first organized on a volunteer 

basis in 1909 in response to two disastrous 

fires which almost destroyed the downtown 

business district. Initially, the department’s 

equipment consisted of a hose cart purchased 

on February 27, 1912 for $1,000. Later, the city 

donated $200 to build a fire hall to house the 

hose cart. 

In 1916, the city purchased its first modern 

engine from American LaFrance, a type 40 combination 

with one 40-gallon Champion tank 

with a junior pump, delivered June 20, 1917. 

This engine was not expected to exceed 25 miles 

per hour and not to travel over 150 miles during 

the year. The two mechanics who were initially 

trained in the engine were given a total of 

24 hours of instruction. 

Later, truck No. 2 was acquired in 1928, and 

truck No. 3 was acquired in 1930. Unfortunately, 

truck No. 3 was acquired only after a disastrous 

lumber yard fire two years earlier. 

The early fire department was not only to 

furnish protection for the citizens of Midland, 

but also served as a social club. Midland witnessed 

many a dance, barbecue and Christmas 

party sponsored by the Volunteer Fire 

Department. 

“It shall be the duty of every member on the 

alarm of fire to appear at once to place of fire 

and there remain unless ordered away on duty 

or permission is granted to him to leave by the 

officer in command.” (from the 1938 constitution 

of the Midland Fire Department) 

After World War II, it became obvious that a 

Volunteer Fire Department could no longer service 

the needs of Midland. Many of the volunteers 

formed the nucleus of a soon to come 

modern, fully-paid Midland Fire Department. 

Midland’s Fire Department became fully paid 

gradually—Chief James D. Walker was the first 

paid firefighter. During his reign, the department 

was partially paid and partially volunteer. 

William E. “Bill” Klatt was the third paid firefighter 

and the first Fire Marshall for Midland. 

Doyle Fitzgerald was the second paid firefighter. 

In 1952, J.M. Little became Fire Chief and 

shortly thereafter the Midland Fire Department 

became fully paid. As the city grew, stations, 

manpower, and equipment improved. 

The Midland Fire Department has grown 

from a one-man, fully-paid department to its 

present 163 members. What was once a station 

department is now nine. 

Chief Raymond Lewis succeeded Chief Little 

in 1978 and started a rebuilding and modernization 

program. 

The present-day Midland firefighter is carrying 

on the tradition started many years ago— 

that of serving his community. 

Medical Care Evolved from 

Saddle Bags to Medical Center 

Although learned men in wire rimmed glasses 

with medical instruments carried in saddle 

bags treated ill and injured residents of Midland 

in the community’s earliest years, today an 

❖ 

Above: The Midland Fire Department 

was first organized on a volunteer 

basis in 1909. The first modern 

engine was purchased in 1917, the 

No. 2 engine was bought in 1928, and 

the No. 3 in 1930. 

Below: Mrs. John Armstrong, a 

volunteer for the Midland Memorial 

Hospital Auxiliary, stands beside a 

new piece of equipment in this 

photograph. The hospital auxiliary, 

organized in 1950, raises funds which 

are used to purchase equipment to 

benefit the hospital. 


❖ 

Saddle bag medicine was practiced by 

Dr. C. G. McCall, whose remedies 

were dispensed to many Midland-area 

families during the early years of the 

20th century. 

arrangement between Midland College and 

Texas Tech in Lubbock permits top-flight medical 

technology to be practiced in Midland. 

The first doctor to practice in Midland 

County was Dr. W. E. Bailey, who took a license 

to practice here in October 1885. He was the 

only doctor in the county for 14 months. 

Dr. M.S. Posey registered to practice here on 

December 27, 1886, and Dr. R.E. Houghton followed 

him on July 9, 1887. Dr. J.B. Stone registered 

to practice on August 8, 1887. 

The next doctor to register in Midland 

County was Dr. George W. Elliot, who was credited 

with designing and patenting a physician’s 

saddle bag, and who remained here until his 

death in 1910. In 1890 Dr. Elliot participated in 

the organization of the First National Bank. 

Dr. Wickliff K. Curtis obtained a license here 

on December 31, 1891, and had a long and distinguished 

career in Midland until his death in 

1926. His home and office were located on Wall 

and Loraine Streets. 

Several other physicians were granted licenses 

to practice in Midland County before the turn 

of the century, including Luke Pryor Allison, 

Ezra E. Bickaron, Jesse W. Wooldridge, Richard 

E. Flower, George Harwood, Ruben D. Durrow, 

Edwin Calloway, William Tanner, William D. 

Littler, Charlotte Bergman, and Newnie H. Ellis, 

who was granted a temporary license October 

28, 1899, until the State Medical Board could 

meet. Dr. Ellis passed his medical exam on 

February 21, 1900. He was issued an 

embalmer’s license July 21, 1903 and, in 1907, 

received his pharmacist’s license. 

Dr. Felix P. Miller was the only physician to 

obtain a license in 1900. He became associated 

with Dr. Curtis and remained here two or three 

years before moving to El Paso. 

Through the first years of the new century, 

various doctors were licensed to practice here 

including Woods W. Lynch who became associated 

with Dr. John B. Thomas. 

A small hospital was opened on North 

Marienfeld and Kansas Streets in 1922. There, 

Mr. R. McAnnally was in charge and Miss 

Josephine Guly, the first registered nurse in 

Midland, took care of Dr. Thomas’s patients. The 

hospital closed after several years. 

During 1919, Dr. Thomas, along with 

Clarence and John Scharbauer, bought the Llano 

Hotel, and a wing on the second floor was 

turned into a hospital with an operating room. 

By 1926, oil men were moving to Midland 

and the Thomas-Scharbauer interests in the 

Llano Hotel were sold, and it was converted 

from offices to hotel facilities. 

A number of doctors practiced here during 

the early years of the 20th century, notably W.W. 

Cobb, James F. Haley, A.J. Cooper, R.B. Walford, 

J.H. Johnson, C.P. Williamson, C.G. McCall, 

C.H. Hamblin, Tip M. Collins, John W. Leonard, 

J.V. Guyton, and J.F. Robertson. 

During the first 25 years of Midland’s medical 

history, 37 doctors were licensed to practice. 

Possibly the first specialist was L.C.G. Buchanan 

who limited his practice to diseases of the eye, 

ear, nose and throat. Others included T.C. 

Liddell, Tom C. Bobo, W.E. Ryan, W.G. 

Whitehouse and Will Mayo. 

Dr. Ryan built a 10-bed hospital in the 200 

block of Big Spring Street, but when World War 

II began, that hospital was closed and Dr. Ryan 


enlisted. He was killed in France. Dr. Ryan had 

served as president of the Midland Chamber of 

Commerce, and the Midland Fair and World 

Championship Rodeo was organized during his 

administration. He was also president of the 

Rotary Club. 

The Western Clinic Hospital was opened in 

1937 at 308 N. Colorado. It was owned by Dr. 

Sellers Moore and Dr. L.A. Absher. In 1939, Dr. 

Absher, Dr. Homer B. Johnson and Dr. Waldo 

Leggett purchased it from Dr. Moore. After the 

bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War II, Dr. 

Johnson and Dr. Absher entered the service and 

Dr. Leggett owned the hospital. In 1946, Dr. 

Johnson and Dr. Doyle Patton, along with Dr. 

J.M. Devereux, bought the facility from Dr. 

Leggett. Dr. T.J. Melton, Jr. bought out Dr. 

Devereux in 1948. 

With a total of only 36 beds, Western Clinic 

Hospital had carried the patient load in Midland 

while the city’s population grew from 9,000 to 

20,000 in 10 years. Patients were sent home as 

soon as possible to make room for a long waiting 

list for surgery. In 1952, a total of 1,530 

patients were admitted, and, of those, 950 were 

surgical patients. A total of 178 babies were 

born that year with no mortalities. There were 

2,630 emergency cases handled by the staff. 

Early during 1949, Western Clinic Hospital 

was remodeled to add a new wing for a surgical, 

obstetrical and X-ray unit. There was no pathologist 

closer than San Angelo, however, so a 

plane was kept ready at the airport—courtesy of 

Fred Turner—to serve as an ambulance plane 

and also to fly tissues to Dr. Herschberger in San 

Angelo. X-rays were bussed to Dr. Bob Morton 

in Fort Worth. 

The first blood bank in Midland was organized 

at the hospital in 1949 by Dr. Melton and 

Dr. F.W. Gaarde. Newnie Ellis was the first 

donor. 

The staff at that time included Dr. Melton, 

chief of surgery and orthopedics; Dr. Johnson, 

pediatrics; Dr. Gaarde, internal medicine; Dr. 

Patton, obstetrics and gynecology; and Dr. Rex 

Greer, eye, ear, nose and throat. 

A new hospital, Midland Memorial Hospital, 

opened July 11, 1950 in an impressive $1.5 million 

facility at the intersection of Andrews 

Highway and Illinois Avenue. With 75 beds, a 

staff of 27 physicians and 65 employees, it was 

the largest and best equipped hospital in the 

Permian Basin at that time. 

The quest that culminated in construction of 

Midland Memorial Hospital was launched in 

December 1944 by the Midland Chamber of 

Commerce, when a special committee was 

named to investigate the possibilities. A study 

by the Midland County Public Health Council 

in 1942 had revealed the critical need for a general 

hospital. The standard ration of 4.5 beds 

per 1,000 population meant that Midland needed 

a minimum of 100 hospital beds. 

In July 1945, the Midland Memorial 

Foundation was chartered. The application for 

the charter was signed by Dr. John B. Thomas, 

Mrs. Ruth Scharbauer and Frank Stubbeman. 

As early as 1946, fundraising efforts were 

underway. A seven-acre tract of land at the 

intersection of Andrews Highway and Illinois 

Avenue was donated as a hospital site by E.P. 

Cowden and Clint Dunagan. On November 13, 

1947 an all-out campaign to finance construction 

of the hospital was begun, with M.C. 

Ulmer serving as chairman and R.M. Barron 

serving as vice chairman. 

After the opening of Midland Memorial, 

Western Clinic Hospital was closed in 1952. 

Western Clinic Hospital was privately owned 

with the owners being responsible for all bad 

debts. At the time it closed, Western Clinic 

Hospital was owed $386,000 by Midland 

County in approved cases and much more than 

that in unapproved cases. The hospital settled 

with the county for $7,000. 

❖ 

When it opened in July, 1950, 

Midland Memorial Hospital was the 

largest and best-equipped hospital in 

the Permian Basin. The impressive 

$1.5 million facility brought top 

quality health care to Midlanders. 


❖ 

Volunteer Eulalia Geisler of the 

hospital auxiliary presents a check to 

John Hass in this 1967 photo. The 

hospital auxiliary raises money which 

is used to purchase additional 

equipment for the hospital. 

On January 13, 1950, the Midland Memorial 

Hospital Auxiliary was organized with 89 charter 

members. By 1998, the hospital auxiliary 

boasted 207 members. 

By 1954, Midland Memorial Hospital had an 

average daily census of 68 patients. The hospital 

converted some private rooms to semi-private to 

allow for 25 more beds and 20 baby bassinets. 

In 1957, board members broke ground on an 

east wing expansion. Then in 1963, a nine-bed 

intensive care unit was added to the east wing 

with a corridor connecting to the hospital’s 

surgery unit, along with a 200-ton air conditioning 

system. 

In 1971, the hospital added a three-bed 

Coronary Care Unit. Six years later, the establishment 

of Midland County Hospital District 

enabled Midland County to collect ad valorem 

taxes to cover the cost of construction, capital 

expenses and upkeep. 

Through the years, Midland Memorial 

Hospital developed into a top-flight medical 

facility which included the Allison Permian 

Basin Cancer Therapy Center, built in 1981 on 

a contribution of more than $2 million by Helon 

Y. Allison, widow of newspaper publisher James 

N. Allison, Sr., in memory of her son, James N. 

“Jimmy” Allison, Jr. who died in 1978; addition 

of the third and fourth floors on the western 

side of Midland Memorial, which included a 

much-needed labor-delivery and maternity 

facility and surgical patient rooms, all built in 

1986; a major expansion in 1995 that included 

a new emergency room, same-day surgery nursing 

unit, laboratory, admitting area and central 

supply; and a $7.4 million premier surgical center 

that opened in August 1997. By 1986, 

Midland Memorial was a 335-bed hospital. 

Another major step was taken in August 

1997, when a collaborative agreement was 

announced between Midland College and Texas 

Tech University in Lubbock initiating a physician’s 

assistant program, a move hailed as “a 

major step in rural health care.” 

A second Midland hospital, Parkview, got off 

the ground in 1964. While Midland Memorial 

was a county hospital, Parkview was conceived 

and organized as a privately owned health facility. 

The hospital changed ownership at least 

eight times during its first 21 years of operation 

and eventually was bought by ClayDesta 

Regional Medical Plaza Development 

Corporation. At the time of purchase, the ultimate 

goal of ClayDesta Regional Medical Plaza 

Development Corporation was construction of a 

new hospital. The name of Parkview was 

changed to Physicians and Surgeons Hospital. 

In 1994, officials of Physicians and Surgeons 

announced that an all-new 101-bed, three-story 

hospital would be built on an 18-acre tract in 

the 4300 block of Andrews Highway to replace 

Physicians and Surgeons Hospital. That new 

facility was renamed Westwood Medical Center. 

A year later, in 1995, Westwood Medical 

Center became affiliated with Lubbock 

Methodist Hospital System, which led 

Methodist Hospital President-CEO William D. 

Poteet to characterize Midland as “an outstanding 

and growing medical community.” 

With the development of the community’s 

health care facilities, Midland truly has moved 

from saddle bag medicine into the status of a 

regional medical center. 

Police Department Grows 

with the Community 

Until 1941, law enforcement duties in 

Midland were under the auspices of a town marshal. 

A growing population required establish- 


ment of a larger, more efficient force, and, in 

April of that year, the Midland Police 

Department was created, with L.P. “Mac” 

McCasland as the first chief of police. 

The new Midland Police Department was 

located on the southeast corner of Illinois and 

Loraine streets, and had a jail capacity of eight 

prisoners. The original department consisted of 

seven officers–Franklin “Frank” W. Manning, 

W.C. Durham, E.C. “Bill” Moreland, Jack 

Merritt, Glen Hudson, Charlie Adams (also 

Adkins), and McCasland. 

By modern standards, department communications 

were primitive. The communication system 

consisted of one red light atop the 

Petroleum Building located downtown. The dispatcher 

turned on the red light when he 

received a call. Upon seeing the red light, one of 

the patrol cars would respond by contacting the 

dispatcher for additional information. 

Chief McCasland’s term lasted only six 

months, at which time he resigned to rejoin the 

Texas Highway Patrol. His expertise in firearms 

was needed in their training program. During 

McCasland’s service, a uniformed and trained 

police department had been formed. 

Captain Frank Manning served as acting 

chief until former FBI agent L. Hollis Tyson took 

over as chief of police. Tyson held that position 

until 1943, and only one burglary was reported 

during that entire period. 

Early in 1943, Jack Ellington took command 

of the department. During his tenure, the 

Midland Police Department was commended by 

the Army Air Force Bombardier School for its 

cooperation and assistance in working with the 

Military Police Force. Chief Ellington has been 

credited with playing a major role in preventing 

Midland from becoming a typical oil boomtown. 

In 1944, Midland Army Air Field was given 

to the City of Midland by the military to be used 

as an airport. This land became the responsibility 

of the Midland Police Department. 

By 1947, the department consisted of three 

patrol cars, 12 officers and Chief Ellington. 

Midland’s population had reached 23,000. 

To create a more efficient city government, in 

October 1950, the Police and Fire Departments 

were reorganized under the Department of 

Public Safety, headed by Colonel Milan N. 

Plavsic. Departmental friction and a slow-developing 

personality clash between Ellington and 

❖ 

When it was organized in 1941, the 

Midland Police Department consisted 

of (from left) Frank Manning, W.C. 

Durham, Bill Moreland, “Mac” 

McCasland, Glen Hudson, Jack 

Merritt and Charlie Adams. 


❖ 

Above: Certificate awarded to 

Franklin W. Manning by FBI Director 

J. Edgar Hoover for having completed 

the National Police Academy. 

Below: Midland County’s first Public 

Library, at 300 West Wall, and the 

first free library established by Time 

and Tide and Ninety-nine Club, the 

first two clubs in Midland. This first 

building was completed in 1904. 

Books were donated and circulated by 

Volunteer help from the Woman’s 

Wednesday Club. 

Plavsic caused the dissolution of the 

Department of Public Safety, and, in May 1951, 

both Ellington and Plavsic resigned. 

C.R. “Rube” Hemingway, assistant chief, was 

named Chief of Police. Hemingway reorganized 

the 31-man police department into four divisions, 

and improved the department in other 

ways. 

A disagreement between Corporation Court 

Judge F.L. “Moose” Hartman and Chief 

Hemingway concerning use of police records by 

the court led to a fistfight on April 24, 1952 in 

City Attorney Len G. McCormick’s office. Chief 

Hemingway received a fractured nose and a 

black eye, and, as a result, both men were asked 

to resign. 

Harold Wallace was appointed acting Chief, 

and, on May 23, 1952, he was officially named 

Chief of Police. 

By 1953, the Midland Police Department 

totaled 45 personnel and was equipped with 

nine patrol cars and five motorcycles. On April 

1 that year, the first formal inspection of personnel 

and equipment was held. All members of 

the force were present for the inspection, which 

was conducted by Chief Wallace, Mayor Perry 

Pickett and City Manager W.H. Oswalt. 

In the latter part of the year, the department 

requested that uniformed, non-commissioned 

women be hired to serve around Midland public 

schools as crossing guards. 

In January 1976, Chief Wallace announced 

his retirement after serving twenty-five years 

with the Midland Police Department. The following 

month, Vollie Wayne Gideon, then serving 

as assistant chief, was named Chief of Police. 

Gideon had been with the department since 

1956. 

Midland grew rapidly during the 1960s and 

1970s and saw a corresponding upswing in the 

crime rate. In the 1980s, Midland experienced 

an economic “boom.” The police department 

struggled along with it. 

When 1985 brought an end to the boom, the 

department suffered its own bust, with officers 

resigning or retiring and not being replaced due 

to cutbacks. 

In 1986, Chief Gideon retired after 30 years 

with the department and the City of Midland 

launched a nationwide search to find his successor. 

On December 1, 1986, Richard Czech, a 

captain with the Tucson Police Department in 

Tucson, Arizona, was chosen as the new Chief of 

Police. 

Chief Czech reorganized the department, 

forming four bureaus. 

On September 17, 1988 Midland voters went 

to the polls to approve a public safety bond proposal, 

effectively placing the Midland Police 

Department on the cutting edge of police technology. 

The proposal provided for a new 

Communications Center equipped with stateof-the-art 

equipment, including a Computer 

Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, which is one of 

the finest in the country. 

On November 30, 1997, Chief Czech retired 

from the department, and, on December 1, John 

Urby, an 18-year veteran of the Midland Police 

Department, was named the new Chief of Police. 


John P., the Bank, and Me 

Made History in Midland 

By Alva Butler 

My husband, John P. Butler, and I were living 

in Littlefield and a mentor of John P. named 

Ruby Moore was just enchanted with Midland 

and would write to him and tell him how wonderful 

the prospects were down here. On the 

Fourth of July in 1927, John P. and I decided to 

come down here to visit, which we did. We 

came in a Model T Ford with a three-and-a-half 

month old baby and the road, after you left 

Lamesa, was just a winding road through a 

ranch—a dirt road—and you just sort of went 

around mesquite bushes and things. 

But we got down here and there were only 

about 2,500 or 3,000 people. The courthouse 

was this red sandstone building, on the Fourth 

of July they always had a barbecue on the lawn 

of the courthouse. 

Mr. Moore took John P. into the First 

National Bank and introduced him to Marvin 

Ulmer, who was then chief executive. The building 

was on the corner of Wall and Main streets, 

a red stone front and pillars. And we went home 

to Littlefield. 

In September Mr. Ulmer phoned him in 

rather excited circumstances and said they were 

short a teller, and he asked John P. if he could 

come out here. John P., whether he realized it or 

not, saw the potential, so we moved out here the 

fifteenth of September, 1927. 

That’s how he happened to come to Midland. 

That was the force here made up of Marvin 

Ulmer; Allan Tolbert; Bert Ross; John P.; the 

stenographer was Drucilla Lord; and Johnny 

Roberts. 

The Scharbauer Hotel was under construction 

when we got here. It was said that more oil 

deals were made in the lobby of the Scharbauer 

Hotel than anywhere else in the country. 

In 1935 the housing shortage was so acute 

that when Humble was going to close a camp 

down at McCamey and a group of men—John P. 

was in it—went in to arrange to have those 

houses moved to Midland. 

One of the first things that John P. learned 

was that you had better know the customer’s 

name and call them by it. That was what 

impressed me about Midland and the men, particularly. 

Midland had always had to be independent 

and they learned a long time ago that 

good times followed bad times, and when it was 

bad times you just went through it. That is the 

philosophy that always impressed me. They didn’t 

panic; they just tightened their belts. 

When we first got to Midland, I learned that 

the school board election was the most exciting 

thing that ever happened in Midland. The 

minute that one was over they began the next 

one and essentially it was the two banks—I 

don’t mean the banks, it was their followers— 

and they fought over the school superintendent, 

W.W. Lackey. The Midland National—and I’m 

using this loosely—his opponent and the First 

National was his supporter. So getting people 

elected to the school board for the two sides was 

terribly important. That was the chief activity 

from one year to another, building up support, 

and they finally got rid of Mr. Lackey. 

During the war years, when the Army Air 

Force Bombardier Training School was located 

at Midland, many, many young men were sent 

here and they had young wives and half of 

them, of course, were pregnant. 

John P. had a perfect horror when these 

young wives would come in take care of their 

business and everything, and there was just a 

parade of pregnant women all the time. 

❖ 

Officials of First National Bank break 

ground in this 1959 photograph for 

construction of a new eight floor bank 

building. It eventually would be 

expanded to 24 floors. 


❖ 

Above, right: Mr. & Mrs. John P. 

Butler dance at a function of First 

National Bank held during 1960. 

Above, left: Alva and John P. Butler, 

foreground, entertain out of town guests 

at a function of First National Bank. 

Below: A.N. Hendrickson, left, a 

director of First National Bank, and 

bank president John O. Butler look 

over plans for building expansion. 

“You know,” he said, “one of those girls is 

going to come down in labor some day when 

they are in that bank and what will I do?” 

He always felt like everything was going to 

depend on him. 

Finally one day he said, “You know, I have 

figured out what I’m going to do.” 

At that time there was a common corridor 

that came into the bank and there was a divan 

on either side. 

He said, “I’ll just take them over to that divan 

and get the ambulance as fast as I can.” 

That just seemed to weigh on him all of the 

time. Of course, that never happened, thank 

goodness! 

The First National Bank was sort of the central 

place for the smaller towns to bank. 

Andrews and McCamey and all of the smaller 

banks, the banks operated just like individuals 

operate through the bank. 

Also, oil employees were scattered all over 

that had been in Midland at one time and had 

accounts with the bank. After John P.’s experience 

here having to know everybody’s name and 

something about them, he made it a point to 

always be very close to them. They would tell 

him what they wanted and then they might dismiss 

it from their mind and every month, I suppose, 

the oil company would send their check 

or money to them and he would distribute it the 

way they gave the order. First National Bank was 

very supportive of the oil industry and all the 

people who worked in it. 

On the cultural side, First National Bank had 

a wonderful art collection—small, but it was 

wonderful. It was reported in bank magazines. 

Once we were on a cruise, and the ship always 

puts out a daily paper, and imagine our surprise 

when we picked up the ship paper one day and 

there was the little interesting notes in there and 

it said “One of the finest, smallest art collections 

in the United States is in the First National Bank 

of Midland, Texas.” 


DISCOVERY OF OIL MADE MIDLAND 

As much as it was the Texas & Pacific Railroad that determined where Midway, or Midland, would 

be located, it was the discovery of oil that turned the little cowtown into what truly could be called 

the “Queen City of the South Plains.” 

The search for oil in the Permian Basin actually began in 1916 with the organization of the 

Consolidated Development Company, an unincorporated association founded “for the purpose of 

❖ 

A familiar sight on the plains of West 

Texas where what is below the surface 

of the dry soil may be worth more 

than what is on the surface itself. 

Discovery of Oil Made Midland | 45

❖ 

Built in 1927 by Dr. John B. Thomas, 

the Thomas Building featured a 25 

bed hospital on its top floor and a 

pharmacy and drug store on the 

bottom floor. 

leasing mineral rights to land and drilling for oil 

in selected West Texas counties.” Those 

involved in the association hoped to find oil in 

Mitchell County or the immediate area. At about 

the same time, another group interested in seeking 

oil was organized, this one called the 

Travelers Oil Company. It was Travelers and 

Underwriters, the T and P well designated 

Underwriters No. 1, that would usher in the era 

of oil production in the Permian Basin. 

“On February 6, 1920, the Colorado Record 

announced that the Underwriters Producing 

and Refining Company would be ready to spud 

in its first well on the Morrison block within a 

few days, and that the first carload of machinery 

had arrived for the Travelers Oil and 

Development Company, a standard rig that 

would be set up presently on the Landers ranch. 

A campaign to explore the petroleum resources 

of Mitchell County had at last begun in earnest,” 

wrote Samuel D. Myres in The Permian Basin. 

Steve Owen, general field manager for 

Underwriters, went out to the well on June 

18th, talked to drillers for several hours, and 

then returned to Colorado “with several small 

bottles of oil from the well. The sight of the oil 

quickened the curiosity and enthusiasm of the 

viewers, who were many,” wrote Myres. 

In the June 25, 1920 edition of the Colorado 

newspaper was this assessment of the discovery 

in Mitchell County: 

“The opening up of this well will mean hundreds 

of new drilling contracts for Mitchell 

County—in fact, rumors of a number of trades 

are thick and in 30 days Mitchell will be dotted 

with oil derricks and the sound of the drill will 

be heard throughout the land. The daily papers 

all over the United States will today carry the 

announcement of this discovery and in less than 

30 days Colorado expects to have a population 

of ten to twenty thousand. The excitement is 

running high with local people, and lease 

hounds are arriving on every train. While the 

prices on leases are steadily climbing, they are 

not considered high compared to the outlook 

and prospects for a rich field.” 

Colorado grew as a result of the oil discovery, 

but not immediately. Yet this well was important, 

though it would be eclipsed within three 

years by another oil “find” at Big Lake. Wrote 

Myres in The Permian Basin, “Yet, the discovery 

was significant, for it was the first of consequence 

in the Permian Basin. Especially important, 

it was a signal for further exploration and 

led to the development of one of the great oil 

provinces of the world.” 

However, it was Carl Cromwell, the man they 

called “The Big Swede,” who got the big attention. 

Cromwell brought in the Santa Rita No. 1 

on May 28, 1923, on University of Texas land 

west of the Reagan County community of Big 

Lake. The “plume of black smoke rising above 

the derrick” that day changed the course of West 

Texas forever and turned cowtowns like San 

Angelo, Midland, Odessa and Big Spring into 

adversaries vying for the title of the “Oil Capital 

of West Texas.” 

An article in The Kansas City Star on February 

3, 1929, proclaiming the discovery of oil in 

Reagan County “brought geologists and oil scouts 

from everywhere to prospect all over Southwest 

Texas and other fields were opened in due time. 

New oil towns sprang up in the sage brush and 

mesquite of the prairie and in a few months 

would have populations of 5,000 to 10,000. San 

Angelo tripled its population and became the oil 

metropolis of all that new oil country. Big hotels 

and business blocks, theaters and office buildings 

went up and newly-made oil millionaires went 

there to build homes and to live. The Kansas City, 

Mexico & Orient railway, which was fast becoming 

just ‘two streaks of rust’ and was threatened 

with abandonment, was born again by the opening 

of the new oil field. It had to borrow rolling 

stock to haul in oil machinery and material and 

to haul out oil; its long freight trains trailed across 

the sands; Pullman cars were put on to haul the 

Argonauts of the new oil fields, and the Santa Fe 

railroad thought it would be a good investment to 

buy and operate the Orient and it paid 15 million 

dollars for it.” 

Texon Oil & Land Co. and Carl Cromwell 

had given West Texas a new burst of life, but 

while San Angelo reaped the benefits of that first 

oil discovery, it was not to last as the oil capital. 

Wrote a newspaperman, “Nobody knew then 

that Santa Rita No. 1 would open the vast 

Permian Basin oil reservoir south of Mitchell 

County, where the first producer had been 

drilled. Oil men were skeptical, adopting a “wait 

and see” attitude. There had been many prior 

reports of promising discoveries in West Texas 


which failed to pan out. But (Frank T.) Pickrell, 

Cromwell and others actively interested in the 

venture felt sure that Santa Rita No. 1 was no 

flash in the pan. Subsequent events were to 

prove how right they were.” 

Cromwell eventually became a millionaire, 

having made all his money in what was known 

as the “oil mens’ grave yard” of West Texas—an 

area of the country written off as a likely place 

to find oil. 

A newspaper article once noted, “Geologists 

by the score had crisscrossed West Texas in 

efforts to find some trace which might eventually 

lead to the discovery of an oil pool. 

Wildcatters had gambled on the chance and lost 

until the oil industry reached the conclusion that 

West Texas was not only sterile so far as oil production 

was concerned, but the financial loss 

incurred had been so great and so many hopes 

had been blasted that West Texas was given the 

opprobrium ‘the oil mens’ grave yard’ and was 

henceforth written off the list of likely territory. 

“To drill another oil test under those conditions 

was at the time considered the height of 

folly. Nevertheless, a group of men decided that 

they could do no more than try. There is no 

telling what might have been the outcome had 

they engaged a man other than the one who 

actually did the work. The result might have 

been the same, but there is an excellent chance 

that it would have been entirely different.” 

While San Angelo’s proximity to Big Lake 

was valuable for the early oilfield activity and 

the community’s St. Angelus Hotel served oilmen 

not only as a residence but also for office 

space, the oilmen soon realized that San 

Angelo was too far east from the center of 

activity to serve as a headquarters. Unpaved 

roads made travel through West Texas virtually 

impossible during rainy periods. Midland, on 

the other hand, was the geographic center, and 

lay along the Texas & Pacific Railroad. It also 

was served by U.S. 80, a hard-packed highway 

also known as the Bankhead Highway or the 

“Broadway of America,” which had been completed 

in 1923. 

In 1926, Gulf Oil Company made the big 

switch—moving its operations from San Angelo 

to Midland, and, two years later, Honolulu Oil 

Company made the same move. 

❖ 

Bob Estes of Midland photographed a 

herd of buffalo grazing near an oil 

drilling rig in West Texas. 


❖ 

Above: Clarence Scharbauer, along 

with John Phil, and Christian 

organized Scharbauer Cattle 

Company in 1901, and spent much of 

his life striving to improve the 

Scharbauer livestock. 

Above, right: Lobby of the Scharbauer 

Hotel, showing fine leather furniture 

and fresh flowers which graced the 

tables daily. The hotel, located 

at 117 W. Wall was awarded an 

Official Historical Medallion in 1962. 

The hotel was razed in 1973. 

Below: Hotel Scharbauer, built by 

Clarence in 1927, became a famous 

gathering place for cattle and oil 

people. Fine registered cattle were at 

times shown in the lobby. 

A year later, in 1927, three major construction 

projects were begun in Midland that would 

change the face of the city—the Thomas 

Building, built by Dr. John B. Thomas; the 

Hogan Building that later would be called the 

Petroleum Building, built by Senator Thomas 

Stephen Hogan; and the Scharbauer Hotel, built 

by rancher Clarence Scharbauer. 

Dr. Thomas, who had moved to Midland in 

1905 and established a practice with Dr. Woods 

W. Lynch, started his six-story building with 

plans to put a 25-bed hospital on the top floor. 

Later he noted that oil companies, geologists, 

and contractors leased “every square inch of the 

building since the blueprints were drawn.” 

Thomas later headed the effort to construct 

Midland Memorial Hospital and served on its 

first board as president. 

Senator Hogan announced plans for a 12-story 

building that would eventually come to be known 

as the Petroleum Building. Designed by architect 

Wayne C. Hedrick, the Petroleum Building was to 

be the tallest building between Fort Worth and El 

Paso, but was not immediately to serve the petroleum 

industry’s space requirements. 

It was commonly known as “Hogan’s Folly” 

during those years, although it would eventually 

become the high point in Midland’s push to 

evolve into the Oil Capital of West Texas. 

On July 5, 1929, the building—complete 

with crenulated spires, decorative stonework, 

and an adjoining movie theater—opened for 

business. It was quite a glory to behold. 

Furthermore, it gave Midland the distinct 

advantage it needed to become the Oil Capital 

of West Texas: Office space for oil companies 

that was centrally located to where the wells 

were being drilled. 

The Petroleum Building was not the only 

important structure erected during the 1920s. 

Clarence Scharbauer, son of pioneer Midland 

County rancher Christian Scharbauer, began 

construction of his expansive and luxurious 

Scharbauer Hotel in 1927, providing sorely 

needed hotel space and a meeting place for cattlemen 

and oil men. It has been said—with a 

degree of historical fact—that more cattle deals 

and oil deals have been transacted in the lobby 

of the Scharbauer Hotel than anywhere else in 

the country. During its heyday, the Scharbauer 

attracted cattlemen and oil executives who 

would finalize their agreements in its abundant 

lobby. 

Through the years, Clarence Scharbauer 

added onto the hotel until, at its peak, it featured 

350 guest rooms, in addition to offices for 

Scharbauer Cattle Co. 

During 1965, the hotel was designated a 

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark by the 

Midland County Historical Survey Committee. 

It was demolished in 1973 to make way for construction 

of a new 14-floor Hilton hotel. 

By the end of the 1920s, Midland was positioned 

for development as an Oil Capital. In 

1930, it boasted a population of 5,484, was 

home to 36 oil companies, and still maintained 

its historic claim as a cattle town. But with the 

arrival of the oil industry, the face of Midland 

was changed forever. 

During the early 1930s, Midland suffered 

through the Depression, as did the rest of the 

nation. The East Texas oil boom sparked by the 


❖ 

Far left: Mrs. John House, Mrs. 

Marvin Ulmer, Mrs. Madeleine 

Martin and Mrs. Bertha Kinney enjoy 

refreshments at “The Last Round Up 

At The Scharbauer” on July 15, 1973, 

a party originating with Nancy R. 

McKinley to say ‘goodbye’ to the 

famous landmark as it was imploded 

in November, 1973. 

drilling of Columbus M. “Dad” Joiner’s Daisy 

Bradford well and subsequent oil finds in that 

part of the state contributed significantly to the 

slowdown of oil drilling activity in West Texas. 

Building construction in Midland stopped, 

and oil companies that had once flocked to the 

oil center pulled out in 1932 and 1933. In fact, 

Sen. Hogan lost his building as the oil companies 

pulled out. “Hogan’s Folly,” as his building 

once had been known, was three-quarters 

empty during those bleak years. 

In 1934, however, the Depression essentially 

ended when oil companies—responding to regulation 

of oil production by the Texas Railroad 

Commission, beginning in 1933, and the federal 

government’s placement of a tariff on foreign 

oil to discourage dumping on the American 

market—began drilling again. Ten new oil fields 

were discovered in the Permian Basin in 1934 

and fifteen the following year. The Goldsmith 

field, located in northwest Ector County and 

owned by the Scharbauer family, by 1939 had 

production second only to the Yates field in the 

Permian Basin. 

The increased drilling brought oil companies 

back to Midland. One was Humble Company, 

which, in 1935, moved its headquarters and 

more than 70 houses from McCamey to Midland 

for its employees. That was necessary due to a 

severe shortage of housing in Midland during 

that time. 

One of the primary leaders of Midland in that 

day was Marvin C. Ulmer, an officer with First 

National Bank who would be elected president 

of that institution after Clarence Scharbauer’s 

death in 1942. Together, Ulmer and Clarence 

Scharbauer had worked not only to acquire 

good housing for oil company employees, but 

also to have Midland selected as the site for the 

Army Air Force Bombardier Training School. 

That facility, which opened in February 

1942, was critical to the war effort. Between 

April 1942 and January 1945, cadets flying 

Beech AT-11s flew 861,510 hours and dropped 

1,245,107 bombs. The training facility was the 

largest in the world. 

Following the war years, Sloan Field—as the 

training facility was known—became a firstclass 

civilian airport for Midland. Buildings at 

the site, however, were moved for use as a city 

auditorium, emergency housing and school 

classrooms. 

Anticipating the coming growth, First 

National Bank in 1936 had remodeled its building 

and started construction on an eight-story 

tower. The growth came and by the end of 

World War II, Midland had been enjoying 

steady growth for a decade. In 1945 the city’s 

population stood at 14,000. 

Although many anticipated a decline in oil 

demand following the war, that slump did not 

occur. What did occur was a period of unprecedented 

growth—growth that pushed Midland 

into the status of a city. 

Ironically, although Midland had developed 

and reaped the benefits of the oil industry, the 

town had never experienced an oil boom of its 

own. West Texas was pock-marked with oil discoveries—except 

for Midland County. That all 

changed between 1945 and 1951 with the devel- 

Left: Midland squaredancers entertain 

guests gathered at “The Last Round 

Up.” 


❖ 

A rig on the vast plains surrounding 

Midland is the only tall object in sight. 

opment of the Spraberry field 

south of Midland. 

Humble Oil and Refining 

Company completed the No. 

1 Mrs. O.P. Buchanan well in 

the Midland field in 

November 1945 and, in 

January 1947, drilled south of 

there to open the South 

Midland field. Two years later, 

the Warfield pool was opened 

with the Texas Company’s No. 

1 Clarence Scharbauer. Then 

came Tex-Harvey’s Mrs. B.W. 

Floyd well confirming the 

Spraberry Trend. 

The Spraberry discovery 

changed Midland’s face again. 

Between 1945 and 1950, an 

additional 11,000 people moved into Midland, 

the little town of Midkiff 25 miles south of 

Midland mushroomed into a gigantic oil camp, 

and the Permian Basin became the most active 

oil drilling region in the entire world. 

Now Midland was definitely the Oil Capital 

of Texas. 

Good Ole Days 

in the Oil Patch 

By Ed Thompson 

When I first started talking to some of the old 

timers, I began to think that Midland didn’t 

have any Good Ole Days. In the 1920s and early 

1930s, all they talked about were their jobs in 

Crane, Andrews, McCamey, Monahans, Wink 

and Wickett. 

So I decided to check out the Petroleum 

Museum Library, and hit paydirt! Betty Orbeck, 

archivist, pointed out that the first three wells 

drilled in Midland County, in 1922, were all dry 

holes. That put a stop to Midland drilling activity, 

until 1929, with one more dry hole. I decided 

to talk to Bill Collyns. More paydirt! 

Bill said that he had gone to work in 

McCamey, for Humble Oil and Gas Co. in 1927. 

Bill verified the facts that there were no houses 

or any other facilities available in either Midland 

or Odessa. In the mid-1920s, all the other major 

companies were located in San Angelo. 

However, Humble decided to move to 

Midland in 1935, and by the time the move was 

completed, the other majors had also decided to 

move to Midland, mainly because following the 

Yates Field discovery most of the activity had 

moved north and west, and because ranchers, 

bankers, retailers and others got together and 

offered to furnish housing for them just as they 

had for Humble. Suddenly, a country ranching 

town was in the “Oil Bidness.” 

Of course, with the major companies, an 

influx of independents joined the move. 

Midland went after the Administrative offices, 

and Odessa went after the Service business. 

Such folk as Yeager and Armstrong came from 

San Angelo and A.W. Thompson Drilling came 

from Odessa. And from some 5,000 souls, 

Midland’s population jumped to over 10,000 by 

1940. But there was still no oil production in 

Midland County. 

The Chamber of Commerce, with Bill 

Collyns now its leader, led the fight to bring in 

the oil industry. The Reporter-Telegram was the 

first newspaper to set up an Oil Page. The 

Scharbauer Hotel was the focal point for dealmaking—both 

in the lobby and the coffee shop. 

It got to the point that the boom created both 

office and housing shortages. People were using 

their cars as offices, as well as a place to sleep. 

Then came World War II, and Midland went 

to work supplying the energy to keep the war 

effort moving. At the same time, again thanks to 

the efforts of Bill Collyns, Continental Airlines 

was convinced to bring air service to Midland. 

Fortunately, Sam Sloan had sold his private airfield, 

and Midland Air Park was born. During 

the war, the field was loaned to the government 

to be used as a Bombardier Training Base and 

was in great shape for new air service. By war’s 

end, Midland had doubled in size, boasting 

20,000 residents. 

Of course, the war had slowed growth, but the 

Bombardier Training Base brought in hundreds of 

trainees, training staff, and their families. 

During this time, Midland was the Oil 

Capital of the Permian Basin and still growing, 

but was still without any oil- or gas-producing 

wells. However, all that was about to see a drastic 

change with the spudding in of the Humble 

Oil and Refining Company’s No. 1 Mrs. O.P. 

Buchanan well, in Section 32, Block 37, T2S, 

W.M. Baldridge Survey, Midland County, in 


1945. Combining oil and the war’s end, Midland 

enjoyed a major boom following the discovery 

in Midland County and the population jumped 

up to some 40,000. 

Two more years passed until on Feb. 1, 1949, 

the Texas Company No. 1 Clarence Scharbauer 

was completed, opening the Warfield pool. 

Drilled in the southwest corner of Section 20. 

Midland was in the midst of another boom and 

the population continued to grow to almost 

60,000. 

However, not even a month after the Texas 

Scharbauer well was completed, a discovery of 

greater significance was made. Located in the 

east central part of Midland County, it was the 

Tex-Harvey Oil Company’s No. 6-14B Mrs. B.W. 

Floyd et al, in the northwest quarter of Section 

16, Block 37, T3S. Ben Wiseman sat on the well, 

and he is still active in the Permian Basin. 

Following that came the Pegasus field, producing 

from the Ellenberger, San Andres, 

Fusselman, Bend and Wolfcamp. Then the 

Sweetie Peck field, with production from the 

Ellenberger, Wolfcamp and Pennsylvanian 

zones. This was followed by the High-Lonesome, 

Clarence Scharbauer and the Warfield. On the 

opposite side of the county, a wildcat opened the 

Germania field, followed by the Azalea field, the 

War-San, the Dora Roberts and the Virey. 

We reached over 80,000 population during 

this period, and we are still growing and still 

finding new Midland County oil. We credit this 

continued growth to petroleum pioneers and 

their successors. As Daryl Royal was wont to say, 

“Don’t forget to dance with who brung ya!” 

Optimism Rules 

the Oil Patch 

By J.C. Williamson 

On June 19, 1937, I arrived in Midland to go 

to work for the Phillips Petroleum Company in 

their geological department, which was located 

in the west end of the seventh floor of what is 

now called the Petroleum Building one block 

north of the courthouse square—and what was, 

I might say, the only real office building in this 

town at that time. 

I had come home from the University of 

California where I had spent a school year 

working on a Ph.D. in geology. I was tired of 

studying and determined to try to work in the 

oil industry. The low, heavy fog of the “Great 

Depression” was somewhat rising from the land 

and the oil business was sending out signals that 

there might be some hiring in the geological 

departments. 

I received a telegram in the mail from Phillips 

Petroleum Company, mailed to Dad and Mom’s 

rural address south of Lubbock, and an offer of 

a job at $150 a month at Midland, Texas. I borrowed 

Pop’s car again to go to Midland to confirm 

the employment. 

Midland had a little over 8,000 population. 

There weren’t any affordable places to stay, no 

motels, very few rooms available in private homes. 

I was amazed at the number of oil companies 

that had acquired offices in Midland, nearly all 

❖ 

Toyah Bell No. 2 Pecos, Texas, 1921. 


❖ 

Above, left: Ever-Ready Service Station 

No. 2, operated by Fred Wemple at 

Wall & Loraine during the 1930's. 

Above, right: KCRS Radio Station, 

originally housed in the Scharbauer 

Hotel and owned by Clarence 

Scharbauer. Call letters were 

originally KRLH for the first station 

manager, Raymond L. Hughes, later 

changed to KCRS, Clarence and Ruth 

Scharbauer. 

of which were crowded into the same building, 

and there were usually several people to one 

office. Phillips had their production, land and 

geological departments in seven fairly small 

spaces, all on the seventh floor. Gulf Refining 

Company employees were similarly in each 

other’s lap on the east end of the seventh floor. 

We had individual desks but no private space 

and the whole town was in a similar state. 

The majors ruled the roost. Shell Oil Company 

was the most profound, but also the most stuffy. 

Texaco was the most grumpy and the one that 

demanded more. Phillips was struggling to shed its 

big independent status and trying to act like a 

major. A number of California companies came 

later and grabbed some juicy 

prospects which the locals 

knew about but were afraid 

of the drilling depth at the 

time. Fullerton was one of 

these who is not remembered 

now. But the Fullerton 

pool in Andrews County was 

one of the best in shallow, 

and in depth, and it made 

the investor big money. 

There were a few big 

independents that cut 

streaks across the West 

Texas blue skies. Would 

you believe that today 

there are many semi-successful 

independents in 

Midland that don’t know 

who Fred Turner was or 

York and Harper or Mr. 

Carter of Fort Worth? 

Fred Turner snatched a 

fortune from the Big Yates 

pool in Pecos County by 

finding and exploiting a vacancy in that pool, 

and he kept it as long as he lived. 

Buck York made it and used it. He was probably 

the most well-liked and amusing of the 

early ones who made their wealth in Midland. 

He actually charged a Cadillac to his hotel room 

in Dallas. It was nice to have known Buck York. 

In early Midland oil days the most out front 

and on the scene were the company oil scouts. 

Most companies had at least two, and some had 

three men, whose business was to hustle the 

information on what the other companies were 

doing. There really was never a hole so “tight” 

that they could not get the depth and the results 

of a drillstem test. A lot of telephone operators 

wore expensive clothes and a lot of testers were 

bought refrigerators and expensive steaks for a 

few words like “the well flowed, estimated 50 

barrels per hour was reported this morning.” 

I was coming in one morning from a cable 

tool drilling well in Ward County, in the fall of 

1937. I was pretty grubby from an overnight 

stay on the well. I came through Odessa at about 

7:00 a.m. going to Midland in a company car. 

On the east side of Odessa, two fairly young 

women were standing on the side of the highway 

with suitcases by their side. They were pretty, 

dressed up and made up, and they wanted a 

ride. I picked them up. 

They were giggly and amused and both came 

right into the front seat with me. They smelled 

real good. Two hundred yards further down the 

highway, there were three more. I picked them up 

also. A half-mile further there were six more girls. 

I was loaded up, so I passed up the last group. 

A carload of oil scouts drove past me; I knew 

them and they knew me. They were vastly 

amused, touched their horn and their was a 

good amount of “ha ha” and hand waving. I 

said, “Listen girls, what’s going on here?” 


They looked at each other and laughed. One 

said, “Odessa is cleaning house, out by 8 o’clock 

or down to the jail!” 

The scouts knew and had come over to see 

the exodus. People were everywhere carrying 

maps, talking oil. 

They found oil and gas. A glance at a map of 

the Permian Basin today with the fields painted 

in the various colors symbolizing the geological 

age of the production will show how intense 

and efficient was their work. 

❖ 

Opposite, middle: Employees of Baker 

Oil Company stand outside the 

facility, which offered Cosden 

products. 

Opposite, bottom: Lamb’s One-Stop 

Chevron Gas Station offered 

convenient gasoline service to 

Midlanders during the early years 

of motoring. 

Bombardier School Found 

Character of Midland 

By Ed Todd 

The community’s newspaper in 1942 fervently 

expressed the patriotic citizens’ sentiment: 

“Welcome Army Air Corps to Midland’s Sloan 

Field.” Those were the “great days,” when 

Midland united with the nation in the tempestuous 

days of World War II. 

Midland’s old Sloan Field gave way to 

Midland Army Air Field (MAAF), site of the 

“world’s greatest bombardier college” and home 

of the “Hell-from-Heaven Men.” 

All told, more than 6,600 MAAF bombardier 

cadets dropped 1.2 million practice bombs from 

twin-engine Beechcraft AT-11 aircraft, armed 

with Norden bombsights, over targets etched in 

the West Texas plains. 

In West Texas, there is “better flying weather 

than anywhere else in the country and relatively 

mild climate, too,” said World War II naval aviator 

Jack Edwards. “Forced landings were a helluva 

lot easier to get away with in this country than 

anywhere else.” There was a “lot of open area for 

bomb targets…and for strafing ranges.” 

Even before America was catapulted into the 

century’s second “great” war by the Japanese air 

attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 

1941, America was gearing up for war. 

Roosevelt had appealed to the nation to 

become “the arsenal of democracy” by producing 

war materiel to equip the Allied nations battling 

the Axis powers with ships, tank, aircraft, 

and munitions. 

Fueled by the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941, 

America’s industrial might flourished. 

On the home front in 1940-42, the War 

Department was searching for optimum sites to 

put in more Army camps and air fields for training 

the Army Air Forces (AAF). The Department 

of the Navy was also establishing and expanding 

naval air stations. 

The Southwest was an ideal environment for 

flight and bombardier training. West Texas 

became an AAF mecca! “Midland Army Air Field 

is one of the pioneers in the business of training 

men capable of blasting the Axis off the map,” 

noted an MAAF “Hell-From-Heaven” yearbook. 

The school’s first class of the “Hell-From-Heaven 

Men” was graduated on April 30, 1942. 

AAF Colonel Isaiah Davies, later brigadier 

general, was the MAAF’s first commander. 

Convincing the AAF Training Command to 

locate a unit in Midland, however, demanded 

dedication and tenacity. 

“Those were great days,” Collyns recalled. 

“Midland was up and going, pushing ahead, and 

I (as chamber manager) had all the support in 

the world. It wasn’t tough being manager of the 

chamber when you had that support with you.” 

Among the supporters were Mayor Marvin C. 

Ulmer and Councilmen Ralph Barron, Tom 

Sealy, Barney Greathouse, Paul McHargue, and 

D.H. Roettger. Chamber of Commerce leadership 

included President Jim Allison, then publisher 

of the town’s newspaper the Midland 

Reporter-Telegram, and past president John 

House and McHargue. 

The community’s spirit said “‘We ain’t going 

to quit,’” Collyns recalled. “We stayed right in 

there. We’re going to keep trying.” And Midland 

ended up with the “number-one bombardier 

school in the country.” Collyns, who had a lone 

secretary then, hired a housing clerk, which 

Left: At Midland Army Air Field 

young airmen looking over a 

newspaper heralding the end of the 

war in Europe during World War II. 


❖ 

Right: A bombardier cadet in training 

at the Midland Army Bombardier 

School even had a “matching” pet. 

Below, left: Bombardiers at the Army 

Air Forces Bombardier School at 

Midland demonstrated precision 

bombing using the secret Norden 

bomb sight. 

Below, right: Jim Allison, Sr., left, 

publisher of the Midland Reporter- 

Telegram, and Bill Collyns, center, 

manager of the Midland Chamber of 

Commerce, dine with military 

personnel at the combat range station 

at Midland Army Air Base prior to 

viewing training during World War II. 

allowed the Chamber of Commerce to take care 

of “all the housing needs” of thousands of MAAF 

citizens by 1942. 

“It was something,” Collyns said. “It was big 

time back then. Everything was military then. 

The war was on and that was the number-one 

effort.” Initially, the Army invested more than 

$5.5 million in 1941 and 1942 dollars in building 

MAAF. 

The site of MAAF, now Midland International 

Airport and home of the American Airpower 

Heritage Museum and the 1957-established 

Confederate Air Force, whose purpose is to 

restore and maintain in flying condition examples 

of World War II combat aircraft, once was 

ranch grassland. 

Today, Midland International Airport, which 

is undergoing a $34.5-million construction project 

that includes a new terminal and expanded 

parking, has developed into “the gateway” to the 

Midland-Odessa area and has taken on the role 

performed by the railroads in the late 1800s and 

well into the 1900s. 

Midland oilman Sam Addison Sloan, a World 

War I aviator, had leased grassland from 

Midland rancher Clarence Scharbauer, Sr. to 

establish Sloan Field. It began in 1927 and 1928 

as a graded dirt landing strip on 220 acres. 

Sloan flew in France in an Aero Squadron of 

the U.S. Army Air Service. He was killed at age 

41 on New Year’s Day of 1929 in the crash of his 

OX5 Waco biplane. In August of 1929, famed 

woman pioneer, aviatrix Amelia Earhart, landed 

at Sloan Field. 

One June 12, 1941, on the eve of the government’s 

announcement that an Army Air 

Corps’ Advanced Bombardier College would be 

built in Midland, then-Congressman Lyndon B. 

Johnson made a plea for patriotism on the 

Midland County Courthouse square. 

In 1939, the city of Midland purchased Sloan 

Field and established Midland Municipal 

Airport on the former Scharbauer ranchland. 

The airport was expanded by more than 1,000 

acres. The WPA in 1941 appropriated funds for 

runway and taxi-way improvements. 

As the war raged, Midland leased the airport 

to the War Department for a dollar a year in 


June 1941. Following the war’s end, airport 

improvements helped Midland win major commercial 

airline service. The first major airline 

into Midland in the late 1940s was Continental 

Airlines. By 1948, Midland was served by 

Continental, Pioneer, and American Airlines. 

Trans-Texas Airlines would follow and, now, the 

all-jet Southwest Airlines. 

“It was great days, great doings,” Collyns said 

of Midland’s progress. “Things fell in place. 

Midland was ‘air-minded’ at the time.” 

Today, Midland International Airport is served 

by pure-jet and turboprop airliners and is a refueling 

base and training site for military pilots. 

Yet, Midland Army Air Base was but one of a 

legion of Army Air Forces’ training bases in West 

Texas. 

Success of the 

Black Community 

By Dr. Viola M. Coleman 

I came to Midland in 1951 after graduation 

from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, 

Tennessee, in 1949, and an internship at Coney 

Island Hospital in New York 

I came to Midland because a friend of mine 

told me that Midland was looking for a physician, 

and they had been promised if they ever 

got a minority doctor this doctor would have 

privileges at the hospital. 

At that time my husband was teaching in the 

public schools in Louisiana. After coming to 

Midland, my husband and I decided we would 

go to California because in California we would 

not have problems getting hospital privileges. 

When this friend in Fort Worth told us about 

Midland, since Midland was on the way to 

California, he suggested, “Why don’t we stop and 

look it over?” So we decided we would do this. 

We came to Midland and went to the hospital 

and were assured that we would have privileges 

as soon as my license was registered. Then 

we went to Midland National Bank—now 

NorWest—and just on our signature we were 

given a $300 loan. 

We accepted the loan of the $300, bought 

exam tables, et cetera, and set up an office in our 

home at 400 South Carver. 

I did not have a car and did my rounds 

through taxi for a couple of weeks until I found 

an automobile company that made a loan of $600 

for a car. Midland seemed like the place to be. 

There were doctors here, and they would see 

minorities, but, because segregation was the law 

of the land, they had separate waiting rooms, 

usually located at the back of the facility or simply 

a row of chairs in the hall. 

I built my practice quickly, though now that 

I think about it, it may not have been entirely 

due to my medical expertise, but perhaps 

because they were tired of waiting in back 

rooms and in halls to see a doctor. I had one 

waiting area and my patients sat wherever there 

was a vacant spot. 

I was given privileges at Midland Memorial 

Hospital, and I was the second Black doctor to 

come to Midland. Dr. W.D.B. Cooper had come 

several months ahead of me. He also was a family 

practitioner. Midland Memorial Hospital was 

different from most hospitals at the time. The 

Blacks and the Hispanics were told when this 

hospital was built that they would be treated 

fairly, and that meant then that there would be 

no basement in which to place all the Black and 

Hispanic patients. 

At that time, even if the hospital accepted 

minority patients, they either put them in the 

basement or in a little wooden structure out in 

the yard, regardless of the problem. Midland 

Memorial had two rooms on the second floor 

and these were whole rooms—reserved for the 

Black and Hispanic patients. They had four beds 

in the two rooms, separated by curtains. The 

❖ 

Aerial view depicting Midland Police 

Department and City Hall in the 

foreground, First Baptist Church 

(domed building on left) and two 

water towers. 


est of the hospital only had two beds to a room. 

These were wards—four-bed rooms—and this is 

where the patients were placed. 

All the OB patients were usually placed in a 

couple of rooms on the third floor. I am told that 

it was through the influence of Dr. Dorothy 

Wyvell, the first woman doctor in Midland, that 

the nursery was integrated. All of the babies were 

put into this one room and the Black babies, the 

Hispanic babies and the White babies were all in 

the nursery together. This was really the only 

truly integrated part of the hospital. 

When I came to Midland, there was a hospital 

operated by Drs. Melton and Shapira. It was called 

Western Clinic, on Loraine Street. It was a privately 

owned institution that served the minority community 

at reduced rates. I am told, however, that 

this generosity became a financial burden to them, 

and when Midland Memorial Hospital came into 

being, they closed Western Clinic. 

In 1951, most women were having babies at 

home. I am told that prior to that, when Black 

women got pregnant, they usually went back 

home—East Texas—to have their babies, because 

there was no one in the area to deliver them. I 

was called at all hours of the night and day to 

home-deliver babies. Of course these women had 

no prenatal care and it was not the type of medicine 

that I had hoped to practice in the area. 

So I approached Dr. Parks and Dr. Lang, who 

were the doctors at the women’s clinic, and 

asked them if we could get a prenatal clinic for 

the patients so that we would have help for 

mommas and babies. And they agreed and 

approached the city council and the commissioners 

court, and they were able to get some 

funding for the clinic. It should be noted that 

Dr. Wyvell had already established a clinic for 

indigents at the health department, but she 

could only be there one evening a week. 

All the family practitioners in Midland at that 

time were delivering babies. The patients were 

required to pay a small amount according to 

their income and there was so much pride in 

these women—when they got whatever amount 

they were assessed paid—the first thing they 

would tell you, they would hold up the receipt 

in their hand and say, “Well, it’s all paid for. I can 

have my baby now.” 

I mention that because with Medicare coming 

into effect in the mid-1960s, patients were 

no longer required to share any part of the 

responsibility of their medical care. I think that 

this was not entirely the best thing that could 

have happened. As a result of that, I think 

patients are not nearly as interested in their 

health care and its costs as when they were 

required to pay even a minimal amount of 

money for the services. 

Spraberry Trend Gave 

Midland County Oil Wealth 

By Roger M. Olien 

Although many other counties in the 

Permian Basin produced oil during the 1920s, 

the first related stirring in Midland County came 

at the end of the decade, in March 1929. Twelve 

miles southeast of Midland, Phillips Petroleum 

drilled unsuccessfully on the J.V. Stokes lease, 

finding several shows of oil but missing commercial 

production. As a result, there was relatively 

little interest in prospects in the county 

until the end of the Second World War. 

Beginning in November 1945, however, oil 

men made a series of relatively small discoveries 

that put the county on the oil map. The first was 

Humble’s discovery of the Midland field, with 

#1 Mrs. O.P. Buchanan. Two years later, in 

February 1949, Humble extended production 

two miles to the south, bringing in production 

in what was known as the South Midland field. 

Production from the fields was relatively modest, 

but the high-gravity crude oil yielded relatively 

high quantities of gasoline when refined. 

In the same month, the Texas Company found 

the Warfield pool with its #1 Clarence 

Scharbauer, about five miles east of the Ector 

County line, 39 barrels of oil per day from the 

discovery well, but the oil was high quality. 

Pegasus, the final small field discovery of 

1949, was made by Magnolia, near the Upton 

County line. The well produced more prolifically 

than the other small field discovery wells, initially 

yielding 975 barrels of oil per day. The 

field was extended northward, developed with 

seven producing horizons, and was sustained in 

1954 with the deepest waterflood project in the 

region to that time. 

General American Oil discovered the Sweetie 

Peck field in March 1950, one mile north of the 

Upton County line. Like other fields, it was 


extended subsequently. At the time, 

however, it prompted one of the more 

humorous headlines in the Midland 

Reporter-Telegram, which led the story 

with the banner line “Sweetie Peck, a 

Gasser.” Unfortunately, no one seems to 

have recorded the reaction of Mrs. Josie 

Faye “Sweetie” Peck, wife of a local oil 

man, on whose lease the discovery well 

was drilled. 

Three months after the Sweetie Peck 

field came in, Magnolia drilled #2 Roy 

Parks about seven miles north of that 

field. Seven years later, Spraberry production 

was located in the small field. Modest production 

was also located in several additional fields, 

including the High Lonesome, Germania, 

Azalea, War-San, Virey, and Dora Roberts during 

the 1950s. Of the group, the Dora Roberts was 

prolific. Cities Service-Forest’s #1 Dora Roberts 

produced 2,163 barrels of 52.4-degree oil per 

day, initially. 

The big news in Midland County was the 

Spraberry Trend. In Midland County, production 

in what proved to be a large multi-county 

field was made in 1949, when Tex-Harvey 

drilled to nearly 12,000 feet on the Mrs. B. W. 

Floyd, plugged back to 8,000, and produced 

125 barrels of oil per day. Though not an 

impressive discovery by regional standards, the 

well seemed to identify production in the 

Spraberry Trend. This possibility prompted 

extensive exploration in Midland and adjoining 

counties. Feverish wildcat drilling during 1951 

further established the trend’s dimensions as 

roughly 150 miles from the north to south and 

over 50 miles from the east to the west, running 

through ten West Texas counties. Early estimates 

of recoverable reserves reached as high as 

ten million barrels, dwarfing even the great 

Yates field of Pecos County. 

In response to this prospect, small independents, 

promoters, and speculators flocked to 

Midland and set up local offices from which they 

could oversee the Spraberry action. For a time, it 

seemed like the Spraberry promoters could not 

lose: nearly every well brought in production. 

Many Midland oil men were less enthusiastic 

about the Trend. Some local geologists, like 

William Y. Penn and George Gibson, were skeptical 

that Spraberry production would return the 

rewards its enthusiasts expected. Other Midland 

operators, including Earle M. Craig and J. C. 

Williamson, avoided extensive involvement and 

steered their investors clear of the Trend. 

As information accumulated from additional 

drilling, the local skeptics were vindicated. Many 

of the wells declined quickly from their impressive 

initial production levels and had to be 

pumped to produce even a scant amount of oil. 

Estimates of reserves per acre fell from 10,000- 

20,000 barrels to 400 to 800 barrels. In response, 

oil men drilled on wider spacing and shut in 

wells to build up bottom-hole gas pressure. 

The field became even more problematic in 

1953, when the Texas Railroad Commission shut 

in more than 2200 wells, all of them in the field, 

to halt the widespread flaring of natural gas. 

After 1953, most operators who held small 

production in the trend sold their leases to larger 

operators, who were able to lower their fixed 

costs by spreading them over a greater number 

of leases. Lower oil prices commonly prompted 

additional property consolidations. Improved 

fracturing techniques later enhanced oil recovery; 

improved drilling muds and more efficient 

casing programs cut the cost of wells by one 

quarter. In all, later entrants realized greater 

gains because of improved drilling and completion 

techniques, both of which lowered costs. 

Once properties changed hands, operators often 

reworked them by plugging back to shallower 

Clear Fork formation, whose production had 

been overlooked during the height of the 

Spraberry fever. The most sustained “nursing” of 

the Trend, however, involved the application of 

newer and more costly production in waterflooding. 

In this endeavor, the larger integrated 

oil companies dominated activity. The scientific 

❖ 

Early Pig Stand on West Wall, a 

popular gathering place for young 

people. 


data the large companies gathered while drilling 

wells were indispensable in enhancing production 

after oil was found, and the larger firms had 

the scientific staffs ready to put those data to use. 

During the 1970s and 1980s, larger independent 

producers acquired many of these properties 

from major oil companies, and operators 

including John Cox, of Midland and Parker & 

Parsley, also of Midland, produced increasingly 

large proportions of the field’s oil and extended 

its production. During its history, the Spraberry 

Trend has been the leading field in Midland 

County, yielding nearly 400 million barrels of 

oil through 1994. 

Insignificant Weed Bill 

Brought a U.S. District Court 

By Hank Avery 

Gus Mutscher, a Texas State Legislator and 

later Speaker of the House, introduced a bill to 

require property owners in Texas cities to cut 

the weeds on their vacant private property. If 

they failed to do so, the city could cut the weeds 

and put a lien on the property for the cost. 

I was president of the Texas Municipal 

League when Rep. Mutscher asked me to testify 

before a House Committee in favor of the bill. 

Later the bill was passed. 

Later Mutscher was chairman of a House 

Committee to redistrict Texas’ U.S. 

Congressional Districts. I wanted Midland to 

have George Mahon, who served 42 years in the 

U.S. Congress, as its congressman and Odessa to 

have O.C. Fisher as its congressman. I had been 

a friend of Representative Mahon for several 

years and he had approved my plan. While the 

Chambers of Commerce of both Midland and 

Odessa were voicing their proposal that each 

city should have the same congressman, I was 

opposed to the idea and went to Austin to talk 

with Representative Mutscher. 

Representative Mutscher suggested that a 

group of Midland citizens host a dinner for the 

Redistricting Committee. Besides the committee 

members, Lieutenant Governor Preston Smith, 

House Speaker Ben Barnes, and Governor John 

Connally came to the dinner. Some 10 men from 

Midland attended the dinner. First National 

Bank President C.J. Kelly funded the expenses. 

Speaker Barnes reminded me that I was asking 

Democrats in Austin for help for Midland 

when our state representative, Republican Frank 

Cahoon, was in Dallas calling all Democrats in 

Austin crooks. Our state representative at the 

time was the only Republican in the Texas 

Legislature. Midland has had very little influence 

in politics in Austin for the last 45 years. 

This is one of the reasons that Odessa was able 

to doublecross Midland and obtain the 

University of Texas of the Permian Basin in 

Odessa. 

Soon after congressional redistricting, I asked 

Representative Mahon to introduce a bill creating 

a U.S. District Court in Midland, which he did. It 

was one of a few bills that he ever introduced in 

the U.S. House and it was passed and signed into 

law in December of 1967 by President Lyndon 

Johnson. A group of nine Midlanders went to 

Washington in December of 1967 to witness 

President Johnson signing the statute. 

From a little weed bill in the Texas Legislature 

in Austin, Midland has a U.S. Federal District 

Court. The Federal Building and Post Office in 

Midland is named after George Mahon. 

I served as councilman of Midland for one 

year in 1961 and as mayor from 1962 to 1968. 

As an architect, I remodeled the old Midland 

City Hall three times before we built the present 

Midland City Hall during the time I was mayor. 

The old hall was built in 1929 as a one-story 

building, housing the city staff and its volunteer 

Midland Fire Department. 

In 1962 when I became mayor, Midland had 

30 years of water reserves, mainly from the Paul 

Davis Water Field, north of Midland. Midland 

had depleted four water fields. In 1966, 

Midland purchased the 20,000-acre T Bar 

Ranch in Winkler County for $750,000. The 

water reserves under this ranch offer 750,000 

acre-feet of good quality water—enough to provide 

Midland for 50 years. 

Then, in May of 1966, Midland signed a water 

contract for water from Spence Lake with the 

Colorado River Municipal Water District 

(CRMWD) for about 75 percent of its annual water 

needs. Now Midland is receiving 15,000 acre-feet 

per year from the CRMWD’s O.H. Ivey Reservoir, 

located about 166 miles southeast of Midland. 


A TALL CITY RISES 

Uncertainty clouded the high sky over Midland following the end of World War II, but it was to 

fade rapidly in the exciting days of growth and prosperity that came. In the 15 years between 1945 

and 1960, the population of Midland mushroomed from 14,000 to 62,625. 

During the latter 1940s and 1950s, Midlanders “embarked upon a vigorous construction program…that 

was matched by a campaign to attract new businesses.” 

A leader in that effort was Jack B. Wilkinson, whose commercial construction in a 12-year period 

included the six-story Wilkinson-Foster and Permian buildings, the 14-story V and J Tower, and the 

Wilco Building, which towered 22 stories above the Permian Basin sands. His construction eventually 

earned him the title “The Tall Man of the Tall City.” 

Others were building in Midland in the same era. A corporation formed by Midland businessmen, 

known as the Midland Building Company, financed the construction of the nine-story Midland Tower 

in 1948. That same year, an office building was built by the Petroleum Life Insurance Company of 

Midland. Three years later, it was expanded to 12 floors containing 140,000 square feet of space, 

making it the largest office building between Fort Worth and El Paso. 

Two years later, the Midland National Bank built a three-story building to which it added a ninestory 

tower in 1957. As the 1950s were coming to a close in 1959, the First National Bank built an 

eight-story building. Eventually, the First National Bank would rise to 24 floors, containing 329,177 

square feet of leasable office space. 

❖ 

The skyline of Midland, as viewed 

from Todd Road from Northeast of 

Midland in 1990, beckons to visitors 

approaching the Tall City. Midland is 

one of few cities in West Texas that 

has multi-storied buildings, a fact 

which gave the community one of its 

nicknames. 

A Tall City Rises | 59

During the same period—the latter 1940s 

through 1959—oil companies were constructing 

buildings. They included Humble, Pan 

American, Superior, Honolulu, Union and 

Magnolia. The major oil companies built first, 

then the independents. Some thought Midland 

was overbuilding, but former Chamber of 

Commerce executive Bill Collyns said that wasn’t 

the case. Noted Collyns, “Almost every 

building made money for the investors. It was 

hard to go wrong in Midland.” 

Spurred both by the Spraberry Trend development 

and other oil discoveries in the immediate 

area, Midland was enjoying tremendous 

growth. The City of Midland began developing 

Hogan Park and encouraging subdivision developers 

to create neighborhood parks. Swimming 

pools and tennis courts began to spring up. 

The Midland Community Theatre, which had 

been founded in 1946 by Art Cole, at first gave 

performances in the City and County 

Auditorium, but in 1958 moved to the Theatre 

Center. Meanwhile, the Midland Symphony 

played its first concert series in 1953. 

With the increasing population, Midland 

schools were also overcrowded. In fact, between 

1949 and 1959, school enrollment rose from 

3,686 to 14,647. In response, the school district 

built 12 new elementary schools, three junior 

❖ 

Above: A modern oil drilling platform 

sits on the grounds of the Permian 

Basin Petroleum Museum at Midland. 

Thousands of visitors come to the 

Museum each year. 

Below: The Permian Basin Petroleum 

Museum, Archives and Hall of Fame, 

located at 1500 Interstate 20 

Midland, Texas, has on exhibit Tom 

Lovell paintings depicting the Permian 

Basin region and an exhibit of oil 

drilling equipment and methods of 

extraction. Recorded messages guide 

visitors through the various exhibits. 


high schools, a black junior-senior high school, 

and added onto 14 existing schools. To alleviate 

overcrowding during the worst years, barracks 

were shifted between schools. 

Jack Wilkinson’s 22-floor Wilco Building, 

completed in 1959, became a symbol of 

Midland and was readily identifiable in the city’s 

skyline. The structure offered 195,000 square 

feet of leasable office space. 

During the 1960s and 1970s, Midland faced 

a number of challenges. By 1960, the discovery 

of cheap foreign oil was starting to undercut 

domestic drilling and during the period 

between 1963 and 1970 several major oil companies 

closed their doors in Midland while others 

reduced the size of their staffs. In the latter 

1970s, however, Midland was again on the 

grow, as major building projects were 

announced. In fact, between 1974 and 1983, a 

total of 18 new office buildings of five or more 

stories were constructed. 

Likewise, the number of apartment units in 

Midland increased more than 500 percent to 

9,000 units; bank deposits climbed from $384 

million to nearly $2 billion; postal receipts 

jumped from $2.3 million to almost $9 million; 

and the Midland population climbed steadily 

from 59,000 in the latter 1970s to more than 

92,000. 

Midland was rapidly becoming a city, maturing 

even while retaining those characteristics 

that made it unique. Particularly noteworthy in 

that regard is the Museum of the Southwest, an 

art museum which was started in the 1960s 

under the auspices of the Junior League of 

Midland and which, in July 1968, moved into 

permanent facilities in the former home of 

Juliette and Fred Turner, Jr. 

The Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, 

Library and Hall of Fame, which sprang to life 

in 1966, gave the oil industry a significant and 

appropriate museum all its own. The Abell- 

Hanger Foundation, through its founders and 

officers George T. Abell and Gladys Hanger 

Abell, contributed the first $100,000 toward the 

museum. 

In 1969, Midland College was started, and 

ground was broken in 1973 for construction of 

a modern college campus. By the latter 1990s, 

student enrollment at Midland College was 

nearing the 5,000 mark. 

Also in 1973 a new Federal Center, District 

Court, and Post Office complex, named in honor 

of longtime Congressman George Mahon, was 

constructed on a three-block area in downtown, 

giving the heart of the city a burst of vitality. 

Construction was begun in 1974 on the Nita 

Stewart Haley Memorial Library, a research 

library to house the 700-plus interviews of J. 

Evetts Haley, who had moved to Midland at an 

early age with his parents, John Alva and Julia 

Evetts Haley. The prolific historian and rancher 

had become widely known for his literary 

works, and his personal collection of rare books 

on the range and the Southwest ran into the 

thousands. 

Not only was Midland growing in terms of 

population but also as a cultural center. The 

Midland-Odessa Symphony and Chorale, which 

❖ 

Below: The Spanish Mission style 

facility of Nita Stewart Haley 

Memorial Library & J. Evetts Haley 

History Center exudes the flavor of the 

West and offers a priceless and one-ofa-kind 

collection and research center. 

This library, named for Mr. Haley’s 

wife, Nita Stewart Haley, was 

dedicated on his birthday, July 5, 1976. 

Bottom: The modern health center, once 

known as Midland Memorial Hospital, 

today is called Memorial Hospital and 

Medical Center. Early Midlanders 

remember the site as a ranch covered 

with cattle and tall grass. 

PHOTOS BY CURT WILCOTT, 



❖ 

Above: The First Baptist Church at 

2104 W. Louisiana is far and away 

the largest church in this area. 



Below: Randy Velarde signing a 

baseball for a young fan. Velarde was 

a high school baseball player in 

Midland who went on to play 

professional baseball, including several 

seasons with the New York Yankees. 

PHOTO BY TIM FISCHER, 


Inside photos: Every year on the last 

weekend in April, scores of volunteer 

workers converged on the homes of 

elderly or handicapped residents to 

make repairs to them. 

had been organized in 1953, gained international 

acclaim, as did its two ensembles, the 

Thouvenal String Quartet and Lone Star Brass 

Quintet. 

In 1978, Midland Community Theatre constructed 

a new $2.2 million facility which gave 

the theater outstanding production capability, as 

well as teaching potential for aspiring young 

actors and actresses. 

The following year brought the start of construction 

on a major convention center, Midland 

Center, that provided space for conventions and 

trade shows in the downtown district. 

Professional baseball came to Midland in 

1972, when Midland joined the Texas League 

with the Midland Cubs, a farm league organization 

of the Chicago Cubs. Later, the name of the 

Midland team would be changed to the Midland 

Angels when the team 

became affiliated with 

the California Angels 

organization. 

The following decade, 

Randy Velarde, who 

played high school 

baseball for the Robert 

E. Lee High School 

team and went on to set 

school records at 

Lubbock Christian 

College, was drafted in 

the 19th round by the 


Chicago White Sox. After a couple of years, he 

was traded to the New York Yankees, and, after 

only a year with that organization’s single A team 

in Albany, N.Y., was called up to “the show.” 

Velarde played with the Yankees organization 

a number of years, finally becoming a free agent 

after the 1995 season. He wasn’t the only 

Midlander who played professional baseball. 

Another was Mike Timlin, who played for the 

Toronto Blue Jays. And there were others who 

played other professional sports, including 

Wally Kleine, who played professional football 

for the Washington Redkins. And there were 

many others. 

During 1982, Midlander Bobby Trimble, who 

had led the outstanding Christmas in April program 

for a decade, received a Presidential Award 

from President Ronald Reagan. 

The Presidential Award also brought national 

attention to the local organization which for 

years had repaired the homes of the community’s 

elderly or handicapped residents. In 1988, 

the Christmas in April program was taken 

national and by 1997 had grown to more than 

200 affiliates in 500 cities around the nation. 

But Christmas in April’s was not the only 

building going on in Midland during the 

1970s and 1980s. The building “boom” of the 

latter 1970s ushered in an era of growth and 

development in the 1980s. In fact, during 

1982, “Midland led the nation’s 280 major 

cities in the rate of population growth with a 

12.5 percent increase over 1981. Total bank 

deposits in Midland set a year-end record of 

more than $2 billion; airline boardings 

increased by 17 percent; and the Midland 

Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) 

was the leader in Texas in the per capita rate of 

new business incorporations. Building permits 

and valuations declined from their phenomenal 

record of 1981, but Midland maintained 

its position as a leader among Texas cities in 

new construction.” 

Midland gained a new skyline on its northern 

boundary in 1983 when oilman Clayton 

Williams, Jr. built ClayDesta Center at the intersection 

of Big Spring Street and Wadley Avenue, 

which sparked a building boom in that portion 

of the city. ClayDesta Center alone added 

439,669 square feet of leasable office space to 

Midland’s rapidly increasing tally. 

An oil price collapse during 1986 caused a 

number of oil operators to abandon the Permian 

Basin, but unlike previous “busts,” many operators 

remained and kept drilling for $10-a-barrel 

oil, although many eventually were forced to 

declare bankruptcy. Midland kept growing during 

the 1980s and early 1990s, although the 

pace of growth was considerably slower. 

In November 1987, the eyes of the world 

were focused on Midland after an 18-month-old 

girl named Jessica McClure became trapped in a 

water well shaft—22 feet below the surface of 

the Permian Basin sands. Over a period of three 

days, people around the world followed the 

events in Midland on the television screen as 

volunteer workers toiled around the clock to 

save the little girl. Midland’s love and compas- 

❖ 

Above: ClayDesta Plaza, built in the 

1980’s by Clayton W. Williams, Jr., 

promoter and oilman, the son of early 

day Texans, whose grandfather was a 

prominent land surveyor in the early 

‘80’ of West Texas. The office 

development on Midland’s northern 

edge sparked additional business 

development in that part of the city, as 

well as adding considerably to 

Midland’s total leased office space. 

Below: Baby Jessica McClure is 

comforted by her father, Chip 

McClure, after her rescue by 

numerous volunteer workers who 

worked around the clock and in the 

rain to reach her after she had fallen 

into an open water well pipe. Baby 

Jessica, as she came to be known, was 

trapped 22 feet beneath the earth’s 

surface, and millions around the 

world waited anxiously by the TV to 

learn of the little girl’s fate. She was 

rescued after suffering only minor 

injuries. 

PHOTOS BY CURT WILCOTT, 



❖ 

Right: George W. Bush, Governor of 

Texas, spent many of his boyhood 

days in Midland where his father was 

engaged in the oil business. Many 

Midlanders have fond memories of 

their friendship with this fine family. 

Below: Downtown Midland (1970) 

showing First National Bank Tower 

on Wall & Loraine. 

sion for a helpless child came through to the 

world during that one moving event. Jessica was 

rescued—to the cheers of the world. 

A dream of many Midland Republicans was 

realized in 1988 when George Herbert Walker 

Bush, who had moved his young family to Texas 

from the Northeast during the 1950s, was elected 

President of the United States. Midland 

Republicans finally had a former Midlander in 

the White House! 

Two years later, Clayton Williams, Jr. won the 

Republican nomination for Governor of Texas in 

a contest that pitted him against Ann Richards, 

who ultimately won the 1990 Gubernatorial 

Election. 

However, after serving one term, Governor 

Richards was defeated by George W. Bush, 

eldest son of President and Mrs. Bush, in the 

1994 Gubernatorial Election. The younger Bush 

had spent many of his childhood years in 

Midland, but eventually moved to Dallas, where 

he was known as a part-owner of the Texas 

Rangers baseball team. 

As Midland approached the end of the century, 

its population teetered at the 100,000 mark. 

In fact, early in 1998 the city’s staff estimated 

that the city would reach, and possible surpass, 

the 100,000 mark by the year 2000. At the time 

of that estimate, Midland’s population stood at 

98,045. 

A population of nearly 100,000, skyscrapers 

towering above the Texas Plains, an international 

airport, busy highways, top-notch arts and 

entertainment, a first-class community college—Midland 

truly transmits the image of a 

growing, vibrant city ready to meet the future 

head-on. 

It is a far cry from the vast grassland that greeted 

Midland’s first settlers 120 years ago. Yet the 

promise is still present for all who come to this 

new horizon on the spreading plains of Texas. 

Minority Community Enjoys 

Noteworthy Achievements 

Although three predominant races have been 

represented in Midland’s population for a century, 

significant growth in the Hispanic and Black 

populations was not seen prior to about 1950. 

Early-day photographs depict both Hispanic 

and Black cowboys working on some Midlandarea 

ranches before and after the turn of the century. 

Through the years, both Hispanics and 

Blacks have become an integral part of the 

Midland community and now occupy positions 

on nearly all of the governing bodies. 

Carrie Newells, who came to Midland in 

1939 with her husband Arthur Newells, noted 

that few Blacks lived here at that time. As a 

result, she and her husband, who were Black 

and had moved to Midland from Dallas, could 

not find suitable housing. 

Her husband was subcontractor on a demoli- 


tion project to tear down the Llano Hotel in order 

that a new hotel, the Crawford Hotel, could be 

built. They lived for a period time in a portion of 

the building that was being demolished. 

The first members of the minority community 

elected to a governing body in Midland 

County were Mrs. Severo (Gloria) Hinojosa and 

the Rev. Horace Doyle, a Black minister, who 

were among those named to the Midland Junior 

College District Board in 1972, when Midland 

Independent School District divested itself of 

the junior college. Mrs. Hinojosa and Rev. Doyle 

were named to the board, which also included 

Murray Fasken, Robert Leibrock, Reagan Legg, 

William H. McCright, Jr., Fred S. Wright, Jr., 

Jack Huff, and Kenneth Peeler. 

Mrs. Hinojosa served on the college board 

until 1990, when she resigned. Charlene 

Romero-Wurtz was named to fill the vacancy 

and continues serving on the college board in 

1998. Rev. Doyle served on the board until 1979. 

Two other Black members of the community, 

John Cooper and William Howard, have served 

on the college board. Cooper served from 1979 

through 1992, and Howard served from 1992 

through present day. 

Several Hispanics and Blacks have also 

served on the board of the Midland 

Independent School District. Lorenzo Ausbie 

was on the board between 1970 and 1973. 

Roger Robles served between 1973 and 

1975, and James H. Ramsoure was on the board 

from 1974 until 1980. 

James Fuller and Adela Marmolejo were 

elected to the MISD board in 

1988 and continued serving in 

1998. 

The first member of the 

minority community to serve 

Midland City Council was Oralia 

“Lillie” Corrales, a Hispanic who 

was elected to the District 2 seat 

in 1985. 

In 1989, John Castro and Jose 

Cuevas were elected to the council. 

Cuevas served as the District 

2 representative until 1990, 

when he resigned. He then ran 

for the council again and was 

elected as an at-large representative 

in 1992. 

Tony Carillo served on the 

council from District 2 in 1990- 

1991. 

Michael DeVaughn served on 

the council from District 2 in 

1991-1992. 

Juluis L. Brooks, Sr., was 

elected to the District 2 seat in 

❖ 

Above: Isidro “Sid” Trevino, the first 

Hispanic police officer to join the 

Midland Police Department, joined 

the force in 1949. He retired in 1965 

after achieving the rank of assistant 

police chief. 

Left: The First Presbyterian Church at 

800 block of Texas Avenue. One of 

Midland’s first churches and now one 

of its largest, the church is currently 

undergoing a magnificent expansion. 


❖ 

Above: In 1955, Eulalio M. “Lalo” 

Camarillo became the Midland Police 

Department's second Spanishspeaking 

officer. He came to be known 

later as “Mr. Crime Prevention” while 

heading the department’s Crime 

Prevention Unit. 

Right: Adolofo Baesa became the first 

Hispanic FBI agent from Midland 

County. 

1992 and continues to serve. He served as 

mayor pro-tem for the year 1995. 

The Memorial Hospital and Medical Center 

Board of Directors has been served by the 

minority community. James H. Ramsoure was 

on the board from December 1987 until May of 

1990. Previously, Ramsoure had sat on the hospital’s 

Board of Trustees. 

Sam Flores served on the Board of Directors 

from September 1987 until May 1989; Oralia 

Corrales from May 1989 until January 1990; 

Margaret Williams from May 1989 until June 

1993; Michael L. Williams from September 

1983 until October 1987; Rev. Sylvester 

Ferguson from January 1990 until December 

1992; Ora Williams from September 1993 until 

the present; and Josie Ramirez from May 1993 

until the present. 

In 1988, Louisa Valencia was elected Precinct 

3 Commissioner. She became only the second 

woman and the first Hispanic to serve on 

Midland County Commissioner’s Court. 

Two Justices of the Peace, David M. Cobos and 

Michael Wallace, were serving Midland County 

Justice of the Peace Precincts in the 1990s. 

Cobos, a former member of the Midland Police 

Department and statewide director of the Crime 

Stoppers Program, was named Justice of the 

Peace for Precinct 1 in 1997, following the death 

of longtime Justice of the Peace Robert H. Pine. 

He continued serving in that capacity in 1998. 

Wallace was elected Justice of the Peace in 

Precinct 3 in 1996 and continued serving in that 

capacity in 1998. 

During the administration of President 

George H.W. Bush, a black attorney from 

Midland, Michael L. Williams, served in the 

Department of Education as an assistant secretary 

for Civil Rights. 

On December 1, 1997, John A. Urby was 

named chief of police for the Midland Police 

Department, the first Hispanic to hold that position. 

Urby assumed that position upon the 

retirement of Richard L. Czech. 

Other members of the minority community 

have risen to positions of prominence in 

Midland’s past, going back to 1949 when Isidro 

“Sid” Trevino went to work for the Midland 

Police Department as a patrolman. He was 

Midland’s first Hispanic police officer. “There 

was a lot of racial discrimination going on in 

Midland,” Trevino recalled, “and it was difficult 

to gain the respect of my peers within the force. 

I recall seeing signs in public places that read 

‘No Mexicans or Dogs Allowed.’” 

Trevino remained, however, and eventually 

was promoted to assistant police chief. Trevino 

retired from the police force in 1965 and later 

bought and operated the well-known Club 


Granada until June of 1997. 

In August, 1971, Pete Montemayor was 

appointed to the Texas Rangers, becoming the 

first Hispanic Texas Ranger. 

Adolofo Baesa currently serves as the first 

Hispanic F.B.I. agent from Midland County. 

Eulalio M. “Lalo” Camarillo joined the 

Midland Police Department in 1955, becoming 

the second Spanish-speaking officer on the 

force. He eventually achieved the rank of 

sergeant and was assigned to head the Crime 

Prevention Unit, where he came to be known as 

“Mr. Crime Prevention.” 

Rick Menchaca joined the city staff in 1990 

as assistant to the city manager, and Tommy 

Hudson, a Black, is now assistant city manager. 

By 1997, Menchaca assumed duties as city 

manager. 

Both the Black and Hispanic communities are 

served by Chambers of Commerce—the 

Midland Black Chamber of Entrepreneurs, 

formed in 1986, and the Midland Hispanic 

Chamber of Commerce, which was formed in 

1984. 

The chambers work for the interests of 

minority-owned businesses and promote outstanding 

work by members of the minority 

community. 

Hispanics and Blacks have also progressed in 

many other ways during the past several 

decades. Numerous Hispanic and Black physicians, 

lawyers, teachers and other professionals 

enhance the cultural diversity of Midland’s population. 

Editor’s Note: Isidro “Sid” Trevino and Dr. Viola 

Coleman contributed heavily to the compilation of 

this article. 

Political Development 

Put Republicans in Power 

By Representative Tom Craddick 

Development of the Midland County 

Republican Party started with the elections in 

1962 of Barbara Culver as County Judge and 

Bill Davis as State Representative. In 1964, 

William A. Heck was elected the first 

Republican County Commissioner and Frank 

Cahoon was elected Republican State 

Representative from Midland. He was the only 

Republican legislator in the Texas House of 

Representatives or Texas Senate. 

In 1966, Cahoon was re-elected. In 1968, I 

was elected State Representative. There were 

only three Republican House members at that 

time. 

During the 1960s, the Midland County 

House district included Midland County. After 

redistricting in 1970, the Midland House district 

expanded to include Glasscock, Reagan and 

Upton counties as well. When I ran for re-election, 

I was the first local Republican on the ballot 

in those counties. During this time, Midland 

❖ 

Left: Ernest and Penny Angelo, left 

and Nadine and Tom Craddick are 

shown as they prepare to attend the 

Republican “Pink Elephant Ball.” 

Craddick has been Midland’s 

representative in the Texas Legislature 

for 30 years. Angelo has been a 

Republican Party National 

Committeeman from Texas. 

Below: Table decorations for the 

“Pink Elephant Ball” adorn the site 

of one of the Republican happenings 

in Midland. 


❖ 

A program for the Pink Elephant Ball, 

sponsored by the Midland County 

Republican Women’s Club, advertises 

the high profile political event. 

County continued to become more and more 

Republican. 

I filed a lawsuit to keep Midland from being 

split into two or more legislative districts. The 

lawsuit ended up in the Texas Supreme Court. 

Winning this lawsuit not only allowed Midland 

to stay in one legislative district, but it enabled 

Midland County to maximize its strength as a 

heavy voting Republican county. This lawsuit 

became a landmark case for all future legislative 

house redistricting. 

Midland went from a Democratic county in 

the early 1960s to almost totally Republican 

and very conservative in the late 1990s. Our 

growth as a Republican county has been followed 

by the growth of the Republican Party in 

the State of Texas and in the surrounding West 

Texas counties. 

Not only was Midland continuing to become 

more Republican in the 1960s, 1970s and 

1980s, it had an exceptional number of local 

representatives that became involved and 

became leaders at the State Republican Party 

level. During those years, Midland had exceptional 

representation—more from our one 

county than from any other. 

Today, Texas has a Republican Governor, two 

Republican U.S. Senators, a Republican majority 

Supreme Court, several statewide elected 

Republican officials and U.S. Congressmen, 

Republican control of the State Senate and is 

getting ready to have Republican control of the 

State House of Representatives. We have seen 

Midland go from two elected Republican officials 

in 1962 to 1997, when every elected official 

in the county save one is Republican. It is 

projected that Republicans will sweep all 

statewide offices in the 1998 election. 

Foundations Give a “Glow” 

To Life In Midland 

By Jack Swallow 

ABELL-HANGER FOUNDATION 

George Thomas Abell was born at Wakeeney, 

Kansas. He graduated from Colorado A&M. In 

1927, he moved to Midland, Texas, where he 

trained himself as a geologist and entered the 

petroleum business as an independent oil operator. 

In 1939, he was married to Gladys Hanger 

of Fort Worth. 

During his professional career, he was active 

in the Independent Petroleum Association of 

America, Texas Independent Producers and 

Royalty Owners Association, Mid-Continent Oil 

and Gas Association, and the Permian Basin 

Petroleum Association. He was a charter member 

of the Permian Basin Petroleum Pioneers 

Association. 

Abell was also active in many civic, community, 

cultural, social, educational and historical 

activities. He was a member and former president 

of the Board of Education of the Midland 

Independent School District. He was awarded a 

life membership in the Texas Congress of the 

Parent-Teacher Association. He served as the 

chairman of the first capital funds campaign for 

Midland Memorial Hospital and was a member 

of the hospital’s Board of Trustees and Board of 

Governors. A member of the Downtown 

Midland Rotary Club, he was recognized on 

numerous occasions for his contributions to the 

civic, cultural and educational betterment and 

growth of Midland. 

George Abell devoted much time to the Boy 

Scouts of America. 

As a director of the Midland Chamber of 

Commerce, Mr. Abell originated the idea of the 

Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, Library and 

Hall of Fame. He spent much of his time and effort 

collecting antique oil field equipment now displayed 

on the Museum’s grounds. Many of the oil 

paintings of historical events which are on display 

at the museum were researched by George and 

commissioned by the Abell-Hanger Foundation. 

He was the first president of the Museum’s Board 

of Trustees and is a member of the Hall of Fame. 

Gladys Hanger Abell graduated from Paschal 

High School and attended Texas Christian 

University and the University of Texas at Austin. 

Mrs. Abell was an active champion of civic and 

cultural causes, contributing her time and financial 

resources as one of West Texas’ most philanthropic 

citizens. 

The Abell-Hanger Foundation was created by 

George Thomas and Gladys Hanger Abell to 

carry on the philanthropic endeavors which 

they pursued during their lifetimes. 

The Abell-Hanger Foundation has given 

more than $75 million since June 30, 1954. 


DAVIDSON FAMILY 

CHARITABLE FOUNDATION 

The Davidson Family Charitable Foundation 

was chartered in January of 1962. The original 

founders were C. J. “Red” Davidson of Fort 

Worth, Texas, H. W. “Hy” Davidson of Midland, 

Texas and B.C. Davidson of San Antonio, Texas. 

It was the heartfelt desire of C. J. Davidson in 

cooperation with his brothers to establish a 

means by which organizations and the people 

they served could be better prepared. Much of 

the early emphasis was placed upon providing 

funds to promising young men and women to 

enable them to secure a college education. The 

results of that initiative have led to the creation 

of 30 endowed scholarship funds, totaling in 

excess of $4.5 million. 

In October, 1978, with the death of C. J. 

Davidson, the Foundation’s ability to contribute 

funds to worthwhile organizations was greatly 

enhanced. The impact may even have exceeded 

Davidson’s dream. Midland enjoyed the result of 

his vision through his compassion and caring 

for others in need. Hospitals are equipped with 

the latest life-saving technology; elderly people 

are now receiving food and contact with the 

outside world on a daily basis; there are parks 

and schools for the handicapped. The cultural 

lives of Midlanders have been impacted through 

the Davidson Foundation’s giving to the arts, 

theaters, museums and libraries. 

Hy Davidson served many years as Chairman 

of the advisory committee to the Davidson 

Foundation. Along with his son Steve Davidson, 

his daughter Susan Davidson McClenahan and 

son-in-law Barry McClenahan, the advisory 

committee was cognizant and responsive to 

many needs in Midland. In 1995, as the result of 

a “sunset provision” of the Davidson 

Foundation’s charter, liquidation of the 

Foundation’s $22,000,000 corpus began. 

Over the years, those entrusted with the 

stewardship of this rich legacy of giving continued 

to be guided by the philosophies and, more 

importantly, the beliefs of C. J. “Red” Davidson 

and others, that to whom much is given, much 

is required. 

❖ 

Trinity Towers Presbyterian Home, 

began as a dream of Mrs. Andrew 

Fasken, who held deep concern for 

retired persons in Midland. Through 

Dr. Matthew Lynn an organization 

was formed that resulted in the 

building of the Towers which has now 

expanded to Manor Park. 


In 1955, Andrew Fasken, Murray Fasken and 

William B. Neely formed The Fasken 

Foundation with the stated purpose to be “The 

support of any benevolent, charitable, educational 

or missionary undertaking.” 

The foundation was funded originally with 

capital stock of the Midland National Bank. 

Revenue from the stock and subsequent stock 

rights sales were used to provide scholarships 

for deserving college students. The first of the 

awards was given to a student attending 

Schreiner Institute. In 1969, Mrs. Helen Fasken 

House left the bulk of her estate to continue the 

work of the foundation founded by her father 

and brother. Under the terms of her will, scholarships 

were to be provided to unmarried students 

of good character attending any college or 

university in the State of Texas. 

The foundation has received bequests from 

individuals desiring to enhance and expand its 

capabilities. In 1978, Ruth Shelton provided the 

residual of her estate to the foundation and to 

Midland Presbyterian Homes, Inc. In 1984, 

Alma Walsh Mallison made provision for the 

foundation to receive the major part of her 

assets from her estate. Howard Johnson made 

his assets available to the foundation in his 

estate in 1985. These contributions have provided 

the foundation the ability to provide additional 

or increased services and scholarships. 

The Fasken Foundation’s mission is principally 

focused in educational and benevolent 

endeavors. 

The broad areas of service have been defined 

and funds have been committed, but the individual 

entities funded do not remain static. New 

proposals are received and evaluated, old programs 

may be considered to have been adequately 

served, or the needs of the community 

may cause a change in the pattern of giving. 

From its founding in 1955 through the end 

of 1997, the foundation has made distributions 

of approximately $17,500,000. During that 

period, scholarships have been provided for 

4,905 young people from the Permian Basin. 

❖ 

Construction progresses on the new 

terminal building at Midland 

International Airport located 11 miles 

West of Midland. The airfield had its 

humble beginning as Sloan Field with 

one building in which Mrs. Sloan 

prepared and served refreshments for 

the infrequent passengers. 



FASKEN FOUNDATION 

T HE PERMIAN BASIN A REA 

FOUNDATION 

The Permian Basin Area Foundation is a community 

foundation serving a broad range of 

charitable purposes for communities of our area. 

It was established in 1983 as the Midland 

Community Trust and achieved its independent 

identity as a public foundation in 1989 when the 

IRS recognized its non-profit charitable status. 

The Permian Basin Area Foundation is funded 

by gifts from the public community it serves. 

Donors include individuals, families, citizen 

groups, businesses, organizations, and private 

foundations. The foundation is governed by a 

Board of Governors of private citizens who have 

demonstrated outstanding leadership in the area 

communities. They serve without compensation. 

The board directs support to projects in education, 

arts and humanities, human services, civic 

projects and community services which address 

community needs and enrich community life. 

Many foundations have contributed to 

enhancing the quality of life for Midlanders. 

The listing above represents those for which 

we were able to gather information on their 

specific histories and grant-making data. The 

fact that we have given particular focus to a few 

by no means diminishes the broad and meaningful 

contributions by the many. Several of 

these are new enough in their existence that 

the impact of their grant-making will only be 

realized in years to come. Other foundations 

include: The Beal Foundation, The John and 

Maureen Cox Foundation, The Decompiegne- 

Wallace Foundation, The J. E. and L. E. Mabee 


Foundation, The I. A. O’Shaugnessy 

Foundation, The Potts-Sibley Foundation, The 

Prairie Foundation, and The Scarborough- 

Linebery Foundation. 

Lower City Taxes 

Marked 1970s Effort 

by Ernest Angelo, Jr. 

When I was elected mayor in 1972, Midland 

was suffering through a down cycle in the oil 

industry. The city’s general fund was supported 

almost totally by property tax income. The unappropriated 

surplus was almost non-existent and 

another property tax increase seemed inevitable. 

Even though a sales tax had been defeated a 

year or two before, I supported another election. 

The Midland City Council campaigned for the 

issue without any outside help or advertising. 

The need was explained and a large property tax 

cut was promised. The vote was overwhelmingly 

in favor. The growth-related sales tax combined 

with a reviving oil industry to make three 

or four real property tax cuts possible during my 

eight years in office. By 1980, Midland’s property 

tax rate was one of the lowest of the 25 largest 

cities in Texas. 

In 1972 Midland’s airport was totally inadequate. 

A plan was developed to completely 

remodel the terminal. A revenue bond election 

was held, and voters approved the project. 

Land was acquired, and Midland Center was 

constructed using bond funds. 

A new Central Fire Station was constructed 

between Wall Street and Texas Avenue, allowing 

for the building of the fire museum and making 

additional space available for the Midland Police 

Department. 

We initiated the program of assigning patrol 

cars to individual officers and allowing them to 

utilize them during off-duty hours. It was a 

bonus for the officer. 

What may have been the most significant 

achievement of the period was the identification 

of a close-in route for Loop 250 and the successful 

effort with Representative Tom Craddick 

and Governor Bill Clements to get State support 

for right-of-way purchases. 

The city played a key role in Midland Park 

Mall’s location on the proposed Loop. By 

encouraging the inclusion of a Sakowitz store, it 

was guaranteed to be the best mall between Fort 

Worth and El Paso. Our hope was that the mall’s 

location and proper zoning along Loop 250 

would make Midland a regional shopping destination. 

It took longer than we thought, but it 

has come to pass. 

The 1970s brought new Federal programs, 

and Midland resisted most of them. We refused 

to allow Federal funding to subsidize housing. 

As a result of the publicity associated with that 

refusal a private effort was organized to help 

people with inadequate housing. Ultimately, I 

believe it was instrumental in Bobby Trimble’s 

motivation to start Christmas in April, which 

has received national recognition. We also got 

the Federal Housing Administration to start a 

brand new program to make it possible for people 

without established credit to rent repossessed 

FHA homes with the option to purchase. 

This made it possible for families to acquire residences 

they otherwise could not have afforded. 

Newspapers Participated 

in Building of Midland 

Throughout its history, the community of 

Midland has been served by newspapers: The 

Midland Enterprise, The Staked Plain, The Western 

Eye Opener, The Livestock Reporter, The Midland 

Livestock Reporter, The Midland Gazette, The 

Midland Examiner, The Midland Reporter and 


❖ 

Stars and Christmas bells adorn 

Midland streets in this photograph. 

Gazette-Examiner, or as it is today, The Midland 

Reporter-Telegram. 

The first newspaper in Midland, The Midland 

Enterprise, was published by C.E Gilbert for 11 

months in 1884 apparently beginning shortly 

after the community got its start. However, no 

copies are known to exist. 

The first known newspaper published in 

Midland of which there are copies extant was 

The Staked Plain, published in 1885 and 1886 

by John C. Rathbun. Copies of two dates of this 

newspaper are maintained by the Midland 

County Historical Museum. 

A single copy of another early Midland newspaper, 

known as The Western Eye Opener, is also 

on file at the historical museum. It is for the date 

October 24, 1896 and was found in the cornerstone 

of St. George’s Catholic Church. 

The Midland Gazette also operated in the early 

years, since originals or microfilms exist from 

the years 1889, 1890 and 1905. An article in the 

Midland Reporter-Telegram of June 20, 1976 

indicated that the publisher was an Englishman 

named Bert Rawlins. M.M. Pittman was listed as 

the proprietor and Albert S. Hawkins as editor. 

During that era, The Midland Livestock Reporter 

was started with Rawlins as publisher. However, 

it was soon taken over by Arkansas newsman and 

printer C.C. Watson on July 25, 1899. 

On the heels of The Livestock Reporter came 

The Midland Examiner, which changed hands 

several times. One of the owners was the Rev. 

A.C. Parker, an early-day pastor of The First 

Christian Church. 

Watson dropped the middle name of The 

Midland Livestock Reporter, making it The 

Midland Reporter. 

T. Paul Barron purchased The Reporter from 

Watson and converted it into a semi-weekly in 

1925 and a daily in 1929. In the same month 

that the newspaper went daily, Barron and two 

Amarillo publishers formed the Midland 

Publishing Co. with the purchase of The Daily 

Telegram. That consolidation resulted in The 

Midland Reporter-Telegram. 

Barron became the sole owner in July 1936, 

selling it to James N. Allison, Sr., on August 

15, 1940. 

The early Midland newspapers promoted settlement 

in the Midland region. In The Staked 

Plain, editor Rathbun encouraged immigration 

to Midland. 

After Allison bought the newspaper in 1940, 

he published it until his death on January 14, 

1975. That same month, James N. “Jimmy” 

Allison, Jr., became publisher. 

The younger Allison, who was widely 

admired in the city and a prominent civic 

leader, had returned to Midland the year before 

to rejoin his parents in the family newspaper 

business. 

During the 1950s, Allison became a close 

friend and political promoter of George H.W. 

Bush. It was during those years that Allison 

played a special “role in Bush’s rites of passage 

from the sinecure position of Midland County 

chairman for the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket in 

1956 into the arena of high-stakes elective politics…,” 

according to an article by Peter Roussel, 

one-time press secretary for Congressman Bush. 

In 1966, Allison directed Bush’s successful 

campaign for a seat in Congress from Houston’s 

Seventh District, where Bush had moved from 

Midland in 1958, and he later joined Bush’s staff 

in Washington, D.C. From that vantage point, 

Jimmy Allison was named deputy chairman of 

the Republican National Committee in April 

1969, a position he held until December 15, 

1970, when he resigned to organize a political 

consulting firm in Washington. Allison liquidated 

that firm in the summer of 1974 and 


eturned to Midland, only a few months before 

his father’s death. 

Jimmy Allison died only three years later, on 

August 31, 1978, at the age of 46 after suffering 

a major illness. 

After his death The Midland Reporter-Telegram 

was sold to The Hearst Corporation in 1979. 

William C. Thomas was named publisher 

that year. George B. Irish was named publisher 

of The Midland Reporter-Telegram in March 1982. 

He served in the capacity until December 1984 

when Charles A. Spence assumed the position of 

publisher. 

❖ 

Above: Mural depicting the history of 

Midland from its beginning in the 

days of dinosaurs to the present day, 

located in the Midland Record Center 

in the former public safety building 

and dedicated June 18, 1993. 



Below: Midland at night, ca. 1959. 


Preserving History: the City 

of Midland Records Center 

By Bill “Mr. Secretary” Clanton 

The genesis of the City of Midland Records 

Center commenced with the advent of the socalled 

“James Bond Ordinance No. 7007,” adopted 

by the Midland City Council on April 24, 

1990. The city secretary was named as Records 

Management Officer (RMO). 

A suitable building was needed. The gymnasium 

in the former Public Safety Building was 

selected and was dedicated on June 18, 1993. 

George Whitfield, Jr., San Antonio Records 

Management Officer, presented a dedicatory 

address. 

Prior to the dedication ceremony, the new site 

had been renovated. The archival section of the 

Records Center will preserve items of historical 

significance, including priceless tax records from 

1909 to 1979; more than 1,200 scrapbooks, 

which were donated by Bill Cogdell. 

Council member Claudia Egan served as 

chairperson for the Records Center Planning 

Committee, with Glen Hackler, assistant city 

manager, and Lyn Miller, deputy city secretary, 

serving as members. 

Clanton visualized that a panoramic mural on 

the east wall of the Records Center could portray 

the history of Midland and the Permian Basin. 

This “vision” was presented to the planning committee, 

and a mural committee was appointed. 

Bobby Burns served as chairman for Phase One. 

Burns later became an outstanding mayor for 

Midland. Dr. Richard Jolly, vice president of 

Midland College, served as chairman for Phase 

Two. Bill Collyns, editor emeritus of the Midland 

Reporter-Telegram, acted as advisor. 

The mural project was presented to the council 

and officially approved, whereupon the city 

secretary and members of the mural committee 

commenced solicitations and received from private 

contributors funds totaling $22,000. 

Artist Leilani Pinard of Ruidoso, New Mexico 

was selected to paint the mural and was assisted 

by local artist Tom White. 

The concept of the mural design is to depict 

the Midland/Permian Basin Area beginning some 

200 million years ago. Also depicted is the 

“Midland Man” skull, discovered several years 

ago on the Scharbauer Ranch. It is the oldest 

skeletal remains found on the North American 

Continent. 

Highlights, through the passage of time to 

the present, are portrayed on a 50-foot wall, 12 

feet in height, beginning with a landscape containing 

buffalo, wild horses and smaller animals. 

The skyline of Midland, at the turn of the century, 

progresses from the early 1900s to the present. 

The skyline portrays a flock of geese gliding 

overhead in “V” formation. Placed chronologically 

are: the Pliska Aeroplane, circa 1911, and a 

modern jet, depicted on the upper level of the 

mural. 

A scroll in parchment color tones unfolds 

across the mural on which objects are painted to 

correspond with the appropriate time period. 

Representation includes Indians, Spanish explorers, 

Capt. Randolph B. Marcy, a wagon train, the 

railroad, cowboys, the cotton industry, the Santa 

Rita No. 1, Midland as the oil and gas headquarters 

for the Permian Basin, Kentucky Derby-winning 

race horses Tomy Lee (1959) and Alysheba 

(1987), the rescue of little Jessica McClure 

(1987), depictions of the educational and religious 

influences, as well as a caduceus reflecting 

Midland as a regional medical center. The prominent 

Scharbauer Hotel and Petroleum Building 

are portrayed. Also included on the scroll are the 

first Hispanic to serve on the Midland Police 

Department, and a painting of Dr. Viola Coleman 

representing the Black community. 

Another informative scene on the mural illustrates 

former United States President George 

H.W. Bush during the 1950’s era, when he and 

his young family resided in Midland. 

“Fifi,” the World War II B-29 Superfortress, is 

indicative of Midland as the headquarters of the 

Confederate Air Force. 

Highlighted in the center of the scroll is MID- 

LAND in illusory relief. 

The Records Center’s Archival Section-which 

includes the 12-foot by 50-foot panoramic 

mural-was dedicated on October 6, 1994. 

State Senator Teel Bivins was keynote speaker 

at the dedication ceremony. 

The future of the Records Center and the 

Archival Section is contingent upon the actions 

of the mayor and council of the City of Midland. 


Jaycees Paved the Way 

By James W. Mims 

The end of World War II ushered in a period 

of amazing growth for Midland. The population 

grew from an estimated 12,000 in 1945 to over 

20,000 in the 1950 census, a growth that would 

continue for the next 50 years. 

Civic problems were not only unmet needs 

caused by wartime rationing, but also those of 

major growth. Everything Midland had was inadequate, 

from water and telephones to houses and 

office space. And street paving! 

One of the direct beneficiaries of Midland’s 

growth was the Midland Jaycees. A tiny handful 

of men who did not qualify for military service 

had kept the organization alive during the war. 

They were now joined by the returning servicemen. 

These young men had just won the greatest 

war in history, and generally would not accept 

the words “Can’t be done!” They took up the 

challenge of paving. 

Texas law at that time required cities to initiate 

a paving program to create valid liens against 

homesteads. This permitted financing the substantial 

cost. But it was also expensive for the city. 

Even though street paving was needed, it was 

properly ranked below water, sewer, and other 

needs, and there wasn’t enough money for everything. 

Was there another answer? 

There was! The Jaycees formed a committee 

and went to work. They first contacted the W.L. 

Johnson Company, a paving company. Would 

they help with some sort of volunteer program? 

Yes, they would! 

Would the community support such a project? 

An open meeting was held in the Crystal Ball 

Room of the Scharbauer Hotel to see. The Jaycee 

proposal was to pave to city specifications any 

block where all the property owners would sign 

up, anywhere in town. The cost would be $4.50 

per front foot, the city would engineer and supervise 

the project, and pay for the intersections and 

alleys. The banks would provide unsecured loans 

to the property owners if needed. After a thorough 

discussion, it was overwhelmingly 

approved. 

Then the Jaycees put shoe leather to their idea. 

Every night for several months, club members 

called on property owners, explained the project, 

got contracts signed, and in many cases, got 

checks for the full amount of the cost. Over 100 

blocks of paving was added to the city by this 

unique program. What a contrast to the more 

modern idea of running to the City Council with 

outstretched hand, demanding the paving the 

city “owes.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles: 

“Communities and Locales of Midland County, Texas,” Julia Cauble Smith, 1991. 

“Early Midland and Midland County,” Colleen Michael, April 13, 1978. 

“History of Midland County,” C.C. Watson. 

“Midland County Place Names,” W. Vernon Fields, 1967. 

“Sarah Brown Dorsey, Early Settler of Midland,” April 17, 1964. 

“The Staked Plain,” J.C. Rathburn, May 13, 1886. 

“The Story of Midland,” Jo Dean Downing, 1952. 

“Up from Section Houses: The Development of Texas and Pacific Towns West of Big Spring,” Geraldine T. Kline, March 10, 1973. 

Books: 

Hudspeth’s Midland City Directory, 1941, 1942 

Land of the High Sky, John Howard Griffin, 1959, Midland. 

Legacy, The Story of the Permian Basin Region of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico, Gus Clemens, 1983, San Angelo. 

Midland Police Department 1941-1991, 1991, Midland. 

Oil Booms: Social Change in Five Texas Towns, Roger M. Olien and Diana Davids Olien, 1982. 

Rough Times-Tough Fiber, J. Evetts Haley, 1976, Canyon. 

The Permian Basin, Era of Advancement, Samuel D. Myres, 1977, El Paso. 

The Permian Basin, Era of Discovery Samuel D. Myres, 1973, El Paso. 

The Pioneer History of Midland County, Texas 1880-1926, Nancy R. McKinley, editor, 1985. 

Wildcatters: Texas Independent Oil Men, Roger M. Olien and Diana Davids Olien, 1984. 



SHARING THE 

HERITAGE 



Langston Realtors .................................................78 

Claire's Service Experts .........................................79 

Mims & Stephens, Inc..........................................80 

Parker & Parsley Petroleum, Inc...........................82 

Memorial Hospital & Medical Center ...................84 

Westwood Medical Center ....................................86 

Midland County Historical Society .......................88 

Phillips Casing & Tubing......................................89 

Hanley Petroleum Inc. ..........................................90 

Hampton Inn........................................................91 

West Texas Abstract & Title Company..................92 

Midland Hilton Hotel & Towers ...........................93 

The Bosworth Company .......................................94 

Stubbeman, McRae, Sealy, Laughlin, & 

Browder, Inc.......................................................96 

Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc..............98 

Compressor Systems, Inc....................................100 

ARCO Permian ...................................................102 

Marathon Oil Company......................................104 

First United Methodist Church...........................106 

Abbott Building Company ..................................108 

Qualified Printers................................................109 

Midland Map Company......................................110 

Allison Cancer Center.........................................111 

Allen Orthotics & Prosthetics, Inc. .....................112 

Plunger Lift Systems, Inc. ...................................113 

Conoco Inc. ........................................................114 

TU Electric .........................................................115 

Advance Consultants Corporation ......................116 

JIMSCO, Inc. ......................................................117 

Mid-Tex of Midland, Inc.....................................118 

Fashion Cleaners ................................................119 

Campbell Construction Company ......................120 

Kent Distributors, Inc. & 

Kent Lubrication Centers..................................121 

Rogers Ford ........................................................122 

First Service........................................................123 

J.C. Williamson...................................................124 

Crouch Well Service ...........................................125 

Manor Park, Inc..................................................126 

Industrial Oils, Inc..............................................127 

Patrons 

Ignition Systems & 

Controls 

Pioneer Natural 

Resources, Inc. 

West Texas Cat 

Sharing the Heritage | 77

LANGSTON 

REALTORS 

❖ 

Top: Joanne Langston, founding 

chairman of an international real 

estate consortium, with 

representatives from Australia, 

Ireland and New Zealand in 1986. 

Below: Joanne and Harvey Langston 

as young realtors in 1967. 

Today’s Langston 

Realtors was founded as 

Harvey Langston realtors 

over three decades ago in 

1967. Homes were selling 

for $8 to $12 per square 

foot and the “upper range of 

the market” started at 

$29,000! A sale file usually 

consisted of three pages: a 

listing agreement, an offer to 

purchase, and a copy of the 

closing statement. A daily 

“pink sheet” published by 

the Board informed sales 

associates of listed and sold properties. An exodus 

of 35 major oil employees could depress home 

values for months if not years! And the city’s leading 

Realtor firms were the namesakes of their brokers: 

Maxson, Moore, Roberts, Johnson, Pelletier, 

Carr, Boerme, Wallace, Weaver and the new kid 

on the block, Langston. 

As technology and society have changed, so 

has the real estate profession. Since 1967, property 

values have multiplied by four to five times; 

a “sold” file is one inch thick, consisting of eight 

page contracts, eighteen page inspection 

reports, and numerous disclaimers to protect 

everyone involved! A vast computer system covering 

virtually all of West Texas provides 

Realtors instantaneous details on listed and sold 

properties and numerous Realtor web pages disseminate 

this information to a worldwide audience. 

A strengthened, diversified local economy 

protects real estate values even though groups of 

transferees still leave. And Langston Realtors is 

the only remaining office from 30 years ago. 

The company that began in 1967 with one 

listed property and Harvey Langston as its broker 

and only employee, today is headed by 

Harvey’s wife, Joanne, and consists of 45+ sales 

associates, a staff of 10, two offices and $100 

million in annual sales. In response to a growing 

relocation market, Langstons has become a 

leader in national and international relocation 

organizations. In 1985 Joanne served as 

President of RELO, the nation’s largest referral 

organization of independent Brokers, and, in 

1986, served as the first chairman of an international 

consortium of organizations from the 

U.S., England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New 

Zealand and Canada. 

Langston Realtors and each of its associates 

feel a strong commitment to Midland; the company 

and its individuals generously give service 

and resources to church, civic, welfare, education, 

art and other community organizations. 

Joanne was 1989-90 Chairman of the Chamber 

of Commerce, chaired the opening of Museum 

of the Southwest, co-chaired the opening of the 

CAF Headquarters, and has served on many 

community boards and as a volunteer with 

numerous organizations. 


When James T. Claire opened his air conditioning, 

plumbing and refrigeration service in 

1987, he had a 200-square-foot warehouse, one 

employee, and a reputation for quality service, 

built through his years of service on Sears 

Roebuck appliances and equipment. 

His goal was to provide customers with 

excellent service, quickly and efficiently, while 

also attracting the best manufacturers of equipment. 

The company succeeded. That first year, 

Claire’s Air Conditioning, Plumbing & 

Refrigeration had total sales of $67,000. 

By 1989, Claire’s Inc. moved into a larger 

building with 2,500 square feet of office space, 

centrally located between Midland and Odessa. 

In 1992, Claire’s sales volume was 

$1,400,000, making it one of the Permian 

Basin’s largest heating, air conditioning and 

plumbing contractors. In its first eight years, the 

company’s sales volume had increased by more 

than 3,000 percent! 

In 1994, with 30 employees, the company 

added a new division, Crystal Claire Water 

Conditioning, as an additional service to its customers. 

In 1995, it opened a location in Wichita 

Falls. In 1997, Claire’s merged with Service 

Experts, to gain strength and buying power, an 

advantage to customers needing replacements 

or parts. The company’s stock is traded over the 

New York Stock Exchange as Service Experts. 

As a recognized leader in the air conditioning 

industry, Claire’s Inc. is a member of the Better 

Business Bureau, Midland and Odessa 

Chambers of Commerce, ACCA, NADCA and 

other associations. 

Claire’s growth has come from hard work, 

well-trained personnel and satisfied customers 

who know they will always get the same quick, 

efficient and excellent service they have had 

from the beginning. 

Today, the company’s sales exceed $6.5 million 

annually, with 70 employees, and the familiar 

Claire’s trucks are a familiar and welcome 

sight throughout the area. 

CLAIRE 

SERVICE 

EXPERTS 


MIMS & 

STEPHENS, 

INC. 

❖ 

205 W. Wall St., circa 1949. 

THIS IS A SAMPLE PHOTO CREDIT. 

Ray V. Hyatt and Percy J. Mims opened their 

insurance agency in 1922 as Hyatt & Mims. 

Midland was a small town then, and insurance 

needs were small as well. For instance, in 1924, 

a client insured his brand new Ford Roadster for 

$315 against the perils of Fire and Theft. The 

premium was only $8.10! 

When Claude O. Crane became a partner in 

1929, the name became Hyatt, Mims & Crane. 

Soon afterward, Hyatt left the business, which 

became Mims & Crane. 

In 1937, Percy Mims bought the building 

at 205 W. Wall Street, recently vacated by 

the telephone company, across the street from 

the courthouse. 

County clerk Susie Noble called, all concerned. 

“Percy, why did you want to move way out 

there?” she asked! She considered two blocks 

from Main Street as “out of town.” 

Mims & Crane grew as the town grew. They 

wrote life insurance, property and casualty 

insurance, sold real estate, managed rental property, 

brokered real estate loans, and provided 

abstracts through the West Texas Abstract 

Company, which they also owned. 

The partners were always involved in community 

affairs, and Percy Mims was serving as 

president of the school board when he died suddenly, 

May 15, 1945. Maurine Mims, Percy’s 

widow, then became active in the business, and 

remained so until failing health caused her 

retirement at the age of 84 in 1980! 

Following his discharge from the Army in 

October 1945, James Mims joined his mother 

and Crane, to be followed within a short time by 

Crane’s son, Lee M. (Tad) Crane as partners. 

In 1946, the Cranes sold their interest and 

moved to Ruidoso, New Mexico. Edwin L. 

Stephens, an 18-year employee of the Loyalty 

Group Insurance Companies came from Fort 

Worth to become a partner, and the name 

became Mims & Stephens the following year. 


❖ 

Above: Percy J. Mims and 

Ray V. Hyatt, circa 1912 

Below, left to right: San Smith, 

JamesMims, Jamie Hunt, Brenda 

Rose, Donna Horton, Bea Williams, 

Sherry Phillips, Kim Turner, Brenda 

Thomas, Roland Hale, Lacrisha 

Wynne, David Mims, Brandee Noll, 

Suzanne Butler, Brenda Smith, Joyce 

Brumley, Linda Ford, and Tammy 

Warner in June 1997 at 1030 

Andrews Highway. 


Even though Midland had only 12,000 or so 

people, everyone did not get the message, 

according to James Mims. 

“We were just working away one day,” he 

said, “when a man came walking up the steps 

and through the door. He stopped and looked 

around and said, ‘Well, whereinhell’s the telephone 

company?’ We had to tell him they had 

been gone for 10 years.” 

In 1949, they remodeled their 205 W. Wall 

location with an attractive storefront. Next door 

was Hughes Jewelry. One night, thieves broke 

into the insurance office, then cut a hole 

through the wall attempting to reach the jeweler’s 

vault. But the hole was too high, and the 

vault turned out to be below the opening. 

Because they had moved a map board over to 

conceal their work, the hole wasn’t even noticed 

until the Mims & Stephens employee whose 

office held the hole came in to work 

“Uh-oh, Santa’s been here,” he said. When 

news of the incident hit the paper, Mims & 

Stephens handed free tickets to the streams of 

spectators coming to view the scene of the 

“Nearly Great Burglary.” 

In 1977, the company celebrated a third generation. 

After graduating from Texas A&M, then 

getting his Master’s in Business Administration 

at Auburn, doing military service as Captain in 

the U.S. Air Force, and working five years as 

national bank examiner, David Mims came 

home to the partnership. 

In 1997, Mims & Stephens celebrated its 

75th anniversary. Among honored guests were 

Loys Lockler, 91, who had been a home economics 

student of Mrs. Percy Mims in 1921, 

and worked for Mims & Stephens 26 years, and 

Virginia Warren, 92, who had worked for the 

firm before and after World War II. 

Today, although the process is now electronic, 

Mims & Stephens still does business the way 

they started—with the same consideration of 

clients as friends, and with the same down-toearth 

courtesies and common sense. 


PARKER & 

PARSLEY 

PETROLEUM, 

INC. 

Midland is famous for its “oil boom” handshake 

deals. Perhaps one of the most rewarding 

to both business and community was that of a 

geologist, Howard Parker, and an engineer, Joe 

Parsley. It was in 1962 that those two visionaries, 

with nearly empty pockets, would shake 

hands in partnership to form the embryo for the 

development of a $4 billion giant of the oil and 

gas industry (O&G). 

Howard and Joe, who were good friends, 

agreed to form a 50/50 partnership called Parker 

& Parsley (P&P) and to use their talent and 

experience to find oil. Being well known as successful 

and prudent men, they turned numerous 

deals, worked for overrides, and met many 

influential people who helped them promote 

P&P’s expansion while also taking advantage of 

the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which had a major 

influence on domestic industry enhancement. 

Enjoying handsome growth in assets mostly 

from the Spraberry Trend near Midland, P&P 

took on new hires who would take the company 

into national recognition. Bob Castor came on 

in 1979 to manage partnerships and landowner 

agreements, and was followed by a young, energetic 

reservoir engineer named Scott Sheffield, 

who would later lead P&P to uncommon 

heights. Frank Kubica, an innovative CPA, came 

on board to work the Wall Street scene, with Jim 

Moring following to manage the massive growth 

in exploration and production (E&P) in the 

Spraberry Trend. 

In the early 80s, things started to go sour for 

oil and gas. With the overthrow of the Shah of 

Iran and OPEC influence on the world crude 

market, the U.S. economy was in a decline. 

Efforts to go public on Wall Street were 

scrapped and the P&P drilling fund was established, 

which by 1983 would raise over $83 

million for E&P expansion. By mid 1984, the 

industry was in disarray and Howard and Joe 

decided to sell the business to concentrate on 

family values. P&P was sold to Southmark 

Corp. in December 1984, with the current staff 

remaining and Scott Sheffield taking on the 

reins of the company now valued at $30 million. 

With Scott at the helm, P&P pulled off a daring 

company buy-out to save it from 

Southmark’s bankruptcy. Soon after it won a 

David vs. Goliath lawsuit against a major multinational 

service company. P&P moved forward, 

forging the close “family” bond that remains the 


envy of the industry today. P&P’s reputation for 

finding oil and its prudent operations brought 

in a mass of lucrative deals, including acquisitions 

of Indian Wells, MGF, Mobil, Damson and 

others. By 1991, P&P went public, acclaimed by 

Forbes as one of the nation’s fastest growing and 

well-managed companies. In 1994, P&P went 

international by acquiring Bridge Oil, and later 

sold its Australian interests for historic profits, 

which enabled the company to reduce its debt 

while adding over 300 million barrels of oil 

equivalent (BOE) in proven reserves through 

other acquisitions and discoveries. By 1997, 

P&P was 700 employees strong, had $1.3 billion 

in assets, and was primed to take on its 

largest challenge ever: merging with Mesa 

Petroleum, a like-size company focused on natural 

gas production. Pioneer Natural Resources 

Company is formed! 

Today Pioneer, with headquarters in 

Irving, Texas, three major divisions covering 

seven states, plus Gulf of Mexico offshore and 

international interests in several countries, 

has become the third largest independent 

E&P company in the U.S. With Scott 

Sheffield as CEO, Pioneer has an enterprise 

value of $4.2 billion, daily production of 

60,000 BO and 440 million cubic feet of natural 

gas, reserves exceeding 611 million BOE 

and unlimited national and international 

potential. Its more than 1100 employees and 

its 150,000 stockholders will prosper in 

Pioneer’s mission of uncommon value to 

employees and investors, creating a culture 

that is “opportunity-driven,” being financially 

flexible and credible, with a long-lived 

reserve base as its foundation. 

An impressive story! From a simple partnership 

in 1962 to an industry leader seeking premier 

objectives by putting its people and 

investors first, Pioneer was born from a handshake 

in Midland, Texas. 


MEMORIAL 

HOSPITAL 

& 

MEDICAL 

CENTER 

Since its beginning, Memorial Hospital and 

Medical Center has enjoyed the intense involvement 

of the people of Midland. It is, and always 

has been, their hospital. 

It was in June of 1945 that the Midland 

Chamber of Commerce named 25 governors of 

the Midland Memorial Foundation to find funds 

for building and operation of a community hospital. 

The E.P. Cowdens and the Clinton Dunagens 

donated adjoining tracts totaling seven acres 

bordering the Andrews Highway to accommodate 

the building. 

The hospital opened July 11, 1950, with 75 

beds, and a staff of 27 doctors and 65 employees. 

By 1954, the hospital had an average daily 

census of 68 patients. The hospital converted 

some private rooms to semi-private to allow for 

25 more beds and 20 baby bassinets. In 1957, 

the board members broke ground for an east 

wing expansion, aided by seven-year-old 

Virginia Beth Wood, the first baby born at 

Midland Memorial Hospital. 

Still the hospital grew. In 1963, a nine-bed 

intensive care unit was added to the east wing, 

with a corridor connecting to the hospital’s 

surgery unit, and, over the objections of one 

founding father, a 200-ton air conditioning system. 

In 1971, the hospital spread west, with a 

three-bed coronary care unit. In 1977, establishment 

of Midland County Hospital District 

enabled Midland County to collect ad valorem 

taxes to cover the cost of construction, capital 

expenses and upkeep. During 1979, the hospital 

added a new maternity wing, critical care and 

post-critical care units, and converted virtually 

all beds to private rooms. 

In 1981, Helon Y. Allison and other donors 

gave $3.5 million for the construction of the twolevel, 

20,000 square-foot Allison Cancer Center. 

In 1986, beds were added in the postpartum 

and medical/surgical sections, and the hospital 

could accommodate 272 patients. 

But the board saw growing needs to be 

addressed. Memorial Rehabilitation Hospital, 

located on the west loop, opened in the early 

1990s to address neurological, neuromuscular 

and orthopedic disorders. With $2 million in 

gifts from the Abell-Hanger Foundation and 

others, the hospital opened the Abell-Hanger 

Medical Pavilion in 1989, to house a magnetic 

resonance imaging (MRI) center, Urgent Care 

Center, West Texas pathology Lab, and 

Occupational and Physical Therapy Center. 

The hospital reached out in other ways. 

Midland Memorial Foundation and Abell- 

Hanger Foundation joined forces to double the 

size of Midland College’s nursing program. A 


skilled nursing unit was opened. In 1991, 

MHMC installed the Varian Clinac 2100C linear 

accelerator to provide the latest technology in 

radiation therapy at the Allison Cancer Center, 

opened the a cardiac catherization lab, and 

established the Community Health Care Clinic 

for uninsured and underinsured prenatal and 

pediatric care. 

In 1992, the hospital bought Surgi-Care of 

Midland Inc., a freestanding outpatient surgical 

center, thus acquiring two additional surgery 

suites. 

Summer of 1997 saw even more changes to 

MHMC. The surgical unit was moved to the 

third floor, which more than 

doubles the size of the surgical 

unit, with eight operating 

rooms. The vacated surgical 

area will be utilized for a 

heart institute, with two cardiovascular 

operating rooms 

and cardiac catheterization 

labs. Texas Tech’s Health 

Sciences Center has added 

cardiology training as part of 

the internal medicine program 

available to medical residents 

in training at Midland 

Memorial. A remote fetal 

monitoring system was 

added, a gift from the 

Hospital Auxiliary, as well as 

funds for purchase of a 

LORAD StereoGuide® breast 

biopsy unit, allowing for biopsies without conventional 

surgery. The East Wing’s third floor 

rooms were renovated and enlarged to better 

meet the needs of patients, visitors and staff. 

Memorial Hospital and Medical Center today 

is one of Midland’s stellar accomplishments. Yet, 

the board is already making plans for 21st century 

healthcare, combining the finest in care 

with the finest in technology. 

Midland should be proud indeed. 


WESTWOOD 

MEDICAL 

CENTER 

Midland has had options for private hospital 

care since 1964, when Parkview General Hospital 

opened its doors at 3201 Sage Street, near 

Wadley. The hospital was bought by five local 

physicians in 1978, and it continued its operation 

through a series of ownership changes until 

1985, when an alliance of 41 Midland physicians 

and the Claydesta Corporation acquired it, 

changed its name to Physicians and Surgeons 

Hospital, and began a series of innovative steps in 

healthcare not previously available in Midland. 

Primary among these was the Permian Basin’s first 

open-heart surgery program. 

But that was just the beginning for P&S. In 

1993, Champion Healthcare Corp. of Houston, 

took over the hospital and infused it with capital 

and a new style of 

management which 

would bring it to the 

forefront in medical 

technology and focus 

upon the comfort 

and recovery of its 

patients in a way not 

hitherto experienced 

in the Permian Basin. 

Of the most 

immediate concern 

was the facility itself, now almost 30 years old 

and no longer adequate to meet the needs of the 

1990s. 

“Champion’s aim was to continue the operation 

of the hospital while designing a healthcare 

facility that would meet the current and future 

needs of Midland,” said its new CEO, Mike 

Potter. Construction on the new hospital was 

begun in 1994. 

“We needed a new facility because the largest 

constant in healthcare in the last 15 years has 

been change,” said Potter. “It needed to be a 

flexible design. We didn’t know, with future 

technology whether we would need more outpatient 

space, more surgical space, or more 

diagnostic space. In many hospitals, you have to 

tear things down in 

order to expand.” 

The new facility, 

to be named 

Westwood Medical 

Center, was finished 

in October 1995. 

Built around a threestory 

atrium with a 

mall concept, the 

facility has an open, 

flexible design that 


provides both a welcoming atmosphere to 

patients and their visitors and easy access to 

hospital staff. Westwood has three distinct parts: 

the administration and retail area, the medical 

office building, and the clinical hospital section. 

The surgery area features a same-day surgery 

unit as well as in-patient surgery, with the computer-monitored 

intensive care unit on the same 

floor. 

The hospital’s third floor is dedicated to 

patients with non-surgical needs. 

Probably one of the most popular units in the 

facility is the self-contained Birthplace, with 

labor, delivery, recovery and post-partum care in 

Two other additions to Westwood’s branch of 

services are open craniotomies (brain surgery) 

and cardiac diagnostic capabilities, both of 

which will be in place before the printing of this 

history. There are also plans to expand the facility’s 

clerical capabilities in order to reduce the 

burden of paperwork on the patient, 

says Potter. 

“The whole concept of Westwood is to look 

at the demands for healthcare throughout the 

community, for healthcare, reimbursement systems, 

and the balance between them. We have 

the infrastructure to be able to adapt to that very 

rapidly.” 

one room, equipped with comfortable chairs 

and rockers, bassinets for the babies and 

private bathrooms, all conveniently near the 

nursing station. 

As important as the building, though, are 

Westwood’s innovative methods for providing 

healthcare. In keeping with its concept of holistic 

healthcare for the community, there are the 

home visits to patients, and “Prompt Care”, a 

24-hour on-site physician care option opened in 

1996. Most recently in place is an independently-operated 

specialty wound care center, sponsored 

by Westwood, and devoted to the care of 

hard-to-heal wounds, with the emphasis on a 

multi-disciplinary approach to the problem on 

an outpatient basis. 


MIDLAND 

COUNTY 

HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY 

❖ 

Top: Zee Taylor Brown House 

Bottom: Nancy McKinley, president 

and guiding light of Midland County 

Historical Society. 

Midland County 

Historical Society has 

been keeper of our past 

since 1954. Members 

maintain the county historical 

museum, work 

toward the designation of 

historic sites, and keep 

us ever mindful of those 

whose early presence 

made us who we are. 

They have mapped out a 

walking historical tour, 

and now own Midland’s 

premier historic treasure—the 

Z. Taylor 

Brown house. 

The Society’s first (and only) president is 

Nancy McKinley, a dynamo with a reputation 

for getting things done. 

When the library was built in its present 

location in 1958, the museum was moved to its 

basement on a “temporary” basis, where it 

enjoyed neither the benefit of outside windows 

nor access except through the library, for 30 

years. 

“Even so, the kids loved that basement,” said 

Ms. McKinley. 

Everyone also loves the Z. Taylor Brown 

house, which the Society bought, restored, 

and maintains. 

The house was ready to fall down, the yard 

was a mess, and the location invited vandalism. 

“I decided to start with just one thing: guards 

on the lower windows.” 

Then friends Evelyn Scharborough Linebery, 

John P. Butler and Jimmy Allison came to the aid 

of the cause. 

“They provided their time, their talent, and 

their means,” recalls Ms. McKinley, “As we had 

at that time, a funding gap.” 

The restoration took almost nine years. 

“I think the dedication of the Taylor 

Brown/Sarah Dorsey house on July 4, 1976 was 

my proudest moment,” says Ms. McKinley. 

“That project has taken up 20 years of 

my life.” 

When asked if she ever considers giving up, 

Ms. McKinley smiled. 

“They say a drop of water in time will wear 

away a rock. I just keep going, with one project 

at a time. 

“If we don’t do it, who will, and if not now, 

when?” she said. 


PHILLIPS 

CASING & 

TUBING 

❖ 

Joe T. and Kelly Phillips. 

Ten years prior experience in the oilfield, a 

keen knowledge of the latest technology in oilfield 

casing & tubing products, a reputation for 

personal integrity, a commitment to quality 

professional service and one dollar! That’s what 

Joe T. Phillips and his wife Kelly took to the 

bank in 1980 and qualified for a small business 

loan to form Phillips Casing & Tubing, Inc. 

After 18 years of successful business they are 

proud to say… 

“The people of West Texas and the oil 

industry gave us the opportunity to provide a 

good living for our family and serve our community.” 

Now as we enter the next millennium, a 

second generation of Phillips steps in to service 

the needs of the Permian Basin oilfield 

and its people. 

What more could you ask for? 


HANLEY 

PETROLEUM 

INC. 

❖ 

Top: This early-day photo shows 

Hanley employees Joe Loftin, 

Frank Forsyth, Leonard Telford, Mr. 

W. L. Hanley (in suit and hat), and 

Troy Compton. 

Bottom: This photo, taken at the time 

of the October 1997 board meeting, 

shows Hanley officers and directors 

Steve Castle, Rick Barry, Dick Leahy, 

Jim Bird, Sr., Lee Hanley, Jarvis Slade, 

and Nick Carducci. 

The founding father of Hanley Petroleum 

Inc., William Hanley, originally started as a 

brick manufacturer eventually working his way 

into the oil and gas business. William Hanley, 

born in 1844 in Canada, immigrated to 

Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1878. The town of 

Bradford was situated in the heart of one of the 

original oil patches in the United States. 

Coincidentally, Mr. Hanley needed natural gas 

to fire the kilns used to manufacture his bricks. 

So he worked himself into the gas business to 

take care of needs in the brick factory. 

The family brick business continued to 

thrive, particularly during the period after 

WWII when a great deal of construction in the 

United States was underway. By this time the 

founder’s son, W.L. Hanley was running the 

business. Mr. Hanley was also very interested 

and curious about the exciting oil and gas business 

in West Texas. 

Hanley’s son-in-law, Dick Barry, was doing 

some research into a pattern developing in the 

Spraberry field southeast of Midland where 

drilling costs were low and many large discoveries 

were taking place. Hanley did a farmout and 

drilled its first well in the early 1950’s. They were 

successful and the company has continued to 

grow and build in the Spraberry Trend area ever 

since. By the mid-1960’s, Hanley had moved 

from a core business of brick manufacturer to 

predominantly the oil and gas business. In the 

mid-1980’s, the company sold its last brick plant. 

Hanley liked the results of the Spraberry drilling 

and now the company, almost 50 years later, is 

strategically located in the Spraberry Trend and 

other fields in the Permian Basin, and operates 

out of its headquarters in Midland, Texas. 

Now in the third generation of Hanleys, W.L. 

Hanley, Jr., is the chairman of the board and his 

nephew, Rick Barry, (son of the first president, 

Dick Barry), serves on the board of directors. 

Steve Castle, president, oversees all operations. 

Today, Hanley Petroleum operates about 300 

wells, and has an interest in thousands of wells 

that others operate. The company’s core operating 

area is West Texas and Southeastern 

New Mexico, and is expanding to other areas, 

both domestically and internationally. 

Hanley remains privately held by the Hanley 

family. The company is a close knit one with 

24 full-time employees and many contract 

employees from pumpers, geologists, accountants 

to lawyers. 


The Hampton Inn came to Midland in 1989, 

and was purchased in 1995 by Dr. P.V. Patel 

who hired a decorator to add light and color to 

an already spacious interior. In the atrium, they 

hung large kites in primary colors. They added 

silk plants to enhance the garden-like illusion. 

Then the doctor added the crowning touch: an 

eight-foot-high, 200-year-old hand-carved 

pavilion, used in India for weddings and special 

events, and set it into the atrium underneath 

the kites. 

Almost as spectacular as the décor is the 

clientele Midland’s Hampton Inn has served. 

The Russian Red Star Army Chorus and 

Dance Ensemble came the first winter, in a 

storm of boisterous good will. They staged 

impromptu sing-alongs with the Inn’s other 

guests. They swam in the heated pool. 

“We were all exhausted when they left,” 

Rebecca Frazier, the Hampton’s general manager, 

remembers. “It’s a good thing the pavilion 

hadn’t arrived yet, because if it had been here, 

they probably would have climbed it.” 

Other guests were more 

sedate. A Hungarian company 

following the 

Russians made hardly any 

noise at all. 

Many public personalities 

enjoy the seclusion 

offered by the inner rooms 

and suites. “You can have a 

room that opens into the 

courtyard or atrium, or a 

convenient outer room,” 

said Ms. Frazier. 

The Hampton has several 

resident patrons who live 

there because of the superb 

personal service as well as 

for the ambience, but 

some-time guests say you 

don’t have to be an oldtimer 

to enjoy the visit. 

“They call you by name, 

and they listen—and they 

always make you feel at 

home,” said a recent 

departing guest. “That’s a 

rare thing in today’s world.” 

HAMPTON 

INN 


WEST 

TEXAS 

ABSTRACT 

& TITLE 

COMPANY 

❖ 

Right: Marion S. Daily, president of 

West Texas Abstract & Title Company. 

West Texas Abstract began 75 years ago by the 

Mims family, as an adjunct to their insurance business. 

Most real estate closings were done with 

abstracts and attorney’s opinions in those days. 

After World War II, Mims sold the title company 

to Midland County Clerk Susie Noble, Judge G.G. 

Hazel and Boyd Laughlin. They operated the 

company for several years before selling to Elliott 

& Waldron Abstract & Title Company. Title 

Insurance Company of Minnesota acquired the 

company in the late 1960s as part of the liquidation 

of Elliott & Waldron. Local 

attorney J.D. Starnes, Jr. purchased 

the company in 1974. Marion Daily 

became the manager and President 

in July 1976. Mr. Daily acquired 

100 percent ownership in 1984. 

Mr. Daily has been active in the 

local community since his arrival 

in Midland. He was active in the 

Midland Soccer Association when 

it began in 1977. He is a member 

of the Midland Chamber of 

Commerce and the Permian Basin 

Board of Realtors. He served as 

Chairman of the Board of 

Directors, of the Better Business 

Bureau of the Permian Basin in 

1993. He is also active in the 

Texas Land Title Association, a 

statewide trade association, serving 

as a Director in 1996-97. 

There have been many changes 

in the title industry in the last 

decade. Technology has brought about a 

decrease in the time frame that everything happens. 

The use of fax machines, modems and 

overnight delivery is the normal way of doing 

things now. 

One aspect of the abstract and title business 

remains the same, according to Mr. Daily. 

“The buyers and sellers still have to come in 

personally to sign their loan papers, deeds and 

other documents required for the transfer 

of property.” 


From its very beginning, probably more than 

any other spot, this is where the big deals have 

been made, hands shaken, agreements made 

on vital matters affecting the 

lives not only of Midlanders 

but of people around the 

world. 

The Hilton concept of 

superb hospitality began in 

1918, but Midland didn’t 

have a Hilton until 1976, 

when the old Scharbauer 

Hotel, built in 1928, was 

imploded and razed to make 

way for the Midland Hilton 

and Towers—just in time for 

the greatest oil boom to hit 

the area in 50 years. To meet 

the demand for accommodations, 

a second tower was 

added in 1982, increasing the 

size of the hotel to 249 rooms. 

But when the bust came, 

the franchise owners suffered 

along with the rest of the 

community. There was no 

money for renovation or 

repairs. When the franchise 

was bought out by Medallion 

Hotels in 1989, they spent 

$2.7 million remodeling the 

guestrooms and public areas. 

Although the Hilton’s primary 

clientele is corporate, 

there have been others to enjoy 

the hotel’s unique brand of 

hospitality because of its proximity 

to the federal courthouse, 

or the Midland Center. This 

was Zsa Zsa Gabor’s home 

away from home, as well as 

that of her attorney, Melvin 

Belli, during her trial for 

charges incurred as a result of 

an incident in San Antonio. 

Singer Waylon Jennings stayed 

here. But the Hilton has a history 

of giving star treatment to 

everyone, no matter what 

her/his business is. 

“Every guest we have is 

very important to us, and we’re equally pleased 

to have each one,” says general manager John P. 

Sakelaris. 

❖ 

MIDLAND 

HILTON 

HOTEL & 

TOWERS 

Above: Too Dark To Tell: The 

Midland Hilton is the Benchmark 

of Perfection. 

Below: Bedroom: Every room and 

suite offers the utmost in comfort 

and quiet. 


THE 

BOSWORTH 

COMPANY 

C.A. Gray Plumbing Co. was formed in 

Stanton, Texas in 1949 by Charles Gray. Mr. 

Gray purchased Heath Plumbing and relocated 

his company name and operation to Midland. In 

1952, Mr. Gray hired an eager 15-year-old 

plumber’s apprentice named Corky Bosworth. 

At this time Midland was experiencing rapid 

population growth and the company added new 

residential construction to its existing 

service/repair business. By the early 1960s, C.A. 

Gray Plumbing was installing plumbing, heating 

and air conditioning in 300 to 500 homes a 

year. During this time, Corky Bosworth 

assumed management of the company and 

began to diversify its contracting to include 

apartments, motels, school and other larger 

commercial projects. As the 1970s approached 

the company was contracting work all over West 

Texas, the Panhandle, San Angelo, Abilene, 

Dallas and Oklahoma City. Corky realized the 

need to provide a better service to the customers 

in Midland and began a process of securing 

work within the Midland/Odessa area. 

In 1974, Mr. Gray, although maintaining a partial 

ownership, handed the duties of president to 

Mr. Bosworth. The boom years of the late 1970s 

and early 1980s pushed the company’s revenues 

steeply upward. That growth trend was temporarily 

curbed by the oil bust years of 1983 to 1986. 

In the summer of 1987, Mr. Bosworth purchased 

the remaining stock from the Gray family and 

obtained sole ownership. At that time, the corporation 

changed its operating name to The 

Bosworth Company. Due to poor economic conditions 

in Midland, Corky’s purchase of the corporation 

was a great personal financial risk. Yet 

his confidence in Midland and his employees led 

him to believe he was making the right choice. 

How correct was his hunch? Each year since 

1987, the company has achieved an annual revenue 

growth. He attributes the company’s survival 

to diversification of work, maintaining a 

superior customer reputation and most importantly 

the dedication and loyalty of the employees. 

In an age of outsourcing and sub-contract 

labor, The Bosworth Company currently has 110 

full time employees with no hiring for the job. 

“Our employees are our greatest asset. We 

want to make this a place where they’ll enjoy 

coming to work. We want them to know we 

care,” says Randy Bosworth, son and vice president 

of the company. The company has maintained 

many employees in excess of 30 years 

due to the fact that they offer training, group 

health coverage and 401K benefits not normally 

offered in the construction industry. 


Other factors contributing to the company’s 

success are customer loyalty and a commitment to 

supporting local organizations. Many customers 

have been using The Bosworth Company from its 

beginning, with several second and third generation 

family members now utilizing the services 

provided. The Bosworth Company has developed 

a reputation for support of local events. 

“We’re very proud of Midland and the success 

it has provided us,” says Corky. “Next to 

caring for our employees, the most important 

thing we do is to give back to the community.” 

Since 1959, the company has been an independent 

Lennox dealer. Lennox manufactures 

top of the line heating and cooling equipment 

and has a network of 5000 dealers in the United 

States. Lennox has bestowed its annual “Circle of 

Excellence” award to The Bosworth Company 

every year since 1982, the beginning of this 

award. This award is presented to the top 20 

dealers in each of four national sales regions. In 

1990, Corky and The Bosworth Company was 

awarded the “Dave Lennox Award” which is 

reserved for the top 16 dealers in North America. 

In 1996, Corky was appointed by Governor 

George Bush to the State Air Conditioning and 

Refrigeration Advisory Board. This board provides 

recommendations to the State Legislature 

on laws governing this industry. 

But Corky is not content to rest in the company’s 

past laurels. He states, “The continued 

success of our business rests in the oncoming 

generation.” He has surrounded himself with a 

varied age group of management people. Active 

in growing the customer base are son Randy, 

Ron Ainsworth and David Barton. 

“These guys can’t go anywhere without running 

into customers,” he said. “I think our 

future is in good hands.” 


STUBBEMAN 

MCRAE 

SEALY 

LAUGHLIN 

& 

BROWDER 

INC. 

❖ 

Above, left: W. B. Browder, Jr. 

Above, right: Boyd Laughlin 

The roots of Stubbeman, McRae, Sealy 

Laughlin & Browder, Inc. can be traced back to 

the partnership of Haag & Stubbeman in the 

early 1930s. Midland lawyer, Frank Haag hired 

Frank Stubbeman, to help him with his law 

practice while Haag served in the state legislature. 

The tragic death of Haag in a car accident 

led Stubbeman to recruit another young law 

school graduate, Tom Sealy, to come to Midland 

in 1935 to help with the growing practice. A 

major development in the growth of Midland’s 

oil history, the transfer of the offices of Magnolia 

Oil Company from Eastland to Midland, was 

also a major development for the Firm because 

it brought Hamilton McRae into the fold. McRae 

had been Magnolia’s legal advisor in Eastland 

and followed the company to Midland. McRae 

joined the Firm in 1936, and the Firm was 

named Stubbeman, McRae & Sealy. 

From the beginning, the Firm was intertwined 

with the oil economy of the Permian 

Basin. Frank Stubbeman was an oil and gas title 

specialist, meticulously tracing the often complex 

ownership of the newly developed fields of 

West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico. 

McRae also did title opinions as well as structuring 

transactions and drafting contract documents 

for the growing industry. Sealy was a litigator 

and devoted much of his time to establishing 

and solidifying the Firm’s reputation as 

the West Texas choice for major oil companies 

and up-and-coming independents. 

More business created a need for more 

lawyers. Boyd Laughlin joined the Firm before 

World War II, and when war was declared, both 

Sealy and Laughlin served in the Judge 

Advocate Generals Corps, the legal division of 

the armed forces. Tom Sealy served as an assistant 

to Head Prosecutor Leon Jaworsky during 

the Nazi war trials at Nuremberg. 

The Firm grew with the oil industry and with 

Midland after the war. Many of the new recruits 

were from the legal departments of oil company 

clients of the Firm. Fred M. Cassidy came in 

from Honolulu Oil Company, William F. 

Pennebaker from Shell, and Durward Goolsby 

form Amerada Hess. One lawyer, Walter 

Beardsley, joined the Firm when his car died on 

his way through Midland. A Harvard Law graduate 

hunting a job, Beardsley visited the courthouse 

to kill time and met Boyd Laughlin who 

encouraged him to come interview with the 

Firm. Berardsley was offered a job and remained 

with the Firm until his retirement forty years 

later. 

It was decided in the early 1950s to enhance 

the Firm’s litigation capabilities. William B. 

Browder, Jr., was recruited from Vinson, Elkins 

in Houston in 1952 to head this department. 

Browder and his fellow litigators at Stubbeman, 


❖ 

Top, left: Tom Sealy 

Top, right: Frank Stubbeman 

Bottom, left: Rodney Satterwhite 

Bottom, right: Hamilton E. McRae 

McRae have been part of numerous landmark 

cases in Texas law, especially in oil and gas law. 

Over the more than sixty years of its existence, 

the Firm has represented clients from all 

parts of West Texas and meet their needs in 

diverse areas of the law—-oil and gas title and 

transactions, banking, insurance defense, probate, 

estate planning, medical malpractice, corporations, 

partnerships, securities law and civil 

litigation. Outside of the office, the Stubbeman 

attorneys have maintained a Firm tradition of 

public service through volunteer work with 

local and state government, civic organizations, 

health and human service agencies, churches 

and the arts.. 

Stubbeman, McRae, Scaly, Laughlin & 

Browder, inc. is proud to be a part of the history 

of Midland. 


MOBIL 

EXPLORATION 

& 

PRODUCING 

U.S. INC. 

Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc.’s 

(MEPUS) Permian Business Unit moved into 

the Permian Basin in the mid-1920s. MEPUS, 

then known as Magnolia Petroleum Company, 

immediately made an impact on the local economy 

by buying leases and drilling in all directions 

around the city of Midland. 

According to Samuel D. Myre’s history of the 

area, Magnolia was a major player in 1926 with 

the early development of the Iatan Field in 

Mitchell County and the Chalk, Dora Roberts 

and other fields in Howard County, both northeast 

of Midland. Magnolia also developed fields 

in Crane, Crockett, and Pecos counties to the 

south, and Winkler and Ward counties to the 

west. 

By 1929, Magnolia was producing some 

6,000 barrels of oil per day from Permian Basin 

wells. It was among the first operators to establish 

an office in Midland. The Magnolia 

Building, located at the corner of Big Spring and 

Wall (now the site of First National Bank Plaza), 

started out as a two-story structure, but grew, as 

was needed, to four stories, with its trademark 

flying red horse presiding on the rooftop. A 

Magnolia service station occupied the corner 

across the street from the office. 

In 1939, Magnolia hired Fred Wright in 

Midland, but sent him to Kansas, the first in a 

series of moves that would eventually bring him 

back to Midland. Meanwhile, petroleum engineer 

Glen Barb hired on with the company and 

went to work in Monahans, as a roustabout and 

roughneck. He said he made more money 

roughnecking than he could have as an engineer, 

since he was single and didn’t mind working 

two tours when the rig was short-handed. 

In 1959, Magnolia and General Petroleum 

merged to form Mobil Oil 

Corporation. Fred Wright 

returned to Midland to run 

the Mobil division. While 

Wright was in Midland, 

Magnolia drilled the Pegasus 

discovery in southwestern 

Midland County. Wright says 

the company acted against 

conventional beliefs that said 

there was no oil to be found 

in Midland County and took 

a chance. The Pegasus Field 

is still one of the most prolific oil and gas fields 

in the Permian Basin. 

Long before the use of natural gas had its present 

major role in the industry, Mobil drilled for 

gas, spending millions on the prospect that it 

would someday find its market. Mobil drilled 

the Parks Field, another discovery in Midland 

County. At that same time, the company built a 

gas plant at the Pegasus Field that, although it is 

no longer owned or operated by Mobil, continues 

to operate at full capacity today. 

In 1984, Mobil Oil Corporation and The 

Superior Oil Company merged — a move that 

had a huge impact on the Permian Basin. Since 

there were signs of the bust to come, the community 

welcomed the news that the combined 

new company would remain in Midland.. 

“I hated to miss a day at work, because it was 

so exciting. There was always something going 

on.” Although spoken by Wanda Phillips, a 

MEPUS retiree, this quote could be attributed to 

any one of hundreds of retirees and employees 

who have found work at Mobil to be stimulating, 

satisfying and rewarding. 

Now, after 75 years, the excitement continues. 

With the recent formation of the Permian 

Business Unit, this new unit consolidates 

MEPUS’s previously separate Midland-based 

Light Oil/CO2 business unit and the company’s 

regional gas operations under one management 

structure. Headquartered in Midland, this new 

regional business expects to accelerate development 

of Mobil’s undeveloped oil and gas 

reserves within the Permian Basin. 

Through the consolidation of the local operations, 

Mobil has strengthened the ability to 

achieve long-term performance. By refocusing 

resources of capital and people, they have 


enhanced the already solid foundation for 

growth in the Permian Basin. While some of this 

growth will come from further development of 

existing assets, the leadership intends to add to 

its considerable base business from the remaining 

oil and gas potential within the Basin. 

The Permian Basin is a very important part of 

MEPUS and Mobil Corporation. This consolidation 

is one of several happening within Mobil 

throughout the United States to build strong, 

regionally advantaged businesses. The establishment 

of the Permian Business Unit demonstrates 

Mobil’s commitment to Midland, the 

Permian Basin and its oil and gas industry. 

Mobil: the energy to make a difference. 


COMPRESSOR 

SYSTEMS, 

INC. 

❖ 

CSI’s Odessa shop started with only 

four employees and a desire to serve 

the Permian Basin. 

Through much of the early history of the fossil 

fuel industry, natural gas was considered to 

be of little or no value—a nuisance that came 

with the precious oil. Whenever an oil well was 

put into production, the accompanying gas was 

simply flared into the atmosphere. It was said 

that Permian Basin residents could drive for 

miles through the West Texas oil fields at night 

without turning on their headlights, since the 

skies were bright with the flaring gas. 

But as early as 1971, change was in the air. 

Treanor Equipment Company, Caterpillar dealer 

for West Texas area, established a small, fouremployee 

shop to build natural gas compressors 

to be driven by Caterpillar gas engines, and 

brought Johnny Warren on board as general 

manager of the company. 

They called it Compressor Systems, Inc. (CSI). 

From the beginning, Warren had a vision of 

the possibility for a market niche for CSI as natural 

gas prices began to increase, along with the 

economic feasibility of wellhead compression. 

He established the CSI compressor rental fleet to 

support the independent producer who too 

often lacked the capital, engineering capabilities 

and maintenance resources necessary to purchase 

and operate compression equipment. 

The company grew rapidly through the 

1970s as natural gas prices continued to rise 

and more and more operators saw the sense in 

capturing their natural gas. 

In 1975, the Warren family bought CSI, now 

a viable stand-alone company, from Treanor 

Equipment. 

In 1981, CSI set up a small repair shop for 

magnetos and hydraulic governors, and called it 

Ignition Systems and Controls, Inc. (ISC). Soon 

the three-employee operation began to grow in 

much the same manner CSI had, and to establish 

a customer base outside CSI. Meanwhile, CSI 

continued to thrive, even remaining profitable 

after the historic mid-1980s oil bust took its toll 


on the oil industry and all its related entities. 

In 1985, the Treanor Caterpillar dealership 

became available, and the Warren family applied 

for purchase. It was also in 1985 that ISC, now a 

solid entity in its own right despite the downturn 

in the industry, was awarded an Altronic distributorship, 

and later began the manufacture and 

installation of safety shutdown panels. 

The next few years were hard ones. 

Everywhere you looked, companies were 

downsizing and restructuring. In 1987, West 

Texas Equipment Co., the Caterpillar dealer in 

the Texas Panhandle, decided to sell. The 

Warrens decided to consolidate the two dealerships 

into an 87-county area that now covers 

more than 60,000 square miles and serves more 

than 40 percent of the state of Texas and all of 

New Mexico. 

Today CSI is a well-capitalized, professionally 

managed organization with a stable work 

force and businesslike philosophy respected 

throughout the oil and gas industry. It has 13 

strategically located regional sales office, ten 

major service facilities, over 140 highly qualified 

technicians, a multi-million dollar inventory 

of repair parts located throughout the U.S. 

and 24-hour on-call capability. 

With West Texas CAT (now including 

machine, engine and parts and service operations) 

providing support to CSI’s rental, service 

and fabrication operations, and ISC offering 

top-quality electronic ignition, control, lubrication 

and emission control equipment, the company 

today enjoys a reputation for customer service 

unequaled in the Southwest. 

❖ 

Above: The Coyote Gulch facility is 

one example of CSI’s state-of-the-art 

installations. 


ARCO 

Permian 

ARCO Permian’s history goes back to 1911 

with the dissolution of Standard Oil into eight 

separate oil companies. One of those was 

Atlantic Refining Company. 

Atlantic moved into Central Texas in 1919, 

and in June 1920, sent geologists Vern Woolsey 

and Niles Winter to Big Spring to examine samples 

from cable tool rigs drilling in Howard and 

Glasscock Counties. 

Winter did preliminary work on the 

Westbrook discovery in Mitchell County, which 

opened the Permian Basin, and Atlantic was 

interested, but before they made any transactions, 

the opening of an oilfield in Arkansas 

diverted them. Winter left Texas and when he 

returned in 1927, Atlantic was in the process of 

acquiring leases in McCamey. 

One deal they were looking at could only be 

had if they also agreed to buy a part of the 

Hendrick lease in Winkler County, which later 

proved to be the giant Hendrick field. Atlantic’s 

largest Hendrick well potentialed at 53,000 

bopd. 

They ran a pipeline from Midland to the field 

to accommodate the flow, finishing about three 

weeks before the precipitous drop in the price of 

oil to 10 cents per barrel, and the Railroad 

Commission’s decision to prorate production. 

Then there was Block 31, near Crane, where 

Atlantic Refining Co. created the world’s first 

large-scale miscible displacement by high-pressure 

gas injection. Atlantic Richfield Company 

discovered the Block 31 field on the Texas 

University Lands System in 1945, with a well 

which had the potential to produce 408 barrels 

of oil per day in the Ellenburger, its primary 

objective, and with 772 BOPD in the Devonian. 

Left to its own, and under conventional recovery 

methods, the field would certainly have 

proved its worth, but by utilizing the high-pressure 

gas injection process, the Company has 

already recovered more than 230 million barrels, 

with expectations of eventually recovering 

more than 40 percent of the original oil in place. 

But perhaps the ARCO Permian history most 

remarkable is also its most recent. 

ARCO restructured in December 1993, and 

the company was divided into 11 basic business 

units. ARCO Permian, headquartered in 

Midland, was charged with “harvesting” its 

declining fields which, according to the longrange 

plan, would be completely depleted in 20 

years or less. 

The Midland management team began to 

study the Permian Basin’s potential and found 

that the Permian Basin has the most remaining 

proven reserves of the four major basins in the 

lower 48 states. 

“Our research showed that there is still 12 to 

15 billion barrels equivalent of yet-to-be-recovered 

oil and gas here,” said ARCO Permian Vice 

President, Jerry Hays, “and we began to change 

our way of thinking.” 

President Tony Best directed all employees to 

“howl like a coyote” if they saw a problem and 

empowered them to act “with the flexibility of 

an independent producer, backed by the assets 

of a major,” creating relationships with independents 

and individuals to form profitable partnerships. 

ARCO Permian is now the largest oil operator 

headquartered in the Permian Basin, with 

reserves and revenues that have increased every 

year since 1994. It has bought the building 

where the offices are located, and employees 

have the opportunity to spend their entire 

careers in Midland. Furthermore, the company 

has gained the respect and admiration of the 

business community throughout the region and 

throughout ARCO’s corporate offices nationwide. 

“We went from being road kill to the leader 

of the pack,” says Best. 


❖ 

The ARCO Permian building was 

bought after the 1993 restructuring, 

when the Permian Basin was thought 

to be a “harvest” region that would 

not last far into the 21st century 

before being abandoned for lack of 

reserves. Now ARCO Permian is 

admired and respected by men and 

women throughout the industry and 

throughout the business community. 



MARATHON 

OIL 

COMPANY 

❖ 

Frank Clark, a geologist hired by the 

Ohio Oil Co. (Marathon), 

and the man who convinced the 

company to drill what turned out 

to be the discovery well. 

Marathon Oil Company got its start in 1887 

by 14 independent oilmen who banded together 

in Lima, Ohio to form a production company 

called “The Ohio Oil Company”. Its headquarters 

were moved to Findlay, Ohio in 1905 

where it remained until 1990 when it moved 

to Houston. 

In 1962, the company was renamed 

Marathon Oil Company to tie it more closely to 

its brand-name motor fuel and products and to 

reflect the fact that it had become a worldwide 

oil company active in exploration, production, 

refining, transportation and marketing. 

Marathon employs over 7,000 people, not 

including foreign and subsidiary employees, 

and Marathon ranks among the top 20 U.S.- 

based companies in terms of production volume. 

Marathon in West Texas 

and New Mexico 

Marathon’s Mid-Continent Region office, 

headquartered in Midland, manages its operations 

in the Permian and San Juan Basins. The 

Mid-Continent Region has responsibility for 

52 operated and 38 outside-operated fields. 

Company operations are located in 23 counties 

throughout Southwest Texas and five 

counties in New Mexico. Along with the 

region office in Midland, field offices exist in 

Iraan, Big Spring, Big Lake, and McCamey, as 

well as Carlsbad, Hobbs and Farmington in 

New Mexico. 

Marathon has been going strong in the 

Permian Basin ever since the discovery of the 

Yates Field in 1926, when Frank Clark, a company 

geologist, picked a spot west of Ira Yates’ 

red barn and said, “Drill here.” It was the fourth 

on the Yates lease, the first three having been 

dry. So significant was the Yates discovery that 

more than 70 years after the initial discovery the 

Oil & Gas Journal still ranks Yates as one of the 

largest lower 48 oil fields in terms of estimated 

remaining recoverable reserves. The Yates Field 

was unitized in 1976, and has produced more 

than 1.3 billion barrels of oil. However, as prolific 

as the Yates Field is, it only accounts for 

about 40 percent of Marathon’s production in 

the Permian Basin. 

Marathon was also one of the early players in 

New Mexico, drilling near Hobbs in 1929 and 

the South Eunice Field in 1931. By 1937, the 

company had seven New Mexico locations, with 

daily production of some 2,900 barrels of oil. 

In 1962, Marathon was a principal player in 

the discovery of the Indian Basin gas field in 

Eddy County, and built the Indian Basin Gas 

Plant in 1965, which, after being expanded 

twice, now processes an average of 210 Mmcf/d. 

The company has also maximized the Indian 

Basin’s value by careful management of oil and 

natural gas liquids production. Oil production 

from the Indian Basin now stands at more than 


2,400 barrels per day, with natural gas liquids 

production at 9,800 barrels per day. 

Marathon is the second-largest producer 

in the Permian Basin with 22 of the company’s 

top 100 domestic fields, of which three are in 

the top ten. Not only has Marathon been one 

of the leaders in production in the Permian 

Basin, but also its commitment to excellence has 

put it among the technology 

leaders. Since 1993, Marathon 

has won eight out of 25 “Best of 

the Permian Basin” awards from 

Hart’s Oil and Gas World 

Magazine. 

Marathon employees take 

pride in all aspects of their jobs, 

including achieving in excess of 

3 million work-hours with no 

lost-time accidents. 

Marathon is also very active 

in the communities where its 

employees live and work. The 

company not only supports the 

communities financially, but also 

supports active employee participation 

in their communities, 

such as in Junior Achievement 

and Partners in Education with 

local elementary schools. 

Marathon’s Mid-Continent Management 

Team is committed to its employees, and has 

established a new vision with supporting values 

to take the region to new heights into the next 

century. 

As the name implies, Marathon is in the 

Permian Basin for the long run. 

❖ 

Top: One of the early camps, a 

decided improvement over rag walls 

and wooden floors (Yates Field). 

Bottom: Indian Basin Gas Plant 


FIRST 

UNITED 

METHODIST 

CHURCH 

❖ 

Top, right: The ninety-year-old bell 

of First United Methodist Church. 

Above: The Methodist Church built 

in 1889. 

Below: The 1907 red brick Methodist 

Church on the 300 block of North 

Main Street. 

The ninety-year-old bell resting in the tower in 

the Meditation Garden of Midland’s First United 

Methodist Church hasn’t for some time tolled the 

congregation to worship, having been replaced by 

a more melodious electronic bell carillon which 

plays hymns to please the ears of Midlanders, but 

it is nevertheless a vital part of the church’s history, 

and indeed, the history of Midland. 

The Methodists were among Midland’s earliest 

settlers, and were the first to organize a church, 

according to early records of the town. The 

church, named the First Methodist Episcopal 

Church South of Midland, was begun August 23, 

1885, with six charter members—five women, 

one man. Until 1888, the mission was served by 

a circuit rider, under the auspices of the 

Methodist Church’s West Texas Conference. Then 

they were sent a minister, the Reverend W. F. 

Gibbons. They built a frame building on the 100 

block of North Main Street in 1889, present location 

of the Midland Chamber of Commerce, 

financing it with a $500 loan from the Church 

Extension Board. The church was moved to its 

present location in 1904. 

The bell came to Midland in 1907, when the 

Methodists laid the cornerstone for a larger 

church house—a red brick structure with 

steeples rising from its gables, and an imposing 

bell tower. It was a church house built to last, 

with room to grow; they would not build another 

until 1943. 

The 1943 building was a lovely mission-style 

plant that was the pride of Midland. The bell, of 

course, moved into the new mission tower. 

The church that had seemed so spacious 

when it was built, was straining at its seams in 

less than a decade. To accommodate its growing 

membership, First Methodist called upon the 

resources and inspiration of its people. 

In the 1950s, more education buildings were 

added, with funding from the Scharbauer family, 

and in 1960, yet more education, office and 

library space were completed. 

In 1968, the sounds of power tools and hand 

tools once again rang through the sheltered 

courtyards of First United Methodist. 

Membership by now numbered in the thousands 

and the mission had to come down to 

make way for an edifice that would accommodate 

them. A fourth sanctuary, parlor and classrooms 

were built, and Evelyn Breedlove donated 

a new bell tower in memory of her husband, 

F. D. Breedlove, to house a magnificent bell carillon. 

When the old bell tower came down, the 

bell was placed in storage, where it sat for seven 

years. 


Then in 1975, the family of Mabel Holt Glass 

donated the Mabel Holt Glass Memorial Chapel, 

a lovely structure where light pours in on all 

sides through stained glass windows. And shortly 

afterward, the Boone Bible Class came forward 

with funds to build a new bell tower in the 

church’s Meditation Garden. In addition to the 

old bell, they also placed two wrought iron banisters 

from the Scharbauer Education Building, 

and a metal box containing memorabilia from 

the church’s centennial celebration. In one corner 

of the tower is the cornerstone taken from 

the church’s 1907 red brick sanctuary. 

As First United Methodist looks forward to 

the twenty-first century, its membership continues 

to grow—and to grow in faith and love. But 

the people of today will never forget the original 

few who started it all—nor the little frame 

church house they built to worship in. 

❖ 

Above, left: Texas Historical 

Landmark marker. 

Above: right: First United Methodist’s 

mission-style church, the third to be 

built in Midland. 

Bottom: First United Methodist 

Church at Main and Ohio, built 

in 1968. 


ABBOTT 

BUILDING 

COMPANY 

❖ 

Top: R. E. “Dick” Abbott and 

H. E. “Gene” Abbott. 

Bottom: H. E. Abbott, Sr. 

H. E. Abbott & Sons was founded in 1954 

by H.E. Abbott and his two sons Gene and Dick. 

The Abbotts had come to West Texas from 

Western New York State. 

At first, it was just the three of them in a little 

yard and office in southeast Midland. 

Although they were strangers to the area without 

any knowledge of the oil business, they 

soon found and began to fill the needs of the oil 

industry for industrial type facilities. In 1957, 

they moved their office to northwest Odessa, to 

be able to better serve their industrial market. 

It wasn’t too long before buildings erected by 

Abbott began to appear all over West Texas and 

Eastern New Mexico. 

In 1963, H.E. Abbott at age 65 passed away 

and the two sons carried on. To better accommodate 

the company’s growth, in 1969, they 

moved to their present location west of Air 

Terminal on US Highway 80. At that time, the 

company name was changed to Abbott Building 

Company and a flagpole with a plaque thereon 

was erected honoring their father and his profound 

respect for the U.S. flag. 

By early 1980, the company had grown to 

over 350 employees with offices in Houston, 

Lafayette and Austin. Abbott Development 

Company, a real estate development operation 

headed by Gene Abbott had been created with 

Dick Abbott heading the building company 

operation. But when the bust came, Abbott, like 

virtually every other oil-related company, felt 

the crunch. The satellite offices were closed and 

the company downsized in order to cope with 

the drastic decline in business. 

Now, Abbott Building Company is once again 

enjoying growth and expansion due to the 

increased activity in the oil patch. 

Today, Mike Abbott & Tim Hodgens, a third 

generation of family, is involved in the company 

and for them it is an exciting time being part of 

a growing, thriving enterprise. 


Johnny and Doris Rhoden started Qualified 

Printers in 1964.They started with four employees 

to help with typesetting on the Linotypes, 

run the letterpress and offset presses, and work 

in bindery. Their son, Mike, 16, made deliveries 

and swept the floors. Much of the work had to 

be done by hand. 

From the beginning, the Rhodens’ philosophy 

has been—“combine today’s technology 

with yesterday’s craftsmanship.” Soon, the policy 

paid off in growth, both in new business, 

and in reputation. As they prospered, they gave 

back to the community by their support of community 

functions, and by hiring new employees. 

Mike grew up learning first-hand from firstrate 

teachers—both his parents and the veteran 

printers they employed. He graduated from college, 

and spent two years in the military, then 

came back to Midland and entered the business, 

which had continued to grow during his absence. 

Today, Mike and his wife Susan own the company. 

From a high of 33 employees in the mid- 

1980s, they now have 23 employees (16 of which 

have been with Qualified more than 10 years). 

In 1982, the company started making the 

move to computerize their printing processes. 

With new presses and digital typesetting and 

scanning equipment they can handle the most 

complicated projects. They are continually on 

the lookout for ways to add value while maintaining 

the excellence of their work. In an 

age where it’s easy to do a mediocre job, 

Qualified has kept its edge by a rigid insistence 

on excellence. 

QUALIFIED 

PRINTERS 

❖ 

Above, left: 1964 photo of Qualified 

Printers’ storefront, which was then 

approximately 1,800 square feet. 

Below: Current office building with 

plant of more than 13,000 square feet. 


MIDLAND 

MAP 

COMPANY 

C. G. Slough founded Midland Map 

Company in 1950. Shortly thereafter, Slough 

was joined by John Redfern, Jr., Harvey Herd, 

Bill Osborn and others as owners. This group 

owned and directed the company for 40 years 

until 1990. 

Although the ownership of the company has 

changed, the company’s objective has remained 

the same, according to Bob Cast, vice president 

and general manager. Cast said that from the 

very beginning, the company’s goal has been 

very straightforward. 

“We started out to provide a good serviceable 

product for the oil industry and others, to provide 

the landman a starting place for lease 

acquisition work and the means for the oil companies 

to locate prospects, etc.” 

The company started in a tiny office on the 

corner of Big Spring and Ohio with three 

employees. During the first year of operation, 

seven county ownership maps were completed, 

and the company began to issue monthly wildcat 

maps of the Permian Basin. 

In 1957, they installed a reproduction plant, 

and began to offer reproduction services 

for clients. 

Today, Midland Map Company provides 

accurate and dependable ownership, base, producing 

zone and various other maps for 80 

counties in Texas and New Mexico. 

Since every change in ownership necessitates 

a change on the maps, a title person travels regularly 

to the courthouses of the 80 counties to 

obtain information from warranty deeds, 

oil and gas leases, and other instruments pertaining 

to land transactions or status changes. 

The drafting department updates the well information 

daily. 

The present location at 106 N. Marienfeld is 

considerably larger than the original office, and 

there are 15 employees. Midland Map’s original 

attention to product integrity has not changed. 

For 47 years Midland Map Company has 

produced good hand-drafted maps and provided 

fast dependable reproduction service. 


The Allison Cancer Center, one of 20 cancer 

centers, operated by Physician Reliance 

Network, Inc., had its beginning in 1979 with 

a $2 million endowment from Helon Y. 

Allison. Mrs. Allison had an abiding concern 

for Midlanders and others who, when faced 

with the necessity for cancer therapy, had the 

additional hardship of having to travel long 

distances from their homes and loved ones. 

After the initial donation, given by Mrs. 

Allison in memory of her late husband James 

and son James Jr., six other major donors 

came forward: The Dora Roberts Foundation, 

The Fasken Foundation, The First National 

Bank, The Davidson Family Charitable 

Foundation, Exxon Company and the W.F. 

Scharbauer Trust, as well as a multitude of 

additional gifts which poured in from the 

community. 

The completed Allison Cancer Center was 

dedicated in June 1981, to offer radiation 

therapy and chemotherapy. The two-level, 

18,000-square-foot center accommodated 225 

patients that first year. 

In 1982, Dr. David Snyder joined the 

Center as its first Medical Oncologist. Prostate 

implants were offered, and the Center began 

the use of investigational drugs in their final 

stages of FDA approval. Shortly after Dr. 

Snyder joined Texas Oncology, P.A, he was 

joined in 1984 by Medical Oncologist Dr. 

David Watkins, and in 1987 by Radiation 

Oncologist Dr. James Corwin. 

In 1995, Memorial Hospital transferred ownership 

of the center to Physician Reliance 

Network, Inc., (the physician practice management 

company of Texas Oncology, P.A.). As a 

facility under the umbrella of Texas Oncology, 

the Center joined a network of 20 Cancer 

Centers and 300-plus physician affiliates—a 

tremendous advantage to patients of the Center. 

In November 1996, the Center was renovated 

and expanded, with a 9,000 square-foot 

addition. 

Now, The Allison Cancer Center with its 

enlarged plant and state-of-the-art treatment 

facilities is one of the Permian Basin’s outstanding 

examples of teamwork between 

Permian Basin citizens and the healthcare 

community. 

❖ 

Top: Helen Y. Allison, initial donor 

who began the funding for the Allison 

Cancer Center. 

ALLISON 

CANCER 

CENTER 

Middle: James Allison, Sr. 

Bottom: James Allison, Jr. 


ALLEN 

ORTHOTICS 

& 

PROSTHETICS, 

INC. 

❖ 

Top: Michael J. Allen, CPO, 

Clinical Director. 

Bottom: A. J. Allen, Founder 

From the very beginning, the 

Allen name in orthotics and prosthetics 

has been synonymous 

with caring. 

A.J. and LaVerne Allen founded 

Allen Brace Company in Midland in 

1954, after becoming familiar with 

the town through frequent visits as 

Mr. Allen traveled the Permian 

Basin as a representative of Miller 

Brace Company. In 1964, they 

opened a facility in Odessa. 

The Allens’ son, Mike, grew up 

in the business, often providing 

peer support to his father’s 

younger clients while they were in 

the office, helping them feel more 

at ease. During his high school 

years, Mike continued his apprenticeship 

with his father in the distributive 

education program. He 

graduated from Lee High School, 

then went to New York University 

where he studied orthotics and 

prosthetics. After receiving his 

bachelor’s degree in 1977, he came 

back to Midland to continue in the 

business. He earned his certification 

in orthotics and prosthetics 

and founded West Texas 

Prosthetics in 1979. 

In 1989, father and son joined 

their two companies to form 

Allen Orthotics and Prosthetics, 

Inc. The new company is able to 

meet the bracing and artificial limb 

needs of all those living in the 


Since the death of his father, 

A.J. Allen, in 1992, Mike Allen 

presides over the family company 

with his mother, LaVerne, still 

playing an active role in the business 

and serving on the Board 

of Directors. 

Allen Orthotics & Prosthetics 

has built a reputation for compassion and excellence 

over the years—a reputation the company 

maintains today. It is accredited by The 

American Board for Certification in Orthotics 

and Prosthetics (ABC), which ensures that the 

company facilities, practices and personnel meet 

or exceed the standards set by the ABC in cooperation 

with the American Academy of 

Orthotists and Prosthetists, and the American 

Orthotic and Prosthetic Association. 


well as developing field 

proven technology that 

allows producers to run 

systems on drastically 

reduced gas and pressure 

requirements. 

For better efficiency in 

installations and field 

service, PLSI also provides 

wireline units, 

swabbing units and 

roustabout services, 

which allows customers 

to have a total job from 

one contractor. 

PLSI has also proven 

to be a good community 

citizen, donating full 

wellhead displays to the 

Petroleum Technology 

Departments of Midland 

College, Odessa College 

and the University of 

Texas of the Permian 

Basin, and providing 

classroom instruction to 

these schools each 

semester in order to further 

promote the technology. 

PLUNGER 

LIFT 

SYSTEMS, 

INC. 

Plunger Lift Systems, Inc. (PLSI) was founded 

in Midland in 1989 to manufacture, sell and service 

artificial lift equipment for the oil and gas 

industry, and was almost immediately successful, 

due to the efficiency and economy of the technology 

of plunger lift. With increases in oil and gas 

prices, demands for PLSI’s superior technology 

have steadily grown, and with the advent of CO2 

recovery in old fields, the company saw new areas 

of opportunity. 

In 1996, the company went international 

when it shipped its first ten systems to Russia’s 

Siberian oilfields. Investigations are currently 

underway in other overseas markets. In the 

Permian Basin, PLSI has offices in Midland, 

Denver City, Sonora and Hobbs, as well as a network 

of authorized distributors. 

For better quality control, PLSI has introduced 

its own state of the art electronic wellhead controller 

and acquired its own motor valve line as 


CONOCO 

INC. 

It would be hard to imagine life in Midland 

today without Conoco’s involvement—with 

employee volunteerism in everything from 

United Way to school partnerships, and corporate 

gifts, which undergird the operations of 

countless nonprofit agencies in the community. 

Conoco started in Ogden, Utah in 1875. It 

became active in the Permian Basin in the late 

1920s, first drilling in the South 

Plains and southeastern New 

Mexico. It opened an office in 

Midland in 1928. Meanwhile, 

Marland Oil had acquired acreage in 

Crockett, Reagan, Brewster, 

Glasscock and Martin Counties, and 

in the Powell ranch, south of 


Conoco has played a vital role in 

bringing West Texas and New 

Mexico to its present position in oil 

and gas production, with such discoveries 

as the Vacuum field in the 

South Plains and the prolific Bell 

Lake field in Eddy and Lea 

Counties. 

In 1929, when Marland and 

Continental merged, the name 

Conoco first appeared on the green 

oil company signs, along with a red 

triangle. Conoco retiree Bill Brown 

said early company cars were painted 

green with the red triangle on the 

doors. Sandstorms were hard on 

that green paint. Retiree Bill 

Huebner recalls driving from his 

field office in Oil Center down to 

Midland in a sandstorm that 

stripped the paint off his car. 

To call in drilling reports, they 

drove to the nearest pay phone. 

“We had to hurry every morning 

to get to the telephone before all the 

farm wives got on the party line,” 

recalls retiree Bob Gault. 

Expense accounts averaged two 

or three dollars a day. 

Retirees Niran Kellogg and 

McCollum Wiebush said they were 

told when they moved to Midland 

that the first year would be the 

hardest. 

“They said we would hate 

Midland the first year, but after that, 

we’d never want to leave,” said Mr. 

Kellogg. “And they were right.” 


TU 

ELECTRIC 

The lights came on in Midland in 1907, 

when the Midland Light Company was established 

with a 525-kilowatt diesel engine-driven 

generating plant. In 1916, Southern Ice and 

Utilities Company bought the operation, and 

expanded its customer base considerably, but it 

was not until 1927, when the first Texas Electric 

Service Company acquired it, that electricity 

became a commodity widely available. 

The company built a power plant in Odessa 

that year, starting out with three 500 horsepower 

diesel engines, and soon afterward added two 

1,250 horsepower units to serve the oil field and 

the increasing population. The plant was housed 

in a huge steel and concrete structure that is still 

standing—now occupied by Parker Technology. 

By 1939, there were some 392 miles of 

66,000-volt transmission lines stretching over 

West Texas, and at the end of World War II, 

TESCO had 5,114 total miles of transmission and 

distribution lines to serve 124,668 customers. 

In 1945, Texas Utilities Company was organized 

to take in Texas Electric Service Company, 

Texas Power & Light Co., and Dallas Power & 

Light Company. Texas Utilities served as a holding 

company, with the three subsidiaries operating 

independently. 

Beginning in the 1950s, TESCO’s focus was on 

helping customers ease their lives with electric 

appliances. They hired home economists to show 

customers how to use them more efficiently. 

But with the energy crisis of the late 1970s, the 

company started promoting the wise use of power. 

In the 1980s, the three companies merged into 

Texas Utilities Electric Company and combined 

to become a leaner, more service-oriented entity. 

With a new emphasis on service and the 

advent of computer technology, customer service 

is available 24 hours a day. Recent acquisitions 

include Eastern Energy, Australia, 

Ensearch-Lone Star Gas, SESCO—Southwestern 

Electric Service Co., and LCC—Lufkin-Conroe 

Communications. 


ADVANCE 

CONSULTANTS 

CORPORATION 

❖ 

Victor “Vic” Frigon, president and founder. 

“42 Years...1956-1998” 

Victor (Vic) Frigon, president and founder 

of Advance Consultants Corporation, began his 

geological career after graduation from Wichita 

State University in 1949 with a degree in 

Petroleum Geology and a minor in 

Engineering. After service in the Corps of 

Army Engineers during World War II he 

worked as a geologist and obtained valuable 

experience in the Permian Basin between 1949 

and 1956. In 1956 he founded Advance 

Engineering Company of Midland. 

One of the first hydrocarbon logging companies 

to realize the potential of computers, 

Advance introduced computerized drafting to 

assist loggers who often were too busy to properly 

examine samples. LogView for Windows 

provides the means for its clients to view, print, 

and manipulate the hydrocarbon log. For field 

use, Advanced designed XpresLog, which 

increases the productivity of its geologists/loggers 

with multitasking capabilities. Advance 

also created software, which provides graphical 

presentation of wells which are drilled horizontally. 

The company has also produced innovative 

gas traps and introduced innovative sensor 

technology to the hydrocarbon logging industry. 

Office hours are 24 hours a day for Advance 

clients. For fast, secure transfer of data from 

the location to the office, there is LogBox for 

Windows, whereby information retrieval is as 

simple as accessing the program and typing in 

a password. The company is also one of the 

first to offer Internet email retrieval of logs. 

Frigon has never forgotten, however, that 

technology, no matter how advanced, is only as 

good as its user. Advance personnel have the 

experience to back up the technology. Every 

geologist/logger associated with Advance has a 

track record and a specialty in specific geologic 

strata, and this specialty is considered in 

assigning employees to jobs. 

The philosophy of the 42-year-old company 

has never changed. Advance Consultants 

Corporation still gives the best of what there is 

to the oil industry. 


Jimsco was incorporated in Midland, 

Midland County, Texas in November 1977. The 

first major product was a fiberglass repair coupling 

which was designed by Jim Scott, 

President. The first couplings were purchased 

and received in January 1978. 

In 1978-1979, Jimsco had one full time 

employee. Since that time, the staff has grown to 

fifteen. With a staff of experienced personnel 

working both inside and out of the office, 

Jimsco strives to have the best field service technicians 

in the business. 

Jimsco serves the Permian Basin oil industry 

as a prime distributor of Smith Fiberglass 

Products. The company maintains the largest 

on-hand inventory of 1- to 16-inch low and 

high-pressure fiberglass pipe and fittings in the 

U.S. They offer same-day shipment on items in 

stock. They custom fabricate fiberglass water 

legs, spreaders, etc—ad infinitum. Fiberglass 

tapering tools are available for sale or rent. 

Jimsco field technicians are always available for 

fieldwork. The company also stocks most sizes 

of polyethylene tanks ranging in size from 8 gallons 

to 22,000 gallons. 

Jimsco expanded in 1996 with an office and 

yard in Broussard, Louisiana to better serve that 

region in the same capacity as the Permian 

Basin. Anywhere in the U.S. or Canada, Jimsco 

serves the oil industry. 

❖ 

Above: Jimsco Owners Jim and 

Rosa Scott 

Below: Left to right—standing: Larry 

Beck, Tonya Breeding, Al Plattsmier, 

Jim Scott, Rosa Scott, Jennifer 

Anderson, Z.T. Mauldin, Bill Spruill; 

kneeling: John Jackson, Loren Holley, 

Ted Liggins. 

JIMSCO, 

INC. 


MID-TEX OF 

MIDLAND, 

INC. 

Mid-Tex of Midland, Inc. opened for business 

in 1940. Mr. Carol Cook owned and operated 

the small paint and art supply store located 

in downtown Midland. In 1958, Mr. Floyd 

Miller purchased the business from Mr. Cook. 

After a fire destroyed the original building 

downtown, Mr. Miller relocated the business to 

412 Andrews Highway and expanded the services 

to include carpet, vinyl flooring, ceramic 

tile, counter tops and remodeling. 

Over the years, Mid-Tex of 

Midland, Inc. gradually became 

involved in an increasing amount of 

residential and commercial general 

construction work. During these 

growth years Mid-Tex of Midland, 

Inc. relocated the business in 1969 

and again in 1977. This last move 

was into a former supermarket at 

4200 West Michigan. After 11 years 

at this location, Mid-Tex of Midland, 

Inc. was on the move again, this 

time growth required the business to 

move into a 30,000 square foot 

building at 3101 West Cuthbert. 

In 1990, after 32 years as owner 

of Mid-Tex of Midland, Inc., Mr. 

Miller retired and Mr. Alan White, 

Mr. Paul Renz and Mr. Sam Blanck, 

all current employees, then purchased 

the company. Mid-Tex of 

Midland, Inc. continued its steady growth in the 

floorcovering and construction businesses and 

relocated again in 1993 to their present location 

in the Cornerstone Shopping Center. 

President and Construction Manager, Mr. 

White is in control of commercial and residential 

construction ranging from the smallest projects 

to new building construction. Vice 

President and Comptroller, Mr. Renz is in control 

of accounting and floorcovering installations. 

Vice President and Retail Manager, Mr. 

Blanck is in control of retail floorcovering sales 

and interior decorating. 

Under this current leadership, Mid-Tex of 

Midland, Inc. has become the premier General 

Contractor and Retail Floorcovering Company 

throughout the Permian Basin. “Our continued 

success is directly related to the Permian 

Basin’s optimistic outlook to the future,” says 

Mr. White. 


A.B. McCain and his wife Alva opened the 

Fashion Cleaners in February 1937. It was 

located at 412 W. Texas. 

When Midland’s bombardier school opened, 

the commanding officer asked Mr. McCain to 

install a cleaning plant on the base. The Post 

Tailors & Cleaners were established and operated 

until the base closed in 1943, with a staff of 

165 doing alterations and cleaning, and Mrs. 

McCain managing Fashion Cleaners. 

Mr. and Mrs. McCain opened Fashion 

Cleaners #2 at 510 S. Main, which was run by 

his brother, C.E. McCain and his wife Margie 

until 1978, at which time they retired. A.B. 

McCain’s son James entered the family business 

after graduating from Allen Military Academy in 

Bryan. Later he attended Sul Ross College in 

Alpine, Texas. 

James and his wife Clarece bought the family 

business in 1963. They moved the main plant to 

the corner of A and Wall Streets in 1968. 

After building a reputation for quality and 

customer satisfaction for more than 40 years, 

Fashion Cleaners was given a Silver Jubilee 

Plant Design award by the American 

Drycleaners Magazine as in 1985, as one of the 

top ten in the nation. 

James and Clarece built the business up to 

six locations with 85 employees. 

Today, Fashion Cleaners operates from the 

central Wall and A Street location and a branch 

in Imperial 

Shopping 

Center. 

A third generation, 

Phillip 

McCain has 

taken over 

management, 

thus allowing 

James and 

Clarece to enter 

semi-retirement 

and to travel to 

National 

Drycleaning 

Association 

functions, of 

which Philip is 

a board member. 

Fashion 

Cleaners recently installed its fourth computer 

system since the early 1970s, to ensure faster 

service to customers. 

❖ 

FASHION 

CLEANERS 

Top, left: Texas Street location, 

remodeled in 1945. 

Middle: Interior of Fashion Cleaners; 

A.B. McCain, the founder, is shown in 

the center. 

Bottom: Original store on Texas Street. 


CAMPBELL 

CONSTRUCTION 

COMPANY 

❖ 

Dick Campbell. 

Campbell Construction 

began in March 1984, 

when Midland’s economy 

was reeling. 

People were working 

on existing buildings to 

try to hold their tenants, 

and this was where 

Campbell found its niche. 

Mr. Campbell had 

grown up in Midland, and 

received his degree in 

architecture at the 

University of Oklahoma in 

1965. He worked for John 

Portman and Associates of 

Atlanta for eight years as 

onsite supervisor during 

the construction of 

Atlanta’s Apparel Mart, the 

$72 million Bonaventure 

Hotel in Los Angeles, and 

the Fort Worth National 

Bank Building. 

During this period he 

realized he really enjoyed 

construction. He came 

back to Midland and 

worked for HBF, then 

went into business for 

himself. Campbell 

Construction’s first major 

project was the renovation 

of the old Gulf Building in 

downtown Midland. Then 

came the remodeling of Physicians & 

Surgeons Hospital, the renovation of Angelo 

State University’s Academic Building, the 

remodeling of the Ector County administration 

building, and the Midland International 

Airport Terminal building remodel and 

roof renovation. 

In 1990, the company built an addition to the 

Haley Library and Museum. In 1991 came renovations 

to the Ector County coliseum, 

remodeling of the Meridian Oil (now 

Burlington Resources) buildings and Sam 

Houston Elementary. 

In 1993, Campbell did the Midland County 

Library expansion and renovation, the Mabee 

Aquatic Center and Parker & Parsley’s (now 

Pioneer Natural Resources) headquarters, in the 

old First National Bank Building. 

By the end of 1996, Campbell Construction’s 

projects numbered more than 125, at a cumulative 

cost of just under $100 million. The company 

had built a reputation for excellence during 

the hard times, and during good times, 

Midlanders remembered. 

Richard Campbell, asked how a relatively 

young company could compile such a record 

of successes through a period of tough times, 

is characteristically low-key. “I grew up in 

Midland,” he explained. “People have certain 

expectations, and I can’t and won’t let 

them down.” 


KENT 

DISTRIBUTORS, 

INC. & KENT 

LUBRICATION 

CENTERS 

In the mid 1950s, E.L. “Buck” Kent, president 

and major stockholder of Wickett Refining 

Company in Wickett, Texas, purchased Reed Oil 

Company and Reed Distributing Company of 

Big Spring, changed the name to Kent 

Distributors, Inc. and Kent Oil, Inc., and later 

sold Wickett Refining. 

Kent Oil owned and operated 27 service stations 

throughout West Texas and started its own 

credit card program in the 1950s. By 1970, Kent 

Oil had 75 stations and supplied fuel to hundreds 

of other accounts. 

In 1975, after remodeling an Odessa service 

station into a convenience store, Buck Kent, and 

his oldest son, Jim decided to make the company’s 

better retail outlets into convenience stores, 

and reduce the number of service stations. 

In 1976, Kent’s son, Tom, brought in a new 

concept, Kent Lubrication Centers, allowing 

customers to drive in for an oil change, chassis 

lube, floors and windows cleaned, and a complete 

service check in ten minutes. In 1977, Jim 

resigned, and another son, Bill, joined the companies 

in 1978. 

In 1984, Buck Kent retired, and Bill Kent, the 

youngest son, purchased 100 percent ownership 

of Kent Oil and Kent Distributors. 

As the first and today the largest fast oil 

change operation in West Texas, Kent Lube services 

over 250,000 vehicles per year. In 1988, 

Kent bought an Avis franchise and changed its 

Kent Lubrication Centers to Avis Lube Fast Oil 

Change Centers. In 1991, he terminated the 

franchise and entered a licensee agreement with 

Avis to keep the name. Kent today operates 25 

Kent Kwik convenience stores, 16 Kent 

Lubrication centers, 12 Mr. Payroll check cashing 

outlets, and two Baskin Robbins ice cream 

franchises. 

The company continues to grow and thrive, 

thanks to its dedicated team members, and 

based on its reputation of providing fast, friendly 

service to the great people of West Texas. 

❖ 

Above: Standing: Bill Kent. 

Seated: E. L. “Buck” Kent, president. 

Below: An example of Kent Oil’s early 

day stations. Note the price of gas 

posted on the sign. 


ROGERS 

FORD 

❖ 

Above: Rogers Ford in their present 

location at 4410 W. Highway 80 

since 1966. 

Below: The original dealership 

pictured in 1964 at 223 E. Wall. 

Rogers Ford started in April, 1964—at 223 East 

Wall, right across the street from the present federal 

courthouse. Ford had recently come out with 

the Mustang, and people couldn’t get enough of 

them. Prospective purchasers would follow the 

Mustang-laden convoy trucks into town, and buy 

them before they hit the pavement. 

In 1966, Bill Rogers and his partner, Art 

Carmichael, moved west to 4410 W. Highway 

80. Customers loved the new showroom, loved 

the space, and the room to move around. Rogers 

Ford started a trend that other dealers followed, 

and soon W. Highway 80 came to be known as 

“Automobile Row”. 

Since that move in 1966, the industry has 

seen dramatic changes. Trucks now lead the 

market, and the Ford F series trucks have been 

America’s number one selling truck every year 

since 1977. 

Doss Rogers, who entered the dealership 

with his father in 1974 and assumed the franchise 

with partner Neil Florer in 1989, said 

trucks (including minivans, pickups and sport 

utility vehicles such as the popular Explorer) 

make up about 80 percent of his business. 

“There are hardly any two-car families out 

there anymore,” he said. “They have a car and a 

truck.” One thing that hasn’t changed is that service, 

always an important 

part of the business, is larger 

than it has ever been before. 

That is not to say new vehicles 

are completely troublefree. 

However, quality performance 

tests on 1997 models 

showed a 28 percent 

improvement over the 1996 

models—a trend that continues 

from year to year. 

Another thing that hasn’t 

changed since Rogers Ford’s 

beginning is the concentration 

on Fords. 

“Rogers Ford sells only 

vehicles made by the Ford 

Motor Company,” says Doss 

Rogers. “Why add another 

line, when we have five of 

the top ten selling vehicles in 

the business?” 


First Service was established in Big Spring, 

Texas in 1952 by L. J. Jeter. Mr. Jeter operated 

the company as Jeter Sheetmetal, Inc. until 

1984 when the company was purchased by 

David Grosse. Soon after the purchase of the 

company, he moved it to Midland and the name 

was changed to First Service Air Conditioning 

Contractors, Inc., 

Mr. Grosse said the name First Service was 

selected to show the company’s commitment to 

service. The company has continued to grow 

each year by maintaining that commitment. 

“We recognize that the most important asset 

of the company is our customers,” says Mr. 

Grosse, “and every member of our staff is totally 

committed to those customers’ satisfaction.” 

To fulfill the commitment to service, First 

Service is a full line mechanical contractor, 

allowing Service representatives to understand 

the operation of the complete mechanical system, 

not just one component. As a full line 

mechanical contractor, First Service is able to 

handle any situation that may arise. They offer 

design, plumbing, sheetmetal, piping controls, 

water treatment, energy management and preventive 

maintenance programs. 

In any service organization, the employees 

are the product it sells. In order to deliver the 

best product possible to customers, First 

Service’s goal has always been to have the best 

employees in the market place. They work as a 

team, with every member striving for unity, 

knowing that their problems and concerns are 

important, and suggestions and questions are 

encouraged. 

As a local contractor, Mr. Grosse said he is 

deeply appreciative of the citizens and businesses 

of Midland and the Permian Basin, and especially 

grateful for the loyalty of his customers. 

“It’s an honor to be a part of this community,” 

he said. 

❖ 

FIRST 

SERVICE 

The First Service fleet is always on 

call, always ready for duty. 


J. C. WILLIAMSON 

J.C. Williamson came to Midland in June 

1937, when oil was bringing 90 cents per 

barrel. He had a job with Phillips Petroleum, 

on the seventh floor of the Petroleum 

Building, and he stayed at Mrs. Roundtree’s 

Boarding House, where everyone was young 

and eager to work. 

“Every company had a scout or two, and 

they would bribe the tool pusher, the driller, 

the crews, just to get information. 

Everybody was looking for oil.” 

Williamson worked for Phillips six years. 

When he quit in April 1945, he was earning 

$450 per month as district geologist. By the 

end of that year, he had made $27,000 as an 

independent. 

He bought his first successful investment 

in minerals under the Dollarhide Ranch. A 

wildcat well came in on this ranch as a great 

producer of oil. It was just the beginning for 

the consummate oilpatch gambler, who 

throughout the years has drilled or caused 

to be drilled more than 1,800 wells in the 

Permian Basin area. 

He said he has never lost his love for the 

oil business, and has always reinvested his 

oilfield income in the oil business, sometimes 

in minerals, sometimes in exploration. 

“When you’re an oilman, you have to put 

it back into the ground,” he said. 

His wife, Jerry, came in the summer of 

1937 and is the fiscally conservative member 

of the family, and the love of his life. “I 

don’t see how Jerry took it. She’s still taking 

it. She’s the one who keeps me going, 

though,” he said. 

Williamson is now located five floors 

above the office where he went to work for 

Phillips 61 years ago, in the Petroleum 

Building. 

In a business where people commonly 

come and go, they have never lived anywhere 

but Midland since arriving here. 

“We still enjoy the town,” Williamson says. 

And needless to say, they still enjoy the oil 

business. 


CROUCH 

WELL 

SERVICE 

The story of Crouch Well Service begins with 

the arrival of Howard and Jimmie Crouch from 

Paris, Texas, one night after midnight in 1949, 

where Howard banged on the door of Paul 

Bates, co-owner of G & W Well Service. 

“I need a job,” he explained to Bates in his 

darkened house. 

“Well, if you’ll come back during work hours, 

I’ll put you to work,” said Bates. The next morning, 

Howard was at the yard at 5:30 a.m., and 

Bates made Howard a hand. 

Howard went into partnership with Barney 

Foster in 1954 to form F & F Well Service. Then 

in 1965, he started Crouch Well Service. He went 

to Watson Truck & Supply in Hobbs, New 

Mexico, and told owner Finn Watson that he had 

no money, but he needed two well service rigs. 

Watson let him have them. The first years were 

tough ones, with pole rigs and manual tools, and 

all of them working from 5:30 A.M. until past 

sundown. They concentrated on the Spraberry 

Field, doing what they knew how to do, and the 

work paid off. They added rigs and personnel in 

response to the growing business. In the 1970’s, 

Crouch Well Service added hot oil services. 

In 1980, Howard bought a derrick, complete 

with power tongs and power slips, from Watson 

Truck & Supply, for $429,000 cash. 

The Crouch’s son, Jim, is now manager of the 

company’s 70 employees, 11 well service rigs 

and 10 hot oil trucks. Although the work days 

still begin at 5:30 a.m., the power tools and 

computers make it easier. Last year the company 

did some $6,000,000 in business in the 


Howard says he doesn’t have any high-minded 

philosophy about the business. 

“I just want my kids to have it a little better 

than I did,” he said. 

❖ 

Bottom, left: Howard and Jimmie Crouch 


MANOR 

PARK, INC. 

❖ 

Top: Trinity Towers. 

Bottom: Manor Park. 

Trinity Towers began in 1960 when Mrs. 

Andrew Fasken, noting the need for a housing 

facility where retired persons could live in 

comfort and safety, approached R. Matthew 

Lynn, then pastor of First Presbyterian Church. 

He appointed a committee comprised of 

Murray Fasken, James Steedman, P.F. 

Bridgewater and John Perkins, to study the 

idea as a community project. 

Midland Presbyterian Homes, as a non-profit, 

non-denominational, 501-C-3 corporation, 

began construction of Trinity Towers in 1969 on 

a five-acre tract at 2800 West Illinois Avenue. By 

the time the 94-unit facility consisting of a fivestory 

building and 40 one- and two-bedroom 

apartments was finished, it was full, with a waiting 

list. A second tower increased total capacity 

to 174. 

With no room for expansion at the Illinois 

site, Midland Presbyterian Homes went west, to 

the edge of Midland (presently Loop 250, north 

of Andrews Highway), where a new campus 

offered the unique living style Trinity Towers 

residents enjoyed. 

Manor Park opened debt-free in 1982, thanks 

to the donation by the Mrs. Jessie Wallace Estate 

of 40 acres of land, and other donations totaling 

$6 million. The Manor Park campus contains 100 

combined garden apartments and townhomes, 

30 apartments in the Wallace Building, and the 

addition of the Mabee Health Care 

Center in 1985. The Barney Greathouse 

Activities Building, a gift of Mrs. Helen 

Greathouse, houses the administrative 

offices, dining services, activities center, 

and a beautiful chapel. Trinity Towers 

expanded its personal care unit, licensed 

for 64 beds, in 1989. 

In 1994, Manor Park opened another 

area of unique and caring service— 

among the first of its kind in the state to 

address the needs of Alzheimer’s 

patients—with the John F. Younger 

Special Care Center. 

Today, Manor Park and Trinity Towers 

enjoy statewide recognition as the highest 

standard in retirement living. 


Industrial Oils, Inc. had its beginning 

in 1967 in Midland, with owner 

Leroy Bell and three employees. From 

its very beginning, the business was 

run with one purpose in mind: to 

better serve the industrial areas of 

West Texas and New Mexico with the 

fuels and lubricants necessary to keep 

turning to the right. 

In 1972, Phillip Bell began to work 

with his father part-time, and in 1978, 

he came into the business full-time. 

The company has continued to 

thrive through booms and busts, by 

treating all its customers fairly and 

honestly, and by sticking to its specialty—industrial 

fuels and lubricants. 

INDUSTRIAL 

OILS, INC. 

❖ 

Industrial Oils serves West Texas and 

New Mexico from its headquarters in 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Editor 

Numerous individuals were involved in the production of this book, some of whom must be identified. 

The manuscript was mostly written by Midland author and newspaperman Bill Modisett who 

is a member of the Midland County Historical Commission, with generous assistance provided by 

Nancy R. McKinley. 

Articles on particular topics were sought from numerous Midlanders, including J.P. “Pat” 

McDaniel, director of Development and Art for the Nita Stewart Haley Memorial Library; Dr. Roger 

M. Olien, Conrad J. Dunagan Chair of History at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin; Bill 

Collyns, editor emeritus of the Midland Reporter-Telegram; longtime State Rep. Tom Craddick; Ed 

Thompson, former executive vice-president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association; J.C. 

Williamson, longtime Midland oil operator; Bill Clanton, former Midland city secretary who is fondly 

known as “Mr. Secretary”; Hank Avery, a former mayor of Midland; James Mims, a Midland insurance 

executive and member of the Midland County Historical Commission; Ernest Angelo, Jr., a former 

Midland mayor and national committeeman for the Republican Party; Mrs. John P. (Alva) Butler, 

a member of the Midland County Historical Commission; Dr. Viola Coleman, Midland physician and 

civic leader; Bill Heck, former Midland County Commissioner and promoter for the Republican 

Party; Nelda Cox, longtime Midlander and Democratic Party promoter; Isidro “Sid” Trevino, retired 

assistant police chief; Fannie Bess Sivalls, longtime Midland resident; Jack Swallow, executive director 

of the Permian Basin Area Foundation; Francine Weaver, a member of the Midland County 

Historical Society; Glaze Sacra, Midland area rancher and longtime resident; Ed Todd, Midland journalist 

and aviation enthusiast; and Eddie Klatt, Midland Fire Department official and historian. 

Former residents of Midland, President George H.W. Bush and Governor George W. Bush, also 

contributed to this publication, as did Midland County Judge Jeff Norwood and Mayor Bobby Burns. 

It is also important to cite the work of a couple of photographers who helped prepare photographs 

for this book—Curt Wilcott and Tim Fischer who are on the staff of the Midland Reporter-Telegram. 

Their efforts and talent were of tremendous benefit to the production of Historic Midland: An 

Illustrated History of Midland County. 

Bill Modisett 

Midland County Historical Society 

As president of the Midland County Historical Society, I wish to extend my deep appreciation to 

all members who have helped gather the material for this book, Historic Midland: An Illustrated History 

of Midland County. 

Our society, as well as members of the Midland County Historical Commission, have undertaken 

a number of ambitious and far-reaching projects, and always delivered a true Texas recipe for finelyfinished 

results. 

They answered the call yesterday, and today, and they will tomorrow. To all and for all, I thank you. 

Nancy R. McKinley

Historic Midland

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