The Ranger Oil Boom - Eastland County Safety Rest Area - Ranger, TX
N 32° 29.462 W 098° 33.042
14S E 542210 N 3594954
The Eastland County Safety Rest Area on westbound I-20 has a sign to provide some history of Ranger's oil boom, so significant that it killed the coal mining town of Thurber just up the highway.
Waymark Code: WM12C3J
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/24/2020
Views: 2
They're called "Safety Rest Areas" because there are storm shelters to be found, a change from the classical rest stops along the Interstates. They're a little more than facilities with picnic areas and vending machines, in that there are signs and exhibits for notable attractions in the county that sponsored the rest area. This sign stands in front of a restored Model-T, for another exhibit, and it reads:
The town of Ranger in northeastern Eastland County was named after the Texas Rangers who had a camp about two miles away. After a few disappointing test wells, in October 1917, the McCleskey No. 1 came in as a huge gusher delivering some 1,700 barrels of oil a day. It was the beginning of a mammoth oil boom that forever changed the town of Ranger, Eastland County and Texas as a whole. It was an economic windfall. The city grew by leaps and bounds, its four banks had more than $5 million in deposits. New towns in the area sprang up like weeds. But there was a down side to the boom
Ranger was soon crowded with oil derricks, gambling houses and brothels. Thieves and thugs streamed into the town by the thousands. Soon so many lawbreakers were arrested that the jail was full and the Texas Rangers had to handcuff their prisoners to telephone poles. According to one old oilman, the Texas oil boom often came at a tremendous human cost. "Towns leaped into being overnight and became deserted almost as quick. I've seen old farmers bent with toil become millionaires in a week. And I've seen them blow every cent and die as paupers. I've seen boys and girls go to the devil wholesale." The oil gushers flowed skyward, torrential rains fell, creating deep bogs of mud and oil in which it was said mules drowned. When some wells came in they caught fire threatening the entire town. The bank failures in 1921 put an end to the boom. Eventually, Ranger recovered from its boom and bust to become the quiet, comfortable, interesting community you see today.
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Insets show photos of the Ranger Oil Field, a bustling downtown during the boom, and a 1919 souvenir postcard showing off the Ranger Oil Field, noting the town as "The Future Oil Metropolis of Texas."
Group that erected the marker: Eastland County
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Eastland County Safety Rest Area
I-20
Ranger, TX USA
76470
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Visit Instructions:
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