Billionth Barrel

Andrews County's real boom came in the 1940s, when twenty-six new fields were found and the population rose from 1,277 in 1940 to more than 5,000 in 1950, crowding the town of Andrews. Ninety more fields followed in the 1950s, but only fifty-three in the 1960s and thirteen in the early 1970s, and unemployment mounted. Water flooding of old fields and the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74 revived production. By the end of 1982 the county had produced more than two billion barrels, and by the end of 2004 about 2.78 billion.

What the plaque says

Billionth Barrel On May 25, 1965, from one of 7,400 producing oil wells in the county's 196 fields, came the Billionth Barrel of Andrews County crude oil. In the 35 years and 5 months since oil flowed from the county's discovery well, C. E. Ogden No. 1, in Dec. 1929, Andrews has attained a new place in history. In 1929, the county had about 400 people. Its wealth, mostly in land and livestock, amounted to $8,109,399. Five persons in the county filed income tax returns. There were fewer than 100 children in school. Highway bonds in the amount of $200,000 were about to be issued, as a measure for county improvement. By 1956, Andrews County produced more than 60,000,000 barrels of oil annually--gaining recognition as number one in Texas and in the United States. Of great significance is the fact that presently proven reserves underlying the county total more than one billion barrels, without any consideration for additional recoveries by secondary methods. Andrews is more than a product of the billion barrels of crude of oil it has produced, more than the gasoline plants working through the night, more than modern highways, paved streets, homes, schools, dreams. Its destiny is great in human resources--and oil. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bush Family Home State Historic Site — 35 mi
  The small 1939 frame house on West Ohio Avenue where George and Barbara Bush raised their young family in Midland's 1950s oil boom, now a Texas Historical Commission site.
• Museum of the Southwest — 35 mi
  Midland's art and science museum in the 1937 house of oilman Fred Turner and his wife Juliette, with added galleries, a children's museum and a planetarium on the grounds.

More markers nearby

• Means Methodist Church — steps away
• Shafter's Trail — 0.4 mi
• J. S. Means Ranch House — 0.5 mi
• Original Townsite of Andrews — 0.5 mi