First Producing Gas Well in Kleberg County

The Rosse well opened a field that has never really closed. Kleberg County's wells gave up about 178 million barrels of oil in the fifty years after the first discovery, and by the end of 2004 the total taken from county land had passed 336 million barrels. That year alone the county still produced more than 708,000 barrels of oil and almost 34 billion cubic feet of gas from gas wells. Oil and gas remain one of the props of the local economy, alongside the naval air station, the chemical plants and the university.

What the plaque says

First Producing Gas Well in Kleberg County Natural gas was first encountered in 1912 by Frank House while drilling for water on the Oscar Rosse farm. Other efforts to obtain fresh water resulted in more gas pockets or water contaminated with salt or oil. An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1915 to develop gas production. In Oct. 1919, the Kleberg County Oil and Gas Company was formed in Kingsville by lumber and hardware merchants Charles H. Flato and his son, Charles, Jr., oil sales manager H. C. Dennett, grocer J. F. Ivey, postmaster Marcus Phillips, Kingsville mayor J. C. Nolan, and retail merchants Sam Sellers, Ben F. Wilson, and C. M. Allen. The company leased the Rosse farm on October 30, 1919, and contracted Hammill and Bess Drilling Company of Bay City to drill a well. The Rosse No. 1 was completed on January 16, 1920, at a depth of 3,000 feet. Pipelines were soon laid into Kingsville to supply businesses and residences with gas. Another well, the Rosse No. 2, completed in March 1920, was the first producing oil well in the county. The discovery of gas and oil in the county provided a foundation for economic growth through development of petrochemical and refining industries. (1974)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• King Ranch Visitor Center — 5.8 mi
  The bus-tour gate to a working ranch of about 825,000 acres, founded on Santa Gertrudis Creek in 1853 and worked from the start by the Kineños, families from Cruillas in Tamaulipas.
• Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas — 16 mi
  A museum in the Kenedy Pasture Company's 1927 office in Sarita, telling how Mifflin Kenedy and three generations of his family shaped the Wild Horse Desert, with murals and an audio guide.
• Don Pedrito Jaramillo Shrine — 21 mi
  The grave and shrine of the folk healer of Los Olmos, a place of prayer where South Texans still leave candles and letters for the curandero who took no fee.
• Heritage Museum at Falfurrias — 23 mi
  A free town museum of ranch gear, a Texas Ranger room and 99,000 photo negatives, in the town Edward Lasater built around his railroad and his Jersey cows.

More markers nearby

• Presbyterian Pan American School — 0.7 mi
• Taylor Camp Site, 1846 — 3.1 mi
• U.S. Naval Auxiliary Air Station - Kingsville — 3.6 mi
• First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) — 3.7 mi