Old Duval Townsite

Duval was one of several towns that came and went. Joiel had a post office from 1908 to 1910, Theodore from 1909 to 1912, and Hay Flat had a post office and a school from 1910 to 1913. The oil boom of 1926 brought more. Tulsa got a post office in August 1927 that closed in 1929 when the town failed to boom; Brookfield, near Wink, had a hotel and dance halls before it faded; Cheyenne kept a post office from 1929 to 1944, and Leck had a few businesses and then disappeared.

What the plaque says

Old Duval Townsite First post office in Winkler (then part of Tom Green) County opened near here (1908) on John Howe ranch. Mail came in twice weekly to serve 300 persons. Duval townsite, promoted all over the United States by the Pueblo Investment Co., opened on March 19, 1910, with free lots, a picnic, and cowboy tournament. In April, Kermit became seat of Winkler County; post office moved there in October. Duval failed to develop and townsite rights were canceled after 1928 oil discovery here. Ownership of many valuable lots sold in 1910 is still unclear today. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Roy Orbison Museum — 6.0 mi
  A volunteer-run room in the oil town where Roy Orbison spent his high school years, opened on request, with a guitar he played and his tinted prescription sunglasses.
• Million Barrel Museum — 22 mi
  An oil reservoir that could not hold oil, then a water park that lasted one day, now a museum in Monahans with the story of the Pyote bomber base beside it.
• Monahans Sandhills State Park — 24 mi
  A small corner of a 200-mile dune field east of the Pecos, where fresh water lies just under the sand and a forest of shin oak grows no higher than your knee.

More markers nearby

• Colonel C. M. Winkler — 2.3 mi
• Winkler County — 2.9 mi
• Kermit — 2.9 mi
• Moorhead Cable Tool Rig — 3.0 mi