Wink

Wink began as Winkler, until postal officials pointed out that Texas already had a Winkler post office; residents shortened the name and got their own office in 1927. The Wink Townsite Company sold lots in the Horse Wells pasture of the Hendrick ranch, and newcomers lived in tents and makeshift houses. The town had 3,500 people in 1927 and 6,000 by 1929. Bootlegging, prostitution and gambling came with them, and an organized underworld controlled the first city government until District Judge Charles Klapproth voided its incorporation on October 16, 1928. The town's first municipal building was a jail.

What the plaque says

Wink On land ruled up to 1874 by Comanche Indians, later part of famed "W" cattle ranch. Town "born" in 1926 when Roy Westbrook's Permian Basin oil discovery 1.5 miles to the north brought in 10,000 to 20,000 people, initiated area's conversion to industrialization. Named for Col. C. M. Winkler, famed Texas Confederate soldier. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Roy Orbison Museum — steps away
  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 — 20 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 — 22 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

• Winkler County Discovery Well — steps away
• Roy Orbison — steps away
• Old Duval Townsite — 6.0 mi
• Colonel C. M. Winkler — 8.0 mi