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The Petroleum Industry In Odessa, Texas

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The purpose of this research is to identify the impact of the petroleum industry on Odessa, Texas during the 20th century. The main objective of this research is to explain how the massive growth of the petroleum industry in Odessa came about and the social changes that had occurred as a result of the thriving oil industry. Beginning in North Texas, the boom then spread to West Texas when the United States became desperate for oil during and after World War I and II. This research drew upon primary and secondary sources such as oral interviews, memoirs, articles and books from the local University library. Upon examination of these sources it becomes clear that the discovery of oil in Odessa, Texas became the foundation for the towns economic …show more content…

If the cattle, cotton and railroads helped establish the history of West Texas in the nineteenth-century, then the petroleum has had just as much influence on the history of West Texas in the twentieth-century. Odessa, Texas without Petroleum? One might just as easily visualize New York without Wall Street, Los Angeles without Hollywood, and Chicago without its business. The petroleum industry has been essential for the growth and economics of Odessa, Texas. Two-hundred million years ago a salt sea covered the Permian Basin which can be attributed to the abundance of oil in Odessa, Texas. Once the structure of the Earth changed a limestone floor developed in the sea. With the help of other rocks, hydrocarbons were trapped from the plants and animals which later resulted in the formation of oil and gas. This area is known as the Permian Basin and distinguishes counties in West Texas and South New Mexico. The Permian Basin earned its name with Permian referring to the Permian Period where sedimentary beds were simultaneously deposited in parts of Russia, England, Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. Basin can be defined as, geologically, a natural indentation in the Earth’s surface that contains water. Two thousand foot cliffs of limestone that cover West Texas and South East New Mexico were at one time submerged reefs created by millions of lime-secreting algae. With this knowledge the West Texas Geological Society …show more content…

There were previously no pipelines or permanent ways to transport the oil to the markets from the Permian Basin. When the Texas and Pacific Railway was placed in service in 1881 from Fort Worth to El Paso, Odessa’s economy changed. When the Texas and Pacific Railway was finally operational in Midland, it boosted Midland to become the oil business headquarter of the Midland/Odessa area. Midland, Texas was the midway point between Fort Worth and El Paso, hence the name ‘Midland’. This midway point made Midland the perfect place for a railway stop during the establishment of the railway. Soon after the Texas and Pacific Railway was active and Midland became an oil bustling business town with pump jacks littering the outskirts of the town. Midland then became organized by its own county legislator in 1885. Oil businesses needed a place for supplies and oil gusher production to be stored until transportation however, the location needed to be outside of town but not far enough away where it would be a burden to retrieve. That is what made Odessa the perfect place to store supplies as Midland was roughly forty miles away. Odessa merely existed in name until it became organized in 1891 as a supply center for many of the oil businesses located in Midland. The Texas and Pacific Railway placed the

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