History
Timeline of Important Dates
To learn more about what happened on specific dates in the history of Spindletop, click on the dates below.
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1865
-- Captain George Washington O'Brien believed that Spindletop Hill could produce oil.
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1888
-- Captain George Washington O'Brien acquired over 1,000 acres of the John Allen Veatch survey.
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1889
-- A young Beaumont man and a self-taught geologist, Patillo Higgins, believed that Spindletop Hill covered a large reservoir of oil.
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1892
-- Patillo Higgins and Captain George Washington O'Brien formed the Gladys City Oil, Gas, Manufacturing Company. Their goal was to find oil and use it to create Gladys City, a model industrial city.
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1893
-- The first oil company to drill on Spindletop Hill, Gladys City Company, was unsuccessful at finding oil.
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1895
-- The second attempt for the Gladys City Company to find oil on Spindletop Hill was also unsuccessful due to lack of adequate equipment. Patillo Higgins left the company.
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1899
-- Captain Anthony F. Lucas leased land from the Gladys City Company because he was convinced that there was oil at Spindletop Hill.
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1900
-- Al and Curtill Hamill, the best rotary drillers around, began drilling on Spindletop Hill in October.
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1901
-- At approximately 10:30 A.M. on January 10 the Lucas Gusher blew in.
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1902
-- 285 active wells were located on Spindletop Hill and over 600 oil companies had been chartered.
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1903
-- Overproduction of oil at Spindletop Hill had ruined many wells and the oil field had begun to decline.
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1926
-- Because of new technology, Spindletop Hill boomed again. The discovery of oil was found on the flanks of the salt dome through deeper drilling.
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1950's
-- Gladys City community was cleared during sulfur mining activities.
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2001
-- The 100th anniversary of the Lucas Gusher was celebrated at the Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum in Beaumont, Texas. It is also interesting to note that to this very day, oil companies are using the latest technology to hopefully discover other deposits of oil that are believed located in areas surrounding Spindletop Hill.
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