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Goldsmith |
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Goldsmith is at the intersection of State Highway 158 and Farm Road 856, in northwestern Ector County. It grew as a result of Permian Basin oil development. In 1936 Imogene Bunn petitioned for a post office, but the name that she proposed, Ector City, was denied because another Texas town had it. Goldsmith was chosen, in honor of rancher C. A. Goldsmith, whose land included the townsite. By 1937 Goldsmith had churches, a post office, a grocery store, a restaurant, and a rooming house, which offered the only shower bath in town at twenty-five cents a use. By 1938 the residents had a school, and electric lamps replaced kerosene the same year. The population stabilized at 850 but declined after World War II, as the oil service businesses moved to Odessa. The 1980 census showed 409 residents. In 1990 the population was 297. |
Opened as oil field June 14, 1935, with flow of 1140 barrels of crude oil daily from discovery well. Within a month, shacks and tents housed 350 people. Harry L. Tucker in May 1937 platted town of Ector City. Name later changed to honor C. A. Goldsmith, owner of the land. In 2 years, Goldsmith had a cafes, taverns, hotels, motels, shops and newspaper. First residents paid 25 cents at only bath in town--a shower sprayed form an overhead tank. Now a gas processing and distribution center. 1965 Historical Marker Text, location: 100 ft. N. of intersection of SH 158 & Hendrickson St. (on Hendrickson St.), Goldsmith
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