BEAUMONT, Texas — After a well at Spindletop in Beaumont struck oil on Jan. 10, 1901, the birth of the modern petroleum industry came to be.
Now 123 years later, the Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum is hosting its annual celebration with reenactments, music, food trucks and more.
The celebration event takes place Saturday, January 13, 2024 at 10 a.m. Admission is $5.
In 1899, Anthony F. Lucas, a salt dome formations expert, was in charge of the drilling operation. Lucas was able to drill to a depth of 575 feet but was unsuccessful at getting through the salt dome, according to Lamar University's website.
A year later, Lucas used a new heavier and more efficient rotary type to dig. For months, Lucas dug with the assistance of an experienced drilling team.
On January 10, 1901, after numerous attempts at digging into the salt dome, oil struck.
The Spindletop gusher raged for nine days, gushing 100,000 barrels of oil per day. In its first year, Spindletop produced more than 3.5 million barrels of oil. In its second, production rose to 17.4 million.
The success of Spindletop was a significant financial impact on the land and its surrounding areas. Beaumont’s population rose from 10,000 to 50,000, according to the website.
Investors spent billions of dollars throughout the state in search of oil and natural gas.
The cheap fuel they found helped to revolutionize American transportation and industry. Storage facilities, pipelines, and major refining units were built in the Beaumont, Port Arthur, Sabine Pass, and Orange areas around Spindletop, according to the website.
By the end of 1902, more than 500 companies had been formed, including Gulf Oil Corporation, Sun Oil Company, Magnolia Petroleum Company, and The Texas Company, later known as Texaco and Humble, later known as Exxon.
