Chaired by Lily Norman of the Spindletop Boomtown Museum, this session brings together scholars and museum professionals to explore the origins, preservation, and impact of Texas’s oil heritage—from its explosive beginnings to its lasting cultural and economic significance.
Hope Meredith’s presentation, “Spindletop: 125 Years of Oil,” revisits the 1901 gusher that transformed a quiet Beaumont prairie into the epicenter of the Texas oil empire. Her talk examines the individuals, innovations, and circumstances that led to this defining moment in world energy history and its enduring influence on Texas identity.
In “Preserving the Boom: The Living Legacy of Lamar University’s Spindletop Boomtown Museum and Kilgore College’s East Texas Oil Museum,” Dr. Belinda George explores how two of Texas’s most important oil museums preserve and interpret the legacy of the oil industry through education, technology, and community engagement. Her presentation underscores how these institutions keep the boomtown spirit alive in a modern context.
Finally, Olivia Moore’s “The Discovery of the East Texas Oil Field” examines the 1930 Daisy Bradford No. 3 well in Rusk County and its sweeping social and economic consequences. Her research highlights the entrepreneurial persistence of C. M. “Dad” Joiner and the challenges of overproduction, proration laws, and boomtown life during the Great Depression, revealing how the oil field transformed both East Texas and the state’s broader trajectory.
Together, these presentations offer an integrated view of how Texas’s oil discoveries shaped its past and continue to influence its cultural and economic landscape today.
Session Chair: Lily Norman, Spindletop Boomtown Museum
