The founding of Denver City was preceded by that of Wasson in the northern limits of Gaines County. Located three miles to the south of the Denver City town site, Wasson was founded in 1935 by Charles Cragin andBen Eggink, drilling superintendent for Denver Producing and Refining Company. When the discovery wills drilled by Red Davidson and the Denver Producing and Refining Company got producer wells on the present site of Denver City, Ben Eggink decided that a move was in order to establish an oil field town closer to the center of drilling activities.
Yoakum County, the location of Denver City, was created in 1876 and organized in 1907 from Bexar Territory. The county was named for Henderson Yoakum, pioneer, soldier, author, and jurist who served in the Mexican War.
Oil leasing activity in the area dates back to 1927, but it was not until 1935 that a successful strike was made. An expired lease rental led to the drilling of the discovery well. Red Davidson was in charge of drilling, The wildcat discovery well, known as the No. 1-678 Ruth E. Bennett, was made on October 10, 1935. It was shortly followed by other wells drilled in Yoakum County by the Denver Producing and Refining Company. These original wells remain strong and productive after fifty years. They have been incorporated into the gigantic Wasson Pool.
Closely associated with the discovery of oil was the emergence of the boom town. Each area of West Texas had at lease one main boom town, and each represents a different era. Denver City is the last West Texas town created wholly by the discovery of oil. Denver City was a Typical oil boom town in that all activity center along the main street. Rusty Mather cleared the main street through the mesquite and sagebrush with a bulldozer. Numerous businesses sprang up, the first of which was Bryant L. Dulin's Humble Service Station. Soon the main street boasted sixteen grocery stores, sixteen dry goods, seventeen lumber yards, seventeen supply houses, thirty-four cafes, and six drug stores. Pine-planked houses and canvas tents were erected to house the people who worked in the Wasson field.
Denver City was incorporated on March 26, 1940, and a mayor and city council were elected. It has two newspapers, Denver City News and the Denver City Post. In May 1940, the city council ordered a fire truck and began to organize the Denver City Volunteer Fire Department.
The City made great progress in 1940. Although there was no sewer system, there was a water company and the city formed a gas company to replace the individual butane systems with natural gas. Reliable electricity was provided by the forerunner of Southwestern Public Service. Three doctors came to town and established a small six or seven bed hospital.
The oil companies were particularly instrumental in helping the town become a stable community. They were very generous and cooperative with the new school board because it was important that their employees' children have good schools to attend. The high school, built in 1940, was the first brick building in town.
The school provided a large part on the town's social life and entertainment with the annual banquet to introduce teacher, the football games and band concerts. A country club, built three miles north of town, offered dances, parties, and a golf course. Churches had been established when the town was first organized.
Within two years, the population of the city grew to 5,000. Living condition were crude at first. Beside the ever-present tents, shotgun houses abounded, and public bathhouses took place of private bathing facilities. The better living conditions could be found outside the city limits where hundreds of well-built houses made up the company camps. A total of fifteen company camps were built in the immediate area.
World War II almost ended the City. Most of the men were drafted or went back to their home towns to help in the wartime effort. The doctors left; stores and cafes moved to the other towns. Andrews, fifty miles south, was just beginning to have an oil boom companies there were offering good money for worker and for houses which could be moved in.
Hobbs, just across the New Mexico border, was building an air base and hiring people at all levels. Denver City's future looked dim. However, with the end of the the war, Denver City started growing again.
Several things helped the town to recover from the war and to rebuild its population. In 1948, the city hospital, and three doctors moved in to make this their home. A sever system was installed. Two years later, J.O. Gillham, the owner of the bank in Brownfield, established a bank in Denver City and sold stock to the local people. During these years, the oil companies abandoned the real estate business and sold the camp house to the families living there, who moved them into town.
Yoakum County Library 205 West 4th Street, Denver City Texas 79323
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