Harris County Had One of Texas's Early Oil Discoveries

Oil was first found at Goose Creek in Harris County in 1908, and a major commercial gusher came in 1916. The field pulled oil from under the bay floor. It was the first offshore oil field in Texas. Workers poured into the Baytown area and other Ship Channel communities to work in the new refineries.

By 1929, about 27% of all manufacturing workers in Harris County worked in oil refineries. The Ship Channel gave tankers deep-water access to the coast. That, combined with nearby crude oil, made Harris County a natural home for petrochemical refining. This industrial base shaped the Houston economy for the rest of the 20th century.