One Oil Well in 1926 Changed Everything in Winkler County

Winkler County was formed in 1887 and named for Confederate Colonel Clinton M. Winkler. For decades it was sparse ranch land. A drought in 1916 drove away most settlers. By 1926 only three houses and the courthouse were in use in Kermit, the county seat. Then on July 16, 1926, Roy Westbrook and Company brought in the Hendrick No. 1 well in central Winkler County. The oil boom was sudden and dramatic.

The town of Wink sprang up almost overnight near the Hendrick oilfield. Kermit grew quickly too. It was named for Kermit Roosevelt, son of President Theodore Roosevelt, who hunted antelope on a local ranch. The county went from 81 residents in 1920 to nearly 7,000 by 1930. Oil production shaped everything: the economy, the roads, the towns. The Handbook of Texas at the Texas State Historical Association has the full county history.