The World's Richest Acre (Kilgore, Texas)
USA /
Texas /
Kilgore /
Kilgore, Texas
World
/ USA
/ Texas
/ Kilgore
World / United States / Texas
place with historical importance, replica, oil and gas industry
On Oct. 3, 1930, in a Rusk County pasture, 70-year-old Columbus M. "Dad" Joiner brought in the Daisy Bradford 3 and unknowingly tapped into the world's largest pocket of oil. The resulting oil boom brought thousands of producers and drillers into East Texas, turned the quiet little communities into raucous boom towns and made millions for oil producers. More than 1,000 wooden oil derricks -- perhaps the most visible evidence of the East Texas oil boom -- lined the town’s streets. During the Christmas season, lights were hung on many of the derricks. This spot, known as "The World's Richest Acre", produced more than a million barrels of oil alone. After the underground oil pools begun to play out, the oil derricks began to disappear and Kilgore soon looked like any other East Texas community. Today, steel replicas of the old derricks are back, thanks to the work of the Kilgore Historical Preservation Society.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 32°23'13"N 94°52'32"W
- Old US 71 - Wilton Segment 170 km
- Old U.S. 71 - Little River Approach 173 km
- Hope Municipal Airport (Hope Army Airfield) 187 km
- Historic Washington State Park 191 km
- Prairie d'Ane Battlefield 209 km
- Camden to Washington Road - Rosston Segment 209 km
- Crater of Diamonds State Park 216 km
- Poison Springs Battleground State Park 222 km
- Elkins' Ferry Battlefield 223 km
- Old Arkansas 51, Curtis to Gum Springs 248 km
- Kilgore High School 0.8 km
- Kilgore College 1 km
- Laird Memorial Hospital 1.6 km
- Kilgore Cemetery 1.7 km
- Meadowbrook Golf & Event Center 1.8 km
- Meadowbrook Park 1.8 km
- Kilgore Primary School 3.2 km
- Kilgore Middle School 3.3 km
- Griffin Lake 9 km
- Oak Hill Strip Mine 20 km