DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about C.S. Nicks, out of Van Zandt County, Texas. Now settle in, because this one's about a man who had a knack for being exactly where history was happening — and the good sense to bring a camera.
Charles Sparkman Nicks. Photographer. Inventor.
And as it turns out, the right man in the right place at a moment East Texas would never forget. The marker tells us he was born in Tennessee, but by 1900 the family had relocated to Galveston. And photography was already in the blood — two of his brothers, Allen and Eliga, were both employed as photographers right there in Galveston.
So the lens was practically a family heirloom. When C.S. was twenty-seven, he married Jenny Christian, and during World War I he opened his own photography studio in Nashville, Tennessee. A man with ambition.
Then came an offer — a better-paying job at Socony Vacuum Company, taking pictures of new service stations. Now, most folks would've just pointed and clicked and picked up their check. Not C.S.
Nicks. While he was there, he developed a device to accurately measure gasoline. And that wasn't all.
He and a fellow engineer put together a portable darkroom and a digital read-out meter for gasoline pumps. The man could not stop inventing things. But 1929 had a way of humbling even the most resourceful among us.
Nicks lost his savings in the financial crash. And so he did what Texans have always understood — you find your people, and you start again. He joined his brother Allen, who was working as a photographer in Tyler.
Now here is where the story turns. Oil had just been discovered in nearby Van, Texas. A town that barely knew what it was about to become.
Nicks opened a studio right there in Van. And he was — mark this — the only professional photographer to document Van's oil discovery and its development as a town. The oil drilling.
The oil field fires. The confusion and the people of a boom town rising up practically overnight. He took part in all civic activities.
He was an organizing officer of the Lions Club. He was not just a witness — he was a neighbor. And what he left behind in those photographs of 1929 and 1930 is something time and memory would have swallowed whole without him.
The birth of an oil town. The effort, the joys, and the hardships of the people who influenced the formation of Van. C.S.
Nicks walked into one of East Texas's most chaotic chapters with a camera and a talent for inventions, and he made sure the rest of us would never have to wonder what it looked like. That's not just documentation, friends. That's a gift.
What the marker says
Charles Sparkman Nicks was a photographer with a dream, ambition and a talent for inventions. His photographs of the discovery of oil in 1929-1930 Van, Texas, document the birth of this new oil town and preserve its history for future generations. Nicks was born in Tennessee but, in 1900, the family relocated to Galveston, where two brothers, Allen and Eliga, were employed as photographers. When C.S. was 27, he married Jenny Christian and, during World War I, he opened his own photography studio in Nashville, Tennessee. He was offered a better-paying job at Socony Vacuum Company taking pictures of new service stations. While there, C.S. developed a device to accurately measure gasoline. Nicks also developed, along with a fellow engineer, a portable darkroom and a digital read-out meter for gasoline pumps. Nicks lost his savings in the financial crash of 1929. Seeking employment, he joined his brother, Allen, a photographer in Tyler. Oil had just been discovered in nearby Van, so Nicks opened a studio there. He was the only professional photographer to document Van's oil discovery and development as a town. He took part in all civic activities and was an organizing officer of the lions club. C.S. Nicks captured the visual history of oil drilling, oil field fires, the confusion and people of boom-town Van and other east Texas towns that would otherwise be lost to time and memory. With his camera he left behind evidence that will live on through his photographs and provide proof of the effort, joys and hardships of the people who influenced the formation of Van.