Delta Drilling Company

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Back in 1931, when the East Texas oil boom was reshaping everything it touched, three men decided they weren't going to just watch the money flow. Bob Stacy, Sam Dorfman, and Joseph Zeppa founded Delta Drilling Company.

Now, if you're picturing some grand corporate headquarters, some gleaming office tower with their names on the glass, well. The company started in an apartment. Right here at this site.

That's where it all began, three men and a business address that was also, presumably, somebody's living room. From that apartment, Delta Drilling got to work, and the work was oil wells. Plenty of them.

Well after well after well, drilling into the East Texas earth, pulling up the kind of wealth that changes a region's whole story. And then, in 1937, the firm moved to Tyler. That was just the beginning of the moving, really, because Delta didn't stop at East Texas, didn't stop at Texas at all.

The company expanded across much of the western hemisphere and pushed further still, into parts of Africa and into Europe. What started in an apartment grew into an enterprise with gas processing plants, exploration and production divisions, and a reputation as a technological leader in land-based drilling operations. Not bad for three men and a very ambitious apartment.

What the marker says

In response to the East Texas oil boom, Delta Drilling Company was founded in 1931 by Bob Stacy, Sam Dorfman, and Joseph Zeppa. Originally housed in an apartment at this site, the firm moved to Tyler in 1937. Delta drilled many of the oil wells that brought wealth to this part of the state and soon expanded over much of the western hemisphere and into parts of Africa and Europe. The enterprise now includes gas processing plants, exploration and production divisions, and has become a technological leader in land-based drilling operations.