DUANE
Get the App
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the first oil refinery in Texas City. Now settle in, because this is a story about something that started small and grew into something the whole nation came to depend on. The Texas City Refining Company established the first oil refinery ever built in Texas City back in 1908.
A contractor named J. C. Black showed up with more than a hundred craftsmen, and together they put that refinery together from the ground up.
When they were done, the place had eleven stills, storage tanks, and a boiler house. Railroad tank cars rolled in with crude oil for processing, and when that crude came out the other side as finished product, it left by rail or moved through a pipeline down to the Texas City docks, where seagoing tankers were waiting to carry it off into the wider world. Fifteen hundred barrels a day.
That's what she could handle in 1908. Now, you might think that's a modest start. And you'd be right.
But modest starts have a way of becoming something else entirely. Over the years, more land was purchased. Extra storage tanks went up.
As technology advanced, the facilities were modernized right along with it. Then the world came calling, not once but twice. Petroleum products made at this refinery during both world wars provided significant contributions to the nation's defense.
And World War II production demands, well, those were so intense that Texas City's population nearly tripled trying to keep up. That is the kind of pressure that either breaks a place or defines it. This refinery endured economic shifts.
Natural disasters. Accidents. The fluctuations of the oil industry itself.
Multiple owners came and went over the decades. And through every bit of it, this refinery stayed. It kept on providing employment for hundreds of workers and kept on infusing millions of dollars into local, regional, and national economies.
By the time the 1990s rolled around, that same operation that once processed fifteen hundred barrels a day had grown to handle a hundred and thirty thousand barrels a day. Over eight decades of keeping the lights on, the engines running, and the tankers loaded. That is not just a refinery.
That is Texas City's backbone.
What the marker says
The first oil refinery built in texas City was established in 1908 by the Texas City Refining Company. Contractor J. C. Black and more than 100 craftsmen constructed the refinery. Processing equipment included eleven stills, storage tanks, and a boiler house. Railroad tank cars delivered crude oil for processing. The finished product was shipped by rail or carried by pipeline to the Texas City docks for loading on seagoing tankers. Through the years more land was purchased, extra storage tanks were built, and facilities were modernized as technology advanced. Petroleum products made during both world wars provided significant contributions to the nation's defense. World War II production demands caused Texas City's population to nearly triple. Despite economic shifts, natural disasters and accidents, oil industry fluctuations, and multiple owners, this refinery has been an integral part of the area for over eight decades, providing employment for hundreds of employees, and infusing millions of dollars into local, regional, and national economies. Now an upgraded, modern facility, the refinery's capacity for processing crude oil has grown from 1,500 barrels per day in 1908 to 130,000 barrels per day in the 1990s.