DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight with a little West Texas wind behind it. Somewhere in Monahans, Ward County, there stands a house built about 1910 by Mr. and Mrs. Jas.
R. Holman — and if you knew what that house would eventually mean to the oil world, you might slow down just a little when you drive past it. Now the Holmans had been in Monahans since 1898, which means they were out here when Monahans was the kind of place that needed somebody to meet the daily trains.
And that was exactly what "Dad" Holman did. He ran a lumber and coal business, kept a dray and a livery stable, and every single day he met those trains rolling in and hauled home seekers and salesmen over to the family hotel. The man was the welcoming committee, the transportation department, and the hospitality industry all at once.
Mr. and Mrs. Holman raised six children in that house, and one of them — one of those six kids who grew up breathing Monahans dust and listening to train whistles — was Eugene Holman, born in 1895. Now here's where the story shifts gears on you.
Eugene Holman rose through the petroleum industry until, in 1944, he reached the presidency of Standard Oil of New Jersey. The world's largest oil company. The boy from the family hotel in Monahans.
He was recognized as outstanding in labor relations, served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Commerce, and in 1960 he won the American Petroleum Institute's gold medal of distinguished achievement — the highest honor that industry could hand a man. Eugene Holman passed in 1962.
But that house on the Monahans dirt, built about 1910 by a man who met daily trains and hauled strangers to supper — that house is still the beginning of the story.
What the marker says
Built about 1910 by Mr. and Mrs. Jas. R. Holman, 1898 settlers in Monahans. "Dad" Holman had a lumber and coal business, dray, and livery stable; he met daily trains and took home seekers of salesmen to the family hotel. One of family's six children was Eugene Holman (1895-1962), petroleum industry leader who rose in 1944 to presidency of Standard Oil of New Jersey, the world's largest oil company. Outstanding in labor relations, he was an advisor to U. S. Dept. of Commerce; won (1960) American Petroleum Institute gold medal of distinguished achievement.