Iraan

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Back in 1922, three local businessmen — O. W.

Parker, George Thompson, and I. G. Yates — looked out at twenty sections of ranch land in Pecos County and decided to lease the drilling rights to Transcontinental Oil Company.

Now, the oil business is a patient game and a cruel one. Two dry holes later, you might be forgiven for thinking the whole venture was a fool's errand. But then came October 28, 1926 — and the I.

G. Yates well No. 1 blew in. Just like that, the quiet ranch land was quiet no more.

The area around the ranch headquarters became a boom town, practically overnight, and boom towns have a way of outrunning everything anybody planned for. Being isolated out there made it genuinely hard to support all those new people pouring in. So Yates did what you do when necessity comes knockin' — he converted a barn into a hotel.

That stretch of activity became known as Red Barn Community, and for a spell, that was the whole story. But Yates wasn't finished. In April of 1927, he commissioned H.

L. George of San Angelo to survey a proper townsite — three miles north of Red Barn. Now they had a town.

What they didn't have was a name. A contest was held, open to whoever wanted a shot at glory — and the prize, let me tell you, was a city lot. Not bad.

The winner was C. R. Hallmark, who submitted the name "Iraan" — a combination of Ira Yates and his wife Ann.

One name, two people, one new town on the map of Texas. The first business to open its doors in Iraan was a service station run by K. P.

Looney. A post office followed in 1928. Yates and Mid-Kansas Oil Company together funded a nondenominational chapel — a union church, they called it, built from contributions rather than any one denomination's claim.

And then there's this little detail that tends to stop people cold when they hear it. During the boom days of Iraan, a free-lance writer named V. T.

Hamlin was working out here — and it was right here, in this oil-boom outpost three miles from a converted barn, that he created the comic strip "Alley Oop." There's a park in the city today honoring his cartoon characters. A boom town, a barn turned hotel, a name stitched together from a husband and a wife, and the birthplace of one of the most beloved comic strips in American history. Iraan, Texas — it's got layers.

What the marker says

In 1922 three local businessmen, O. W. Parker, George Thompson, and I. G. Yates, leased the drilling rights on twenty sections of ranch land to Transcontinental Oil Company. After two dry holes were drilled the I. G. Yates well No. 1 blew in on October 28, 1926. The area around ranch headquarters became a boom town. Because it was isolated, support of the increased population became difficult. Yates converted a barn into a hotel and the area became known as Red Barn Community. In April 1927 Yates commissioned H. L. George of San Angelo to survey a townsite at this location, 3 miles north of Red Barn. A contest was held to choose a name for the new town. The winner was "Iraan", submitted by C. R. Hallmark who combined the names of Ira Yates and his wife Ann. His prize was a city lot. The first business to operate in Iraan was a service station run by K. P. Looney. A Post Office was opened in 1928. A nondenominational chapel known as union church was set up from contributions by Yates and Mid-Kansas Oil Company. During the boom days of Iraan, V. T. Hamlin worked as a free-lance writer. It was here that he created the comic strip "Alley Oop" . A park honoring his cartoon characters is located in the city.