DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as Duane can carry it to you. James Lawrence Collins was born in Weston, West Virginia, in 1883, and if you're lookin' for a man who squeezed everything possible out of a life, well — you found him. He started in the petroleum industry at age fourteen.
Fourteen. Most kids that age are wonderin' what's for supper, and young James Collins is already learning the oil business from the ground up. Now, new oil discoveries in Texas have a way of pulling ambitious men westward, and sure enough, around 1923, those discoveries brought Collins to the Corsicana area.
He didn't waste much time getting to work. He formed a partnership with two brothers — John and Robert Wheelock — and together they founded the Wheelock and Collins Oil Company. What followed was the kind of career that gets remembered.
Collins' business was instrumental in developing the Corsicana field, the East Texas field, and oil fields scattered across the country. His success and his expertise were widely recognized throughout the industry, and that recognition carried him into positions of leadership in several national petroleum associations. A Weston, West Virginia boy — who started at fourteen — helping shape the direction of American oil.
Now here's where the story takes a turn you might not see coming. Collins never married. No children, no family of his own in that conventional sense.
But when he died in 1953, he left behind thirteen million dollars — and a very specific set of instructions for where it should go. He divided that estate among four organizations. Dallas' Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children received a share.
St. Joseph's Orphanage received a share. His local Roman Catholic parish received part of the estate — and that money was used to build and operate the school at this very site.
And the remainder? That went to create scholarships for graduates of Corsicana High School. A man who never had children of his own left behind hospitals for children, an orphanage, a school, and a path to college for generations of Corsicana kids.
James Lawrence Collins died in 1953. But you're standing next to something he built — and that's a kind of permanence money alone can't buy.
What the marker says
Born in Weston, West Virginia, James Lawrence Collins (1883-1953) began his career in the petroleum industry at age fourteen. New oil discoveries in Texas brought him to the Corsicana area about 1923. He soon formed a partnership with two brothers, John and Robert Wheelock, and founded the Wheelock & Collins Oil Co. Collins' business was instrumental in the development of the Corsicana field, the East Texas field, and other oil fields around the country. His success and expertise were widely recognized throughout the industry and led him into positions of leadership in several national petroleum associations. Never married, Collins provided upon his death that his $13 million estate be divided among four organizations. These included Dallas' Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children and St. Joseph's Orphanage. Part of the estate went to his local Roman Catholic parish, which used the money to build and operate the school at this site. The remainder of his estate went to create scholarships for graduates of Corsicana High School. Collins' contributions as a businessman and civic leader played an important role in the development and history of the Corsicana area.