Notrees

Duane's take

The official marker out here in Ector County tells it this way, and I'm just the man passin' it along. Now, out in the Permian Basin, where the land stretches flat and honest in every direction, there came a moment in 1944 when a man had to give something a name. The United States Post Office Department came knocking, so to speak, asking C.

J. Brown, Jr. for a title suitable to the locality. Brown looked around.

He considered what he saw. And what he saw, apparently, was a whole lot of nothing in the tree department. So he did what any straight-talking West Texan might do.

He named the place Notrees. That post office was established right there in Brown's own drug store. Which, when you think about it, is a fine place to conduct official government business and pick up your headache powder at the same time.

Now here's where the story gets its little bit of defiance. The residents of Notrees, upon hearing what their town had been called, apparently took it as a challenge. They have since made history, the marker says, by planting shade trees.

History. Planting trees. Out here.

That's the kind of stubborn optimism that makes West Texas what it is. And Notrees didn't stop there. The place grew into a production hub of the Permian Basin, the center of the gas processing industry, and the home of Otto's Boys Ranch.

A town named for what it lacked. Then it went and got some trees. Then it became a hub of industry.

The marker doesn't editorialize on that arc, but it doesn't have to. The facts do just fine on their own.

What the marker says

Post Office established 1944 in drug store of C. J. Brown, Jr., who named it in response to U.S. Postoffice Dept. request for title suitable to locality. Residents have since made history by planting shade trees. Now production hub of permian basin; center of gas processing industry, and home of Otto's boys ranch.