Burkburnett Texas, aka Boomtown
Burkburnett is close to the Red River at the intersection of Interstate Highway 44 and State Highway 240, ten miles north of Wichita Falls in north central Wichita County.
A post office named Burkburnett opened in 1907. Apparently President Theodore Roosevelt helped secure permission from the post office authorities to combine Burnett's two names. The town was linked to Wichita Falls and points south and to various towns in Oklahoma and points north by rail. North Texas pioneer Mabel Gilbert moved to the railroad townsite, and its one-room school building became Burkburnett's first school. A depot opened in 1907, and by 1915 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, which purchased the Wichita Falls and Northwestern, ran nineteen trains daily to Burkburnett.
In 1912 oil was discovered west of town; larger strikes were made in 1918 and 1925. These strikes drew thousands of people to the area. By late 1918 wells in the Burkburnett oilfield were producing 7,500 barrels per day, 20,000 persons had poured into the oilfield region, and twenty trains ran daily between Burkburnett and Wichita Falls. In addition, nineteen refineries processed the locally produced oil. The town's unpaved streets reportedly became lined with newly formed stock offices, brokerage houses, and automobiles stuck in the mud. An article published in Cosmopolitan magazine, "A Lady Comes to Burkburnett," captured the spirit of the times and later inspired the 1940 film Boom Town, starring Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. By the mid-1920s Burkburnett's population reached 5,300.
The oil boom died out by the late 1920s and, no doubt affected by the Great Depression and World War II, Burkburnett's population declined significantly during the 1930s and 1940s. By 1936 the town had 3,281 persons and 160 businesses; in 1946 it had 2,814 people and eighty-four busines. 66 years later the population has only grown to around 12,000. It's a quite, calm country town now but whether you're watching a storm roll in from the west or a spectacular sunrise in the East, there is still the feeling of the old Boomtown.
A post office named Burkburnett opened in 1907. Apparently President Theodore Roosevelt helped secure permission from the post office authorities to combine Burnett's two names. The town was linked to Wichita Falls and points south and to various towns in Oklahoma and points north by rail. North Texas pioneer Mabel Gilbert moved to the railroad townsite, and its one-room school building became Burkburnett's first school. A depot opened in 1907, and by 1915 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, which purchased the Wichita Falls and Northwestern, ran nineteen trains daily to Burkburnett.
In 1912 oil was discovered west of town; larger strikes were made in 1918 and 1925. These strikes drew thousands of people to the area. By late 1918 wells in the Burkburnett oilfield were producing 7,500 barrels per day, 20,000 persons had poured into the oilfield region, and twenty trains ran daily between Burkburnett and Wichita Falls. In addition, nineteen refineries processed the locally produced oil. The town's unpaved streets reportedly became lined with newly formed stock offices, brokerage houses, and automobiles stuck in the mud. An article published in Cosmopolitan magazine, "A Lady Comes to Burkburnett," captured the spirit of the times and later inspired the 1940 film Boom Town, starring Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. By the mid-1920s Burkburnett's population reached 5,300.
The oil boom died out by the late 1920s and, no doubt affected by the Great Depression and World War II, Burkburnett's population declined significantly during the 1930s and 1940s. By 1936 the town had 3,281 persons and 160 businesses; in 1946 it had 2,814 people and eighty-four busines. 66 years later the population has only grown to around 12,000. It's a quite, calm country town now but whether you're watching a storm roll in from the west or a spectacular sunrise in the East, there is still the feeling of the old Boomtown.
