Details for Site of Tuckertown

Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5349012341

Data

Marker Number 12341
Atlas Number 5349012341
Marker Title Site of Tuckertown
Index Entry Tuckertown, Site of
Address
City Corsicana
County Navarro
UTM Zone
UTM Easting
UTM Northing
Subject Codes oil/petroleum topics; ghost towns
Marker Year 2000
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark No
Marker Location 2.9 miles south of Corsicana on US 287, then 3 miles east on FM 637
Private Property No
Marker Condition In Situ
Marker Size 27" x 42"
Marker Text Oil was discovered in Corsicana on June 19, 1894, during the drilling of a water well, setting off the oil boom in Texas. In the ensuing years, oil developers, lease hounds, rough-necks, businessmen, bootleggers, prostitutes, gamblers and other adventurers rushed to Corsicana and the rich fields to the southeast. A number of small boomtowns sprang up after oil was discovered in the Powell field around this site. Tuckertown was the largest of the oil boomtowns in this area. Percy T. Fullwood (1891-1958) of Corsicana had a small grocery on land leased from Corsicana attorney William J. Mckie, who drafted the charter for the Texas Company (Texaco) in 1902. Fullwood and Harry L. Tucker, a town site promoter, formed a partnership in 1923. They sold lots around the store on both sides of the gravel road to Beaumont (now Farm-to-Market Road 637.) Within two months, 3,000 people were living in the tents, houses and shanties of Tuckertown. It exemplified the freewheeling, often unruly life of the Navarro County oil boomtowns. In October 1923 a fire burned most of the north side of town, but the residents rebuilt. In November, the Powell field was completely drilled, and no new digging could be done. Another fire in February 1924 did further damage to Tuckertown. The field continued to decline, and by 1931 most structures in Tuckertown had been torn down. The last grocery store, located in what was once a house, was converted to a barn in 1935. Tuckertown was the center of the earliest and largest oil production in Powell field, which produced about 186,000,000 barrels of oil. By the end of the 20th century, its location was obscured by pasture. (2000)
ATLAS_NUM=5349012341

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