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The historical
marker amid the plentiful southeast Texas vegetation.
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Historical Marker:
TX Hwy 65 in Monroe City at entrance to old Humble Oil and Refinery
Co. (now Exxon)
Anahuac Oil
and Gas Field
Although oil production
of major value began in Chambers County in 1916, this prolific Anahuac
field was discovered on March 3, 1935, with completion of Humble Oil
& Refining Company's A. D. Middleton No. 1 (1.8 mi. SE). The camp
which housed Humble crews who developed the field was adjacent to
this site.
The field encompasses some 14,000 acres of prime rice and grazing
land and produces from 21 zones in a highly faulted domal structure.
Producing depths range from 6,600 feet to 8,600 feet. Peak production
was reached in World
War II, when in 1944 annual total was 11,916,137 barrels. Discovery
well had an original potential of 144 barrels a day from depth of
7,050 feet. It was deepened to 7,088 feet and recompleted March 14,
1935, with a new potential of 518 barrels. Through 1966, A. D. Middleton
No. 1 has produced in excess of 390,000 barrels of oil.
Over 177 million barrels of oil and 268 billion cubic feet of gas
have been produced from the field. (In Chambers County, a pioneer
oil producing area, over 475 million barrels of oil have been produced
since 1916.) At present, there are 408 wells in the Anahuac field,
and it is expected that production will continue into the 21st century.
Incise in Base:
Erected by Chambers County Historical Survey Committee, Guy C. Jackson
III, Chairman |
Monroe City
History
"Monroe
City is at the junction of Farm Road 1724 and State Highway 124,
thirty-nine miles southwest of Beaumont
in central Chambers
County. The town, named for Monroe White, a prominent local
citizen, was established in the wake of the discovery of the Anahuac
oilfield in 1935. Companies with major interests in the Anahuac
field included the Humble Oil and Refining Company (later Exxon
Company, U.S.A.), followed by Sun Oil and Gulf Oil. By the end of
1935, H. S. Sterling had established a store at the oilfield camp,
and the next year the Monroe City post office was opened. Some sources
place the community population at 300 by 1939. By 1940 Monroe City
had a lumberyard, several stores, housing for oilfield workers,
and a Brown and Root company camp. As the boom subsided, the population
declined to 120 during the late 1940s and to ninety by 1970. It
was still reported at ninety through 2000. A plaque from the Texas
State Historical Survey Committee (later the Texas Historical Commission)
marks the field, which had produced well over 270 million barrels
of crude oil by 1985."
Robert Wooster, “Monroe City, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed
January 22, 2022, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/monroe-city-tx.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Chambers
County 1940s map showing Anahuac,
Monroe City, 6 Miles E of Anahuac,
is not on the map
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
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