STUDYING. PEARLAND. OVER. TIME.
On The SPOT
Great Depression
This section of the website will focus on the period during the Great Depression until the Second World War.
The Great Depression
Although this period was challenging for Pearland, its residents avoided the bread lines, soup kitchens, and farm foreclosures that affected harder-hit regions of the country. Road construction in the northern half of Brazoria County put many unemployed Pearlanders to work. Most of the credit for the public works program, three state highways, and two farm-to-market roads can be attributed to C. W. Massey, whose slogan was "a good road won't hurt anybody." One of the roads he helped develop was Brazoria County's section of Telephone Road, which connected Alvin to Houston. After it opened, Pearland held a community wide barbecue. C. W. Massey was elected to the position of County Commissioner in 1923, which he held for 18 years. His grandfather was Israel Massey, one of the Austin Old 300. Places like Massey Ranch Elementary School and Old Massey Ranch Road are named after the family's contributions.
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A combination of the discovery of oil in Hastings Field halfway between Pearland and Alvin, which I will go into greater depth on in the next section, and an upsurge in rice production greatly accelerated the economic recovery. By the late 1930s, most people were better off than the boom days before the 1915 storm.
Image Credit - Pearland History Facebook Page
Image of C. W. Massey
Image Credit - PearlandISD
Image of the Massey Ranch Logo
Hastings Oil Field
The Hastings Oil Field was discovered on December 23, 1934, by the Stanolind Oil and Gas Company, a subsidy of Standard Oil of Indiana, which would later become Amoco. After Edgar F. Bullard, Vice President of Stanolind, purchased the lease, lease prices jumped from a dollar an acre to $5,000 an acre.
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The oil field is about five miles long and four miles wide. One significant feature is its deep underground salt dome, which is a formation that traps oil in the rocks beneath the surface.
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In the midst of the Great Depression, the oil field alleviated some of the negative effects through job creation. They needed workers to drill wells, build pipelines, transport oil, and maintain equipment. These jobs also paid more than farming, which accelerated the recovery after the past two hurricanes.
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By 1984, the field had produced approximately 656 million barrels of oil between the East and West split because of a major fault that runs parallel to Highway 35 between Pearland and Alvin.
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In 2009 - 2011, Denbury Resources bought the aging oil field and used CO2 injection recovery efforts to restart production in the oil field.
Image Credit - MySanAntonio.com
Image of Re-completing well at West Hastings field by Denbury Resources
Image Credit - MySanAntonio.com
Image of processing facility being built at West Hastings
Social
Pearland became a place for many rural social gatherings, bringing together rough-necks, farm hands, and construction crews from miles away. Two dance halls, Raymond Kliesing's Wander Tavern and the Old Style Inn, were packed every Friday and Saturday night.