He also remembered that the local cowboys would stage sham fights, shooting blanks and riding their horses up Main Street and sometimes into the stores. Since visitors often mistook this horsing around for real gunfights, Odessa got a reputation for being a rough town. Two years after the Rev. A.L. Powell and 12 residents established Odessa's first Baptist congregation, Odessa Baptist Church was established and began meeting in a wooden building at the corner of Fifth and Grant. On Sept. 8, hurricane destroys Galveston, killing 6,000 to 8,000 people in the nation's worst natural disaster. Assassin kills Kentucky Gov. William Goebel in January.
Information is drawn from news accounts, archives and other historical records.
20th Century Countdown. The Odessa American's daily countdown of the last 100 years, from 1900 through 1999, with a short summary of some news and newsmakers affecting residents of Odessa. Copyright 1999 Odessa American. All rights reserved. Refer comments to Webmaster .