page_title: Texas oil boom
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Texas oil boom / Effects / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: "Photograph shows Miss Universe, center wearing crown, standing on steps with nine other beauty contestants, (Miss Pittsburgh, Miss New York, Miss Detroit, Miss Russia, Miss Roumania, Miss New Jersey, Miss Kentucky, Miss Brooklyn, and Miss Pennsylvania); large cut-out of the world and clouds in background." The photograph was taken at the 1930 International Pageant of Pulchritude in Galveston.
context_page_description: The Texas oil boom, sometimes called the gusher age, was a period of dramatic change and economic growth in the U.S. state of Texas during the early 20th century that began with the discovery of a large petroleum reserve near Beaumont, Texas. The find was unprecedented in its size and ushered in an age of rapid regional development and industrialization that has few parallels in U.S. history. Texas quickly became one of the leading oil-producing states in the U.S., along with Oklahoma and California; soon the nation overtook the Russian Empire as the top producer of petroleum. By 1940 Texas had come to dominate U.S. production. Some historians even define the beginning of the world's Oil Age as the beginning of this era in Texas.
  The major petroleum strikes that began the rapid growth in petroleum exploration and speculation occurred in Southeast Texas, but soon reserves were found across Texas and wells were constructed in North Texas, East Texas, and the Permian Basin in West Texas.
context_section_description: An enduring theme during and after the oil boom has been a reluctance among Texans to relinquish their identity and a stubbornness in maintaining their cultural heritage in the face of drastic changes to the state brought by the sudden wealth. Despite its growth and industrialization, Texas culture in the mid-20th century remained distinct from the other industrial centers of the nation.
  The possibility of becoming wealthy from oil created a "wildcatter" culture, a reckless, entrepreneurial spirit, in many areas of the state. Independent entrepreneurs chased dreams of wealth by purchasing land and equipment to find oil. Ranchers and farmers, from both inside and outside of the state, turned to prospecting. The Oil and Gas Journal once published the following remark.
  Though many failed in their endeavors there were many success stories. The majority of the pioneering of and searching for new oilfields in this era was done by these independents, not big business interests. Competition with large oil interests would lead to the establishment of the Independent Petroleum Association of Texas as a lobbying group for these small businessmen.
  — Oil and Gas Journal
  Houston pioneered American car culture in the early 1900s thanks to the ready availability of inexpensive gasoline. By the 1920s traffic congestion had become so serious that the city became the first in the nation to install interconnected traffic lights. Visitors to the city were often astonished at the lack of pedestrian access to shopping venues and the importance of the automobile within the city. Though mass transit had been successful in Houston's earlier years, later efforts aimed at promoting mass transit and urban planning were largely defeated in Houston because of opposition by the public, which favored public investment in roads over mass transit. Urban concepts pioneered in Houston, like establishing shopping centers outside the city's core and encouraging suburban sprawl, became major trends adopted in many cities, both within the state and around the country.
  Another indirect effect of the boom was the growth of gambling and prostitution in many communities. These activities had not been uncommon in Texas before the boom, but the wealth brought by the oil industry, as well as difficulties in enhancing the laws and the law enforcement agencies, created many new opportunities for illegal businesses and organized crime. Many communities developed casino and red-light districts; notably the gaming empire in Galveston, which attracted wealthy businessmen from Houston and lasted into the 1950s, was the longest lasting of all of these. Prostitution, which had always been present in the state, flourished in the boom towns, which were crowded with single men earning relatively high wages. The onset of Prohibition and the state government's reluctance to enforce vice laws only encouraged the growth of gambling and bootlegging during this period.
  The rapid social changes during this period, especially the 1920s, led to the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the urban centers of Texas, with their strongest presence in Dallas. As in other states, the new Klan was not outwardly focused on suppression of black civil rights, but instead supported traditional morality including opposition to bootlegging, gambling, and other vices that had grown during the period. Bigotry, though, was never far from the group's agenda. During the Depression, anti-New Deal sentiments among some leaders, such as John Kirby, led to their becoming loosely associated with the Klan and its ideals.
  The petroleum industry influenced long-term trends in Texas and American culture. Conservative views among the early business leaders in Texas led them to help finance the emergence of the modern Christian right and the American conservative movement.
caption: Winner and finalists of the 1930 Miss Universe contest in Galveston
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