Ranger
An 1870s Texas Ranger
camp in northeast Eastland County gave the town of Ranger its name. It existed as a farming
community until 1917, when an oil well on the McCleskey farm spurred one of the
biggest oil booms in the state. Immediate growth and prosperity ensued, and
throngs of people rushed to Ranger. The boom was seen as an answer to the oil
shortage caused by World War I, and the Texas Highway Commission approved
funding for the south loop of SH 1 through multiple locations, including
Ranger. By 1924, the existing surface materials of the road were starting to
show immense wear and tear from the heavy traffic from the surrounding oil
fields. In response to this, funding was obtained to replace the Bankhead Highway’s
existing surface with new brick pavers. The Ranger oil boom was fierce but
short-lived. The wells were exhausted by the mid-1920s. Stop at the Roaring Ranger Museum to learn more.
Commerce Street Brick Roadway Segments In the 1920s, Ranger’s unpaved streets were no match for the oil boom
that had taken over the city. Brick, though expensive, became the paving
material of choice, and luckily the nearby town of Thurber had the best equipped brick plant west of the Mississippi.
Thurber brick paved hundreds of miles of Texas highways and streets from
Ranger to Galveston.
City of Ranger
400 W. Main St.
254.647.3023
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