Humble started off small, long before oil turned it into a boomtown. Joseph Dunman was thought to be the first to settle here in 1828, and he was soon followed by folks like Pleasant Smith Humble—“Plez”—who arrived just before the Civil War. Plez built a ferry crossing along the San Jacinto River, served as justice of the peace, and eventually opened a post office in his home in 1886, cementing the Humble name for good. Not long after, timber became a big draw, with C. O. Bender’s sawmill and commissary anchoring the town’s growing economy.
But by the early 1900s, a different kind of gold rush took over. Shallow wells first came in around 1902, and a massive gusher blew in 1904. Then, in 1905, D. R. Beatty’s No. 2 Fee well burst onto the scene with thousands of barrels a day—pushing Humble field to become the largest producer in Texas at the time. Those first years were wild, packed with blowouts, new drilling technology like the blowout preventer, and a flood of workers hoping to strike it rich. Local entrepreneurs formed the Humble Oil & Refining Company and left a mark on the American energy landscape.
Now that we’ve covered Humble’s early history, let’s take a quick look at the restored images from 1905 just as the boom began. I hope these images bring you closer to the grit and ambition that defined this Texas town’s black gold rush.
