Boom Town To Ghost Town: Thurber, Texas 1886-1936 DVD

In the 1880s, Thurber became an industrial metropolis in the brushy ranch country west of Fort Worth. Wholly owned by the Texas and Pacific Coal Company, Thurber was a major mine site for three decades, largely due to the vast amounts of high-grade bituminous coal beneath the ground. At it's peak, American and immigrant miners from countries such as Italy, Poland and Mexico, produced 3,000 tons of coal every day for use by the railroad and other entities. In 1897, the company added a well-equipped brick plant. As a result, Thurber brick paved hundreds of miles of highways and streets in Texas. Noted as one of the first completely electrified towns, Thurber was home to about 10,000 persons in its prime. After a strike in 1903, the united Mine Workers organized the miners, and Thurber became one of the few totally unionized towns in the country. In 1917, William Knox Gordon, company superintendent at Thurber, brought in the McClesky discovery oil well at nearby Ranger. This event had an enormous impact on Thurber and the state, opening the West Texas oil fields to exploration. Soon, the railroads were running on the plentiful oil, reducing the need for coal. The mines and the brick kilns were closed. The company changed its name to the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company and moved its base of operations to Fort Worth. By the late 1930s, Thurber was a ghost town. This 55-minute DVD includes historic and current photographs and video of Thurber and also features the song, "Thurber, Texas" by Larry Joe Taylor.