Pettus...The History of a Small Texas Oil Town

If you travel on Highway 181, between Karnes City and Beeville, Texas, you will pass through the small town of Pettus. Like many other small towns in Texas, you will hardly realize you have passed through a municipality at all. The main indicator will be a small green road sign announcing the city, and a reduction of the 70 mile per hour speed limit to a more modest 45 miles per hour. So it is with little Pettus.

Richard and I travel Highway 181 when we visit Rockport for our twice a year stay in the HEB Rockport Lodge. Every time we make the trip, we always stop in Pettus. It has both a gas station and a Dairy Queen, you see. 

Looking at this picture, you can learn quite a bit about Pettus. First of all, it is an oil town. The white pickup truck in the foreground is a company truck for a hose and supply company that services the oil business. Also, in the background, you can see an old two story building that has a sign stating it is the Pettus Oilfield Supply company. Looking in the parking lots of the Dairy Queen, you can see all the pick up trucks, for those are the vehicles of choice for this part of the world. 

Pettus was founded in the 1850s, and originally called Dry Medio. After the Civil War, the townsfolks changed the name to Pettus, to honor John Pettus, one of the early settlers. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original 300 colonists and he raised cattle and horses.

In 1859 and in the 1870s, there were a couple of Indian battles near the town, and in 1866, a right of way was given to the railroad, ensuring the continued growth of Pettus.

 By 1914, the town had over two hundred residents, a cotton gin, a lumber yard, five general stores, two churches, a town physician and a blacksmith. 

In 1929, oil was discovered in Pettus.  A company out of Houston stuck oil with it's oil well named "Number 1 - Maggie Ray McKinney" and ever since then, oil has dominated the business of Pettus. 

With the decline of oil production, the town has also declined. Now, there are only the three businesses you can see in my first photo on the main street through town...the gas station, the Dairy Queen and the oil supply company. That's it. 

While Richard was putting the $3.89 a gallon gas into our pickup truck, I scanned the area and spotted these two tankers on the other side of the highway. Pettus may be in decline, but it is still pushing oil.