Midland, Texas ca. 1961
We moved to Midland in 1960 when my Dad left Shell Oil and accepted an offer from old time MIdlander John Starr to run Mr. Starr's company, Fidelity Oil. Mr. Starr was associated with Shell Oil, and among other things had the "jobbership" i.e. concession, to own and operate all the Shell Oil company affiliated service stations in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. My Dad was expanding this concession in 1961 and in doing the marketing plan for the location of the new stations he contracted for aerial surveys of possible locations.
And so in the last several years as my folks were cleaning out miscellania of the past, I ended up with all these now somewhat historic photos. I thought Midland readers would enjoy seeing them, and what Midland looked like in 1961.
This photo was taken just south of Wall Street at the Andrews Hwy, looking straight up Garfield Street. It is interesting to note that the northern border of "civilization" was at Wadley Ave. and that even most of the development north of Golf Course Rd. was fairly new as you will notice that the trees are not yet much grown. In the left center of the photo, the building now known as Bank One is just being built. It was originally the Commercial Bank and Trust building. The newly built, Dennis the Menace Park is two blocks to the south.
We moved to Midland in 1960 when my Dad left Shell Oil and accepted an offer from old time MIdlander John Starr to run Mr. Starr's company, Fidelity Oil. Mr. Starr was associated with Shell Oil, and among other things had the "jobbership" i.e. concession, to own and operate all the Shell Oil company affiliated service stations in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. My Dad was expanding this concession in 1961 and in doing the marketing plan for the location of the new stations he contracted for aerial surveys of possible locations.
And so in the last several years as my folks were cleaning out miscellania of the past, I ended up with all these now somewhat historic photos. I thought Midland readers would enjoy seeing them, and what Midland looked like in 1961.
This photo was taken just south of Wall Street at the Andrews Hwy, looking straight up Garfield Street. It is interesting to note that the northern border of "civilization" was at Wadley Ave. and that even most of the development north of Golf Course Rd. was fairly new as you will notice that the trees are not yet much grown. In the left center of the photo, the building now known as Bank One is just being built. It was originally the Commercial Bank and Trust building. The newly built, Dennis the Menace Park is two blocks to the south.
