Oil & Gas Production

The oil and gas industry has been a significant part of the community since 1922, when the North Oil Field, located about 10 miles north of Nocona, started producing oil. This 12,295-acre field still produces today, although natural gas production from the recent Barnett Shale Formation has rivaled oil in importance to the area.

A 1936 Texas Centennial Historical Marker commemorates the use of gas and oil in local fields near Nocona, TX. The marker is located on the south side of FM 103, about ten miles north of Nocona, in a roadside turnout. Latitude & Longitude: 33° 55' 33.66932999988", -97° 42' 15.65904999996"

(Above photographs taken by Russell Lee in April and August 1939 in Kilgore, Texas, for the U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information and are held in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division in Washington D.C.)