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"Roxana
Camp Looking South"
Photo courtesy Ken Sharpe |
Not
shown on TxDoT Map of Carson County
History in a sun-baked, flattened oil can:
In the 1920s the boom town of Roxana was one of the largest oil camps
in the Panhandle
region. The town was indirectly named. Whoever Roxana was, she was
actually the inspiration for the name of one of the many oil companies
in the area. It was a Roxana drill that brought in the first producing
well in the area, and therefore the camp took the name. Other derricks
rose around the original well and when a post office opened in 1927
it appeared that Roxana was going to be on the map.
The oil was plentiful enough for the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway
to complete a branch line from White
Deer, but when a depot went in at Skellytown,
Roxana's day's were numbered. Even though most of Roxanna's businesses
moved to Skellytown,
enough residents hung on to keep it alive as a separate community.
When the boom went bust, Roxana was left with ten people. By 1944
the post office closed, although Roxana continued to have a few diehard
residents into the 1970s. |
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"Roxana
Camp Looking North"
Photo courtesy Ken Sharpe |
Subject: Roxana,
Texas
Dear TE, I just finished reading the article about Roxana, Texas,
which was very interesting to me. My father, Charlie Clay Dykes, worked
for Skelly Oil Company for many years, and during that time, he purchased
the old Roxana post office. I was a small child at the time, and there
were only two or three other buildings around the area. We eventually
moved the house to Skellytown
and added other rooms around the original post office. The old house
is still standing even though my father has passed away, and Ann Dykes
(mother) has moved into a nursing home. I remember playing our in
the back yard one day, and happened onto some old boxes from the post
office, and had no idea what they were at the time. Some of my fondest
memories of childhood are growing up in the area of the old Roxana
Post Office.
- Tawanna (Dykes) Sinclair, August 23, 2007
Anyone wishing to share history, stories or photos of Roxana, Texas,
please contact
us
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