Long ago, at least for us, our Great Grandfather Charles Bond lived in Burkburnett with his first wife's nephew, Scott Markham. In 1920, they lived at 506 6th Street in Burkburnett where they were renting a house. Charles Bond's death certificate in 1922 lists his residence as Burkburnett, though he died and is buried in Fannin County, Texas. Although oil was first discovered in 1912, it wasn't until the 1918 find that Burkburnett became a boom town. The 1940 move "Boom Town" with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy was inspired by the Burkburnett story. Below are some photos to give you an idea of what Burkburnett looked like in 1919. Click on the images to enlarge. Next post will go in to some more history about our Gr-Grandfather Bond and Gr-Grandmother Susana Markham families.
Both photos were taken c. 1919 and are from the Library of Congress site which indicates no known restrictions to their use. Several things struck me about these images: one was the location of oil rigs right next to the homes, and the second was the large number of rigs. Couldn't get away with that today, could we? You can also see flares where the distillate is burned off. Must have been fun keeping house. Must have smelled lovely, too, or maybe they just thought of it as the fine "smell of money being made."
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