Mexia became one of America’s great free-wheeling oil booms before proration was enforced. After oil was discovered in 1920 at Rogers No. 1 Well, 1.6 miles west of this site off FM Road 1633, the town’s population surged from 4,000 to 50,000 within days. Earlier, in 1912, Blake Smith and other Mexia men had brought in a gas field, and believing oil could also be found there, they attracted veteran operator and flamboyant wildcatter A. E. Humphreys, who struck oil at 3,105 feet. By May 1921 gushers were flowing, Humphreys employed 2,000 men, conducted a $4,000,000 business, and later saw his fortune estimated at $37,000,000. Other companies formed, and J. K. Hughes, another renowned wildcatter, shared leadership in developing the field to capacity. Millionaires, merchants, celebrities, operators, and workers swarmed to Mexia seeking a share of the black gold, while many undesirables also arrived and were one day ousted by the thousands by Texas Rangers. During the 1920-1921 first boom year, $5,000,000 went into construction, tanks holding more than 30 million barrels of oil were built, and even that storage proved inadequate for production. A park and clubhouse developed near this site by Col. Humphreys remained in use in 1967 as mementos of the boom.