Sid Williams Richardson

Born in Athens on April 25, 1891, Sid Williams Richardson became known as the "Billionaire Bachelor." At 16, he traveled to Louisiana to purchase cattle with money he had saved, then returned to Athens, sold the calves, and tripled his money to $3,500. After high school, he briefly attended Baylor University in Waco and Simmons, now Hardin-Simmons, University in Abilene. In 1909, his brother-in-law helped him get a job with an oil well supply company in Wichita Falls, where he worked as a salesman, oil scout, lease purchaser and, by 1917, an independent oil producer. In 1919, Richardson partnered with his longtime friend Clint Murchison to buy land and lease or sell it to oil companies seeking new areas to drill. His finances rose and fell, but he persisted. In 1929, he discovered the Keystone Field in Winkler County, drilling 80 straight wells without a dry hole in what became one of the largest oil fields in Texas and making him one of the most successful independent oil men in the country. In 1936, he purchased San Jose Island, five miles off the Gulf Coast from Rockport, Texas, where he built the only home he ever owned. He hosted President Franklin Roosevelt there in May 1937 during Roosevelt's visit to Texas, and Roosevelt later sought his counsel on the nation's petroleum reserves during World War II. After the war, Richardson was a close friend of General Dwight Eisenhower and entertained him and Lyndon Johnson at San Jose Island. The island was also used to raise Texas longhorn cattle to help ensure their preservation. Richardson was named to the National Petroleum Council, owned a chain of drug stores, a hotel and a television station, and assisted local charities. He died on September 30, 1959, and was buried in Athens.

Athens, Texas · United States