Opened as an oil field on June 14, 1935, with the discovery well flowing 1140 barrels of crude oil daily, and within a month shacks and tents housed 350 people. In May 1937 Harry L. Tucker platted the town of Ector City, later renamed for C. A. Goldsmith, owner of the land. Within two years, Goldsmith had cafes, taverns, a hospital, movie theater, hotels, motels, shops, and a newspaper. Its first residents paid 25 cents for the town's only bath, a shower sprayed from an overhead tank. It is now a gas processing and distribution center.