Deep in the heart of West Texas sits a colossal miscalculation that was transformed into one of the Lone Star State’s more unusual attractions. Just outside the small town of Monahans, the Million Barrel Museum is a place that tells the story of how one of the world’s most prominent oil companies carved a massive, barrel-shaped pit into the landscape, and how its failure morphed into a giant monument dedicated to the region’s oil and gas heritage.
Located an hour west of Midland and over three hours east of El Paso, the museum was originally built as a storage tank for surplus crude oil. The idea came from the Shell Oil Company, which constructed the enormous tank in the 1920s to accommodate the region’s oil boom. Spanning the size of three football fields and reaching 35 feet deep into the earth, the tank was designed to hold nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil. However, almost immediately after it was filled, the tank cracked, causing large amounts of oil to seep into the ground. The project was quickly abandoned, and the remaining oil was pumped out. After a failed attempt to turn the site into a water park, the barrel was handed over to the Ward County Historical Commission, which converted it into a museum.
The Million Barrel Museum is filled with history
After the storage tank was donated, the Million Barrel Museum opened to the public in 1987. The museum chronicles the history of the oil industry in the Permian Basin, a large oil field anchored by the “Tall City” of Midland. Visitors can step back in time and experience what life was like in the basin during the 1920s. The museum grounds feature the first county jail, a railroad section house, the Rattlesnake Bomber Base Museum (used to train B-17 and B-29 bomber crews during World War II), and vintage oil field equipment. One of the museum’s highlights is the Holman House, built in 1909. This historic home served as a central gathering place for the town and was used as both a hotel and a temporary hospital…