In 1926, a rancher named Henry Schafer owned a ranch twelve miles west of Pampa. He sold 320 acres to the CEO and founder of the Skelly Oil Company.
Schafer platted a new townsite to handle the oilfield workers. He named the town Skellytown in honor of William G. Skelly, who resided in Oklahoma City. The actual camp was located four miles north of town, according to Dickie Dunham, who lived in this camp.
The underground oil was called the Roxana Oil Pool. Wooden oil derricks sprung up everywhere, and the town grew over the years until its population was
650 in 2000. The camp houses were in a horseshoe circle, each with a storm cellar! During this oil boom, four other Skelly Oil camps were in a twenty-mile area. They were called Crawford Oil Camp, the Schafer Oil Camp, Roxana Oil Camp, and the “old Skelly” Oil Camp.
According to pumper Mike Miller, a Pampa man who maintained several oil wells, “Skellytown had a main street, several cafes, a gas station, and supply stores.” In 1927, a new post office opened, the Roxana-Skellytown News began publishing once a week, Panhandle Power and Light began providing utilities, and a four-room emergency hospital opened. It had a school for kids ages six to ten, the first to the fifth. The teachers were Mrs. Kizedon, Miss Ruth Hill, and Miss Maude Keyes. The school was very crowded. There were two grades in each room and two pupils in every seat.
In those early years, Skellytown was considered a rough and rowdy place, with most of the population only single men. There were pool halls, bars, liquor stores, dance halls, and a jailhouse for “this and that!” Many frame houses were for these men, and they rented a room in one of these boarding houses.
The first constable was Mr. Coffee, and his deputy was called “Two Gun Jones,” who wore a gun on each hip! They stayed very busy and kept the jail full!
In the late 30s, the Santa Fe Railroad built a spur from White Deer to Skellytown. This caused Roxana and “old Skelly” to move all their buildings to Skellytown.
Then, in 1941, all that changed with the beginning of World War II, and most men went off to fight for our country. Churches sprang up, salaries went up, and oil field workers were paid good money and wanted to keep their jobs…Due to the war effort, they built two refineries and a carbon black plant.
Other businesses were Russell’s Electric. Kathy Rodgers wrote that there was a laundry matt and grocery store; Christiana McCowan sent a picture to the post office and said Thesa Hinds was the postmaster for 38 years. The most popular restaurant was Ellie’s Country Kitchen. Then, there is Couches Café, the Pit Stop, and Joannie’s before
going out of business. Everyone said Ellie Mae Hicks was the best cook in the Panhandle. Her famous pie lady was LaHoma Paul…Charity Rands shared all this information with me. Thank you!
Did I tell you Skellytown had a golf course, and the greens were hard-packed sand?
The oil pool began to dry up, and the population had dropped to 413 in the 2010 census. The schools closed, and the students were bussed to White Deer, Texas, ten miles south. A few came to Pampa, located 12 miles east.
Two places that we Pampians enjoyed when eating out were the café in Skellytown called Ellies Country Kitchen and the Supthens Barbeque Café in Phillips, Texas…another oil field camp town! It’s no longer in existence.
Here are four things I remember about Skellytown…
1) In 1944, a truck loaded with nitroglycerine was on the Borger highway, and just outside of Skellytown, it had to cross over the railroad spur, and the jar caused an explosion that left a big hole in the highway and broke out windows in Skellytown a mile away.
2) In 1954, we played Borger for the district championship in the Harvester Fieldhouse. It was a close game, and there was a “riot” right there on the court after the game! Several guys from Borger challenged several guys from PHS to meet in Skellytown and finish this disagreement over the better team! Wellsir, an hour later, the fight continued in the open field just outside Skellytown. The Pampa sheriff, Ruff Jordon, was informed, and he called a rancher friend and had him bring his cattle truck immediately to Skellytown. It just so happened the rancher had used his truck/trailer to haul a load of cows to auction that day, and it had cow “poop” all over the floor of the trailer! Rufe stopped the fight when he drove up with all his lights flashing, and the Borger boys ran to their autos and left, leaving the Pampa boys there, where…they were all loaded into the “poopie” trailer to be taken to the sheriff’s office in the Pampa Courthouse. He warned them never to let this happen again, and Then they had to call their parents to come get them. Naturally, they were our heroes at PHS!!
3) Everyone had their favorite teacher, but if there were a vote, I would say that Mrs. Elaine Ledbetter would be the winner. She and her husband lived in Skellytown because he was with Skelly Oil Company. This teacher taught us chemistry, including a lab with test tubes. She loved her work, and you grew to love chemistry! She even wrote several books, and the State of Texas chose them to be the books for every chemistry class throughout the state. She attended summer school in the 50s at North Texas State and received her PhD. She won accommodations from the state for her sessions to promote the importance of teaching the value of chemistry to Texas kids! We all loved Mrs. Elaine Ledbetter!
4) It was a cold winter in the 1970s at Christmastime with a foot of snow covering the Panhandle. I grew up in Pampa and had several friends who still lived there. One of them was Harold Lewis,’55. (All-American football player with the national Champion Baltimore Colts in 58 and 59) He was now retired and working at Cabot Corporation. He was a big hunter and decided to go pheasant hunting outside of Dimmitt, Texas. Harold had twin boys, and I had Lee and Bob (ages 12 and 10). Harold invited Ken Hinkle and his two boys to go with us. So at 6:30 a.m.....three autos headed toward Dimmitt, Texas. He hadn’t told us about this café in Skellytown that opened at 7 a.m. and had the best breakfast in the Panhandle! The café was Ellie’s Country Kitchen, and you were served family style…all you could eat. Boy-o-boy…we did eat!
Skelly was among the leading oil companies that developed a network of truck stops along major highways, including the interstate, during the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1960s and 1970s, Skelly also contracted to sell gasoline at most locations of the now-defunct Nickerson Farms restaurant chain,[6] similar to Texaco’s arrangement with Stuckey’s.
Skelly Oil was eventually merged into Getty Oil in 1977 and the Skelly brand (and associated brands) were discontinued. [8] Many former Skelly gas stations were rebranded to Getty, then to Texaco after Getty was acquired by Texaco in 1984.
So, I salute you, folks from Skellytown. Your town has had its ups and downs, and what can we say except wow? May your future be full of good things to come!
Ahhhh, yes…those were the days!
