Region: Panhandle Plains
First settled in the 1860s by pioneers D.P. McCracken and H.C. Ackers on
Gilbert Creek in northeastern Wichita County. Cowboys on the giant Samuel Burk
Burnett 6666 Ranch derisively called the community "Nesterville." In 1907 Joseph
A. Kemp and Frank Kell from nearby Wichita Falls bought part of the Burk Burnett
ranch for their railroad and laid out the present town site. It's said the town
was named for Burk Burnett after President Theodore Roosevelt personally
interceded with the Post Office Department. (Roosevelt had been Burnett's guest
on a wolf hunt in the area in 1905.) The 1918 Fowler oil discovery turned the
struggling farming community into a boomtown. Oil derricks were so close
together that old-timers say it was almost possible to walk across town from
derrick to derrick without touching the ground. The 1941 movie Boomtown, with
Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, was based on those wild, oil-boom days.
Oil pours less freely today. Farming, ranching and diversified industries now
provide stability to the economy. Several parks provide picnic
facilities.
Nearby Cities: Vernon, Iowa Park, Henrietta, Electra, Wichita Falls,