<P> Several events in the 19th century have been regarded as a beginning of oil - related growth in Texas, one of the earliest being the opening of the Corsicana oil field in 1894 . Nevertheless, most historians consider the Spindletop strike of 1901, at the time the world's most productive petroleum well ever found, to be the beginning point . This single discovery began a rapid pattern of change in Texas and brought worldwide attention to the state . </P> <P> By the 1940s, the Texas Railroad Commission, which had been given regulatory control of the Texas oil industry, managed to stabilize American oil production and eliminate most of the wild price swings that were common during the earlier years of the boom . Many small towns, such as Wortham, which had become boomtowns during the 1920s saw their booms end in the late 1920s and early 1930s as their local economies collapsed, resulting from their dependence on relatively limited petroleum reservoirs . As production peaked in some of these smaller fields and the Great Depression lowered demand, investors fled . In the major refining and manufacturing centers such as Beaumont, Houston, and Dallas, the boom continued to varying degrees until the end of World War II . By the end of the war, the economies of the major urban areas of the state had matured . Though Texas continued to prosper and grow, the extreme growth patterns and dramatic socioeconomic changes of the earlier years largely subsided as the cities settled into more sustainable patterns of growth . Localized booms in West Texas and other areas, however, continued to transform some small communities during the post-war period . </P> <P> Following the American Civil War, Texas's economy began to develop rapidly centered heavily on cattle ranching and cotton farming, and later lumber . Galveston became the world's top cotton shipping port and Texas' largest commercial center . By 1890, however, Dallas had exceeded Galveston's population, and in the early 1900s the Port of Houston began to challenge Galveston's dominance . </P> <P> In 1900 a massive hurricane struck Galveston, destroying much of the city . That and another storm in 1915 shifted much of the focus from investors away from Galveston and toward nearby Houston, which was seen as a safer location for commercial operations . Because of these events, the coming oil boom became heavily centered on the city of Houston both as a port and a commercial center . </P>

The place in texas where large amounts of oil were first found