A Railroad Town, 1873
Overton was laid out in 1873 at the planned junction of two railroads and named for Major Frank Overton, an early settler who donated land for the townsite. A post office opened that same year. When the rails bypassed Rocky Mount, Belleview and Jamestown, many of their residents and merchants moved to Overton — the town even offered free lots to businesses that relocated.
The Masons and Odd Fellows built the first schoolhouse, a Baptist church was founded in 1875, and Hubbard College followed in 1876. By 1888 a local newspaper boasted of “15 or more good businesses, two large hotels… pure air, good water.”
October 3, 1930
Overton was mainly a farming community until wildcatter C. M. “Dad” Joiner began drilling on Daisy Bradford’s farm nearby. Townspeople and farmers helped fund and work the rig. On October 3, 1930, the Daisy Bradford No. 3 came in, showering the surrounding pines with oil. It was the discovery well of the East Texas oilfield — the largest oil reservoir in the contiguous United States, eventually spanning about 140,000 acres across five counties.
Boom and Hometown
Prosperity followed: businesses, churches, schools and a bank, plus refineries, oilfield-supply companies and an iron works. Population rose from 426 in 1931 to 3,000 in 1933 and 4,500 in 1936. After World War II it settled near 2,000, and by the 1990s the city had grown across the county line into Smith County. Today Overton is a Texas Lone Star City that remains proud of its place in oilfield history.