Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States.

[3] Gulf Oil and Texaco, now part of Chevron Corporation, were formed to develop production at Spindletop.

Because of the quantity of oil discovered, burning petroleum as a fuel for mass consumption suddenly became economically feasible.

The hill had the appearance of a spindle due to trees on its hilltop (cimas de boneteros, "tops of spindle-trees").

The company tried drilling two test wells, but ran into trouble trying to penetrate below 300 feet (90 m), encountering a quicksand-like formation.

At a depth of 645 feet (200 m), they adopted eighteen-hour shifts for continuous operations, drilling during the day, and keeping circulation going at night, to prevent a gas blowout.

Yet, that oil sand was too soft and fine to develop at that time, and Caroline Lucas convinced Galey to continue drilling to 1,200 feet (370 m), per contract.

On Christmas Eve, they landed six-inch pipe below the sand at 880 feet (270 m), then enjoyed the holiday, returning New Year's Day.

In 1900, an oil-products marketing company affiliated with Standard Oil had been banned from the state for its cutthroat business practices.

Although Standard built refineries in the area, it was unable to dominate the new Gulf Coast oil fields the way it had in the eastern states.

2 at a depth around 2,500 feet (800 m), sparking a second boom, which culminated in the field's peak production year of 1927, during which 21 million barrels (3.3 GL) were produced.

[11] In 1976, Lamar University dedicated the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum to preserve the history of the Spindletop oil gusher era in Beaumont.

The museum features an oil derrick and many reconstructed Gladys City building interiors furnished with authentic artifacts from the Spindletop boomtown period.

The monument, erected at the wellhead in July, 1941, was moved to the Spindletop-Gladys City Museum after it became unstable due to ground subsidence.

According to an article by Nedra Foster, LS in the July/August, 2000 issue of the Professional Surveyor Magazine, the monument was originally located within 4 ft of the site of the Spindletop well.