[Travis] Monahans had a few hidden treasures that were just waiting to be discovered and explored.

When in the desert of West Texas you must embrace your landscape.

The dry, dusty terrain can become extremely harsh.

But through the eyes and hearts of some of the earlier families, this area has become home.

[Music] [Frame Click] [Music] - Monahans is known for a few fun facts.

We have a state park known as the Monahans Sandhills State Park.

The Coca-Cola Bottling Company, one of 1600 in the country opened and operated here.

The rail system had two passenger trains that ran daily through the city.

The Pyote Army Base was established as A B-17 and B 29 training base, where it housed the most famous B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay.

And we have the Million Barrel Museum.

To add to our diversity, Guy Clark once called Monahans home.

Let's continue our journey through life in Monahans and Ward County.

[Rex] A fun fact.

[Sighs] In 2002, the U.S. Air Force bombed us, [Off Camera] - Seriously?

an F-117 stealth fighter on a practice run um, Thought he was firing practice lasers drop three bombs.

He was probably 30,000 feet up or so.

Um.

You drop them, just boom, boom, boom.

One hit a house in Monahans.

One hit near a mailbox in Maljamar in New Mexico, and one hit in Pecos in an open area.

Ours, and they say these fake bombs have a phosphorus tip.

It hit the top of a tree, caught the tree on fire, went through the house, through the roof walls, and was eight feet under the concrete floor.

No one was hurt, thank goodness.

Um.

It was about Uh, lets see 2002.

In 1998, we had a meteorite fall in town near some kids playing basketbal We all thought another meteorite And then the Air Force called from Holloman, and uh he said, don't make it look like a big deal.

Just the Chief and I were in the same car over there trying to figure out what was going on.

As Emergency Management Coordinator, you know, so um they said, we're headed that way Just keep it low key.

Nobody was hurt.

Make sure if you need to put somebody out from the house in a hotel, we'll cover all of that.

Um Just keep it low key.

So we just parked the Chief in a there to wait on him.

You know, low key.

Nothing's up here.

Six big black SUVs come roaring in there.

Slide to a hawk.

Marines hop out with the M-16s, and they're huh, huh, huh, huh parked themselves, put a perimeter, and we're like, huh well, uh there goes uh keeping this thing low key.

[Slaps leg] But anyway, they did to set up a perimeter.

They um uh put the lady up and they had their Judge Advocate General loggers there with the briefcase chained to his wrist and the whole deal.

And they um perimetered it off, ordered a or rented um equipment and jackhammers from the city and took it out, and took it home.

But uh they did come back for our uh our Chamber of Commerce banquet or something we had I don't remember what it was.

They they were real nice to the City of Monahans for a good while.

Did a lot for us.

I got a nice pin and a coin and a writin pen but um that's probably the most interesting.

- So one the funnest, I say funnest.

One of the things I like to remind people of uh is that Guy Clark uh spent his childhood here, uh you know, might not have been you know, his from here life, you know, was born and raised here or anything like that.

But the reference of Desperados Waiting on a Train, I mean that that reference there popular song Uh I like when it comes on and um I get to you know nudge a buddy and go you know songs about Monahans Right?

And then of course they don't believe it.

Uh, but then we have to do a little Wikipedia to search or something like that to prove that.

But that's that's a fun fact that a lot of people don't know.

You know, you have a Wink with Roy Orbison That's it's been promoted.

You know, it's all of those things.

But he he was also there whenever he was a musician.

It was later in life.

Whenever Guy Clark was here, uh that was his early days.

So it's kind of, you know, claim to fame, not as big, but it's still something that Monahans should be proud of [Taylor] I think that um people who if they don't know who Gary Clark is, they can see the mural and um be inspired to maybe learn a little bit about who it is and why his face is all over a wall in Monahans and and maybe take a peek their interest in in making music, songwriting and or just learning about somebody who did big things us was from little Mol Monahans.

So I included, uh of course, his denim t shirt, which is so notable um and just a a really like stark picture of a Guy, um which was like true to who he was um, and then a picture of him playing the guitar, and that picture I kind of beat up.

I had his face on one side and on the other side him strumming the guitar.

Um, so it's three images of Guy Clark.

And then throughout the mural is his his name Guy Clark.

And it's kind of hidden in the background, but also um there for people who who don't know who he is and, you know, really who's a lot of people thought it was Elvis, they're like, who's this Elvis on on the wall?

[Laughs] So Um my favorite element was the the portrait.

I really enjoyed the grayscale portraits a of it.

And then I try to incorporate the background of um when he lived in Rockport.

It's got a very fluid um water like motion to it.

So just trying to tie together like pieces of his life into a mural.

His grandmother owned a hotel.

His father was a World War II veteran who became a lawyer.

His mother also worked in the law office.

Um There's I don't know, he spent a lot of time with his grandmother like and and she was, from what I've researched, like a lot of his life, was influenced by his grandmother.

He's uh collaborated with the likes of Willie Nelson um and, well, he's people have have covered his songs.

So Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, um Lyle Lovett, there's there's a handful.

Um And then he also did a lot of collaborations with Townes Van Zandt, um both him and Suzanne Clark would live.

They lived in Nashville after Clark moved on from Monahans um, and they would write songs together.

He had a big influence on their careers of um the Ameri the Americana genre.

He spearheaded that and and the old Texas songwriting really was was born in Texas and the Texas Troubadours.

And it it did help bridge this new American country, Americana folk singing.

And um the songwriting itself was just so poetic and um some people's favorite lines of songwriting came from Guy Clark and um just a very influential songwriter, musician.

Guy Clark was definitely a self-taught um poet, songwriter.

Um, he just throughout his whole life that's where he leaned towards and um and developed his own style.

He didn't go to school for it so [Music] [Rena] They're the nicest, kindest people in the world.

Un, Mr. Dunagan passed in 1995, and um it was very hard for me to attend and say my final farewell to him and Mrs. Dunagan had been in the background all these years until he passed.

Once he passed, she stepped up to the plate.

She was so sweet and so kind.

I'll never forget the times that she would say to me, I can do it by myself.

I can do it by myself.

I said, You don't want me to help you.

Yeah, if you want to.

[Laughs] And when we're at take her to the doctor and so forth.

And at first she wouldn't let me go in with her.

Then she got where she'd say, You know what?

You can remember things better than I can, so I'm going to let go in with me so we can talk about it on the way home.

A the Coca-Cola Bottling Company really, because at that time it was at Pyote.

And they had many, many employees and uh but they delivered to all the counties in our area and so forth.

And uh that was really his life until he got involved in the Sandhills.

[Jeppie] The Dunagan family, they were really awesome in pouring money back into the community, into the county even, and they they ran the Coca-Cola Company here that was uh that was here.

And um it provided a lot of jobs and just really a boosted the economy and the town and the county.

It was really a big blessing.

I know several men who, are you know, whose families were taken care of because of the uh Dunagan uh Coca-Cola Company here in Monahans.

It was really a it was a big deal in Monahans back in those days.

It was just one of the major industries.

Uh, the Dunagan family ran that [Clears throat] and they real we had several families here.

That's probably one reason this town was so prosperous, because we had several families here, you know, were blessed with a some financial resources, and they poured a lot of their financial resources back into the community to help the community, you know, be prosperous and move forward.

And the Dunagan family, they were really good at that.

In fact, Mr. Dunagan, um I believe he he actually became a college professor and taught over at UTPB.

Uh his wife was a big influence of getting the Sandhills going and they were really just poured money back in the community and do some awesome things.

[Music] - You know, I think it was the idea that he started it and he wasn't going to let go until it was finished.

I think a lot of it is because of the past history that people have enjoyed coming out here, uh, relaxin and going down the Sandhills.

At one time, Mr. Dunagan even had a little Uh, I think it was called a Chassis built Jeep, but they had abandoned that after awhile because insurance was so very high.

And so they went to little slide boards and skier things and that sort of thing.

And you could take rides on a Jeep and that that kind of thing and I think the fact that it's not as visited as much as it used to be is because, like I say, I think vegetation has had a lot to do with that.

[Music] - The Sandhills State Park.

I mean, that's what you're getting folks to get off the Interstate probably for.

Uh, and then everything else uh would be I mean, it they theyre coming for the Sandhills State Park uh and then they learn about this complex uh and they come to visit it.

So definitely the Sandhills State Park.

[Music] [Todd] It's kind of part of my family history um.

When the Browns first came here and settled, they farmed on a piece of land near Grand Falls and they dryland cotton farmed it and through my and that was through my mother's side and through my dad's side acquisition of the ranch.

We now have that same piece of property back on from the other side of the family, and I think that's really cool to go from one side of the family to the other, and it's still into the sixth generation with my son now on that piece of ground.

And its definitely not dryland cotton farming now, but it's pretty cool to still be on that piece of ground now, raising cattle on it.

I think that's kind of a neat story so.

- I moved to Monahans um October 1991 uh on accident.

I was actually on my way through uh looking to put in applications in San Angelo and Lubbock and in uh museums and curating.

I have a master's degree in history.

Taught school year and Alpine um wasn't my thing really, and uh on the way through Monahans I ran into Bill Cole, who was the radio station manager back in Brady, Texas where I grew up, and uh he asked me if I'd go to work for him as a news director I'm still here.

- There's several ranching families that have been here a whole lot longer than my family's been here, um.

The Vest ranch, the Vest family I think their sign on their gate says 1887 established.

I I'm pretty sure that's maybe prior to when our County was even established.

So they've been here a long time still a viable operation, one of the best operations in the state uh there's some this whole area down South used to be owned by the family named the Estes ranch.

It's been broken into several different families ownership.

Ours, bought some of it, the Wristen ranch, which is still uh a ranching family here, the Thornton ranch, uh still a very viable ranch.

There's a lot of a lot of families that are that have been here a long time that are still going to be here a long time.

Al Long descendants uh Scooter Dixon is is still ranching here, there's a lot of a lot of heritage, um.

The Anthonys have been here a long time, almost as long as the Vests, so there's a lot of heritage here.

There's a lot of a lot of folks here that are that are going to be here.

That we're seeing the next generation take over, which I think is really neat.

Everybody ranching in this area is cattle.

Cattle operations.

Yes.

[Music] - Grocery stores and dry goods stores were quite popular then of course theres lumber yards and oil fields a booming too you know so it was quite a boom town [Laughs] You couldnt hardly walk down the streets.

On a count of people walkin you know and then course there wasnt no TV but Saturdays, everybody drive downtown park and you know, and they were two 3 hours.

[Laughs] Walk down in this bunch and that bunch and it was quite a quite a deal to watch ‘em.

[Laughs] - Ward County's evolved a lot in my in my 50 years um I this ranch is almost halfway between Monahans and Grand Falls I went to school in Grand Falls, uh and it's dwindled to a town of about 300 people, um.

When I went to school there, there was about 100 kids in high school.

It was a they still played 11 man football.

It was a bigger town.

There were several, um, filling stations there, a couple of different stores.

That's evolved away to one one Alsups grocery store.

So you've seen the the migration out of the very smaller towns.

Monahans has been very syncrycle I like to think of it like the Sandhills, There's a pile here today and then next day it's a valley, and then there's a new hill formed.

Monahans was a big community when I was when I was young.

It had over 10,000, close to 14,000 people at one time, very vibrant with a lot of people and then in the eighties after the eighties oil crash it it became a ghost town.

And uh it's been enjoyable to see the revitalization of it since uh since the early 2000.

Uh.

It's really come back.

Uh A lot of a lot of life has come Monahans and it's been great to see it.

It's coming back to close to what I remember as a kid.

- Well, of course, with the boom uh population growth um that that's probably been the the biggest thing.

So moving here 2007, we're already experiencing uh growth in West Texas, Permian Basin in general, uh, Fort Stockton, and experienced it as well.

Uh.

But it has just been this gradual, I say gradual, very steep um boom that that occurred.

So it changes so fast around you It's really hard to to see it.

I mean, because you're seeing it you're experiencing it every single day But the amount of new people, uh traffic, uh, even some new retail coming into town.

Uh, and then you're also seeing some things like the growth of the county, uh the event center, the arena, this museum complex um have been very beneficial to our community.

I don't know if I was officially a member of the Committee for the Butterfield Stagecoach Festival, uh but that was one of the things when I first moved here, uh you know, in a small town, you get really involved um sometimes more than youre know you're going to be getting.

But yes, so, um I became uh again, involved with it.

I ran the Washer and Horseshoe Pitching Tournament uh for several years, helped set up break down stuff like that.

Um, it was a great time.

And at that time, uh, I don't know if anything surpassed it, but it was definitely the biggest event held in Monahans.

- Growing up in Monahans, I can one of the most special times was Saturday mornings when we could take two box tops, uh two milk carton box tops and go to the theater in Monahans and watch movies and it was free all you had to have was those two box tops.

So needless to say, a lot of kid Monahans drank milk back in those days.

[Laughs] We loved milk anyway, we'd watch movies like Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, Every once in awhile maybe a Superman, but it was always something that encouraged you to do what's right, think right, be right, and it encouraged you to to realize that eventually, uh in the long run, right will win out.

It may not seem like it, but in the long run, right will win out.

So that encourages to want to do treat each other right.

[Ellen] I came over and I came to Monahans because of a job, but also because my parents lived here and they were aging and I thought they're going to need and no one else lived here, uh none of our family.

And I thought, they're going to need care someday.

And they did.

[Laughs] So it was nice that I had a job here um and could be handy to uh help them out whenever they needed it Um, and there was a lot of uh when I was in high school in the seventies, Monahans and Pecos were big rivals and and so there are still some older people that my parents knew and they would go to the Senior Citizen for lunch and um when they found out that the District Judge had hired someone from Pecos to come over and be the auditor, they were not happy and they were pretty vocal about it.

[Laughs] And I had told my parents that I had the job, but don't say anything yet because the Judge hadn't done the orders yet or whatever, and so I didn't want it getting out until he had done whatever he was going to do.

And so they said, well, we're really sorry, but he was talking about you and we just couldn't take it.

So they had to put that particular Monahans resident back in his place.

- I can't remember all of the Superintendents, but one that sticks out in my mind was the Superintendent that was here when I came back here and was hired to teach in the school system.

His name is Mr. George Colander.

[Clears throat] He was a World War II veteran, an awesome man, awesome leader.

Uh, when I was in high school, I'd he'd ask me to come over and cut his yard, and uh sometimes I came over went over to cut his yard too much because I knew he'd pay me good so Id Mr Colander I'll be there tomorrow, no sir you wait a couple of days?

But he was really an awesome man In fact, back in those days, he really was one of the uh first ones to go ahead and integrate the schools.

And he did it so very well, methodically and uh in order.

And it was just amazing how he did that.

Um, he was just an amazing man.

I did I mention he was a World War II veteran?

Yes.

And by the way, I discovered that I just happened be he said, son come on in and have a glass of tea.

His wife, too she was really a sweet lady.

He, she lived longer than he did Both of them are gone now, [Clears throat] come on in son.

Oh no, no, put the lawn mower down, just come on in talk to us.

Tell us what's going on with you and have a glass of tea.

So Id go in sit down and I happen to look up on the wall and I can't remember the name of the uh aircraft carrier World War II Aircraft carrier.

Aircraft carrier but it was a big one.

And there were the five men who in charge of it, and he was one of them.

I mean, man, my respect and admiration for him just grew leaps and bounds.

Mr. Colander, is that you?

And I can't remember all the details.

Yeah, that's that's part of what I had to do to serve my country.

And I thought wow!

I mean, it was amazing.

Truly amazing.

Some neat people.

Um But yeah, growing up in Monahans it was a joy, you know.

And and even though the schools were segregated still in this town I don't know about others.

But in this town, people treated the way they wanted to be treated.

It didn't matter about the color of your skin.

What really mattered was the kind of person you were on the inside.

- A stable community.

I would say, by in large, a Christian community, a good school system.

We have two new schools here that are absolutely phenomenal and very, very good, in uh the architect, you would think it belongs in a big city rather than Monahans America.

- It is a wonderful community, is very friendly.

They'll help you.

I mean, you can reach out.

I mean, you said you've talked to Jeppie and you've talked to Todd and you've talked to so many people.

And and I know all those people and and they're so kind and just willing to help you if you or offer advice or whatever you need.

So it's just a wonderful community.

I feel privileged and proud to have been a part of it.

- As far as the people go, the same, uh that's the first thing I noticed um when I got here as news director going to talk to people and of course a small radio station you have to sell advertising.

And um they took me right in and introduced me around and asked me who I was and where it came from and uh how can they help me.

And and um that's the way they are.

That's the way they were they and that's the way they are now.

As far as the town and the economy, um I've seen it at $8 a barrel for oil.

Uh I've seen it at $0 per barrel for oil for a barrel of oil, uh I've seen it at $140 for a barrel of oil.

Uh, so the ups and downs really dictate who's in town and who's not in town.

But the core those people that are still here I just had a Chamber of Commerce meeting with a half hour ago are still the core and their children are.

They've come back here.

They go back to teaching, back to running businesses.

And um and so uh basically the same town population up and down, but uh a great place to live.

And the people are wonderful.

I think about 8th Street, I Street, uh some kids were playing basketball and everybody was out outside.

heard a big boom and it was in the daytime, so you really didn't see a flash And then the call came in that some kid said something was smouldering and fell from the sky.

And uh so one of our police officers on his way over there noticed a chunk of rock in the street.

He got out and it happened to be another piece of that same meteorite.

So fortunately, he left it and another police officer went to where the kids were.

And sure enough, not more than 15 feet from ‘em this meteorite at about hmm the size of a softball had slammed into the ground.

So uh it was gathered up.

We actually you need to go by City Hall and take pictures.

We actually have a meteor crater in City Hall.

It's a foot and a half by a foot and a half half piece of pavement with a hole in it.

And NASA made us an exact duplicate of the actual meteorite that the City owned.

And it sits in there.

And then we have the meteorite back that they studied and actually found that it had bounced off of Mars's atmosphere and it had water in it.

So it was a real big deal for mNASA.

Um So yeah, that was that was exciting as well, seeing a lot here.

We had a meteorite, a big iron meteorite, 1938.

Um It fell right outside of Monahans and they named them after the closest post office.

So that was Monahans.

And they couldn't name this new meteorite, in 98 Monahans because the rules wouldnt let them name it the same thing.

So they added Monahans 1938, Monahans 1998, and so on our deal on the wall in our hallway where our display is, we've got blank spot that just says uh 2058 or yeah 2058.

So we're waiting to see if in 60 we get another one.

- You can't ever say that Monahans is boring.

And I'm sure you can see why people are in love with their small town.

Life is very prosperous here, but one thing they all have in common is that it's the people that make this community home.

Having the tenacity to evolve as a community and the economy progress takes a certain kind of person.

Life is not easy in this corner of the world, but when you can see the beauty [Music] through the eyes of the community, you know your home.

I'm Travis Sawyer.

Join me next time as we explore Monahans the Center of the Permian Basin.

[Music]