Big Spring Grew From a Water Hole to a Railroad Town to an Oil Boom City

The area got its name from a natural spring in Sulphur Draw. Comanche and other Native American groups used it for centuries. The first documented written record of the spring is from 1849, when U.S. Army Capt. R.B. Marcy noted it during an expedition. Buffalo hunters set up camp near the spring in the late 1870s.

The Texas and Pacific Railroad arrived in 1880, and the town relocated to the rail line. Howard County was organized in 1882, with Big Spring as the county seat. Oil was discovered nearby in 1926, pushing the population to over 13,000 by 1930. During World War II, a bombardier school trained more than 5,000 airmen here. Webb Air Force Base then operated from 1951 to 1977.