The skyline rises out of nothing. Drive across the flat West Texas plains and Midland appears the way nothing else out here does — a cluster of high-rises standing straight up off the caprock, visible for miles before you reach the city limits. They call it the Tall City, and the towers are monuments to what lies beneath: the Permian Basin, the richest oilfield in America. Founded in 1881 as a dot on a railroad timetable and built into the corporate capital of the oil boom, Midland is a city that runs on what is buried under it — and its story is the story of West Texas itself.
The boom has come and gone in waves ever since — the Depression bust, the postwar surge, the 1970s crest that doubled the tallest tower, the 1980s crash — and every cycle left its mark on the skyline. Then, after 2010, horizontal drilling and the Wolfcamp and Spraberry plays of the Midland Basin set the whole cycle spinning again, making the Permian the most productive oilfield in the country and Midland once more one of the fastest-growing cities in America. The wildcatter's gamble — fortunes made and lost on the price of a barrel — remains the town's founding faith.
Why People Visit Midland Texas
- Tour the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, with interactive galleries on the geology and engineering of the oil boom and a replica 1930s Boom Town.
- Visit the Museum of the Southwest, combining art, science, and a children's museum on a historic estate.
- Walk the downtown Tall City core to see the high-rise skyline that rises straight off the plains.
- See the Bush Family Home, a Texas Historical Commission state historic site in a 1940s neighborhood.
- Catch a performance at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center, the region's marquee venue.
