REDBARN, TEXAS. Redbarn was an oil boomtown in eastern Pecos County three miles south of Iraan near the west bank of the Pecos River. It came into existence to provide supplies and housing following the discovery of oil on the nearby Ira G. Yates ranch in 1926. The town was named for a red barn near the Yates ranchhouse that was quickly converted into a boarding house for oilfield workers. A post office was established at Red Barn in 1928. After the original red barn was destroyed by fire, a hotel, cafe, filling station, and general store were constructed at the site. Approximately a dozen families lived in tents with wooden floors while the town was being built. Redbarn had an estimated population of twenty-five in 1933 and seventy-five in 1945. Redbarn was abandoned and the post office discontinued by 1952.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Samuel D. Myres, The Permian Basin: Petroleum Empire of the Southwest (2 vols., El Paso: Permian, 1973, 1977).
