PIONEER, TEXAS. Pioneer is on Farm roads 569 and 374, in the southwestern corner of Eastland County. It was established in 1883 and named by Captain A. M. Curry. In 1885 a post office was granted with Bill Smith as postmaster. In May 1922, near the end of the Eastland County oil boom, the Bryson wells near Pioneer reached a daily production of 7,200 barrels. Later, the Eakin No. 4 surpassed all the other wells in the county by producing 20,000 barrels a day. With the high-gravity crude oil bringing $2.88 a barrel, Pioneer wells grossed over $1 million a year for two consecutive years. The population increased from around thirty to perhaps 5,000. As a result of the boom Pioneer was among eight Eastland County towns with an independent school district in 1924 and 1942, a distinction it no longer retained in the 1990s. The population was forty in 1980 and 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Edwin T. Cox, History of Eastland County, Texas (San Antonio: Naylor, 1950). The Ranger Story: A Brief History of Ranger (Ranger, Texas: Ranger Times, 1967?).

Noel Wiggins