Welcome to Albany.

I was three months too early for the Fort Griffin Fandangle.

Albany is the seat of Shackelford County.

This miniature derrick on the courthouse square  commemorated the first producing oil well in West Texas.

Another memorial on the courthouse square commemorates the area's other big moneymaker.

An old gas station was abandoned across from the courthouse.

This sign was in the median of US 180/US 283. Notice the courthouse in the background.

This drill rig was in a park at the south end of town. The plaque on the left commemorated the nearby  Cook Ranch Oil Field. In 1918, William Ivy Cook leased his land to drillers and predicted that he could drink from his hat all the oil that was under his land. In 1926 they struck oil--1,000 barrels a day. That would fill a lot of hats!

This sign on a gas station wall gave distances to 30 cities throughout Texas and New Mexico.