 Midland was originally founded as the midway point between Fort Worth and El Paso on the Texas and Pacific Railroad in 1881. The city has received national recognition as the hometown of First Lady Laura Bush and the childhood home of President George W. Bush.
Midland was originally called Midway because of its location between Fort Worth and El Paso; however the name was soon changed to Midland to avoid confusion with other towns in Texas named Midway.
Once a small town based on farming and ranching, Midland was forever changed by the discovery of oil in the Permian Basin in 1923. Soon Midland was transformed into the administrative center of the West Texas oil fields. Today, the Permian Basin produces a fifth of the nation's total petroleum and natural gas output.
Today, Midland's economy still relies heavily on petroleum; however the city has also diversified to become a regional telecommunications and distribution center. As of August 2006, a busy period of crude oil production had caused a significant workforce deficit. According to the Midland Chamber of Commerce, there were almost 2,000 more jobs available in the Permian Basin than there were workers to fill them.
[edit] Avery v Midland County
In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of Avery v Midland County. Midland mayor Hank Avery had sued Midland County challenging the districting of the County Commissioner's Court. The county districts geographically quartered the county but the city of Midland, in the northwest quarter, had 97% of the county's population. A County Judge, elected at-large, provided a fifth vote, but the result was still that the three rural Commissioners, representing only 3% of the population, made up a majority of the votes.
The majority held that the districting inequality violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause. The dissenting minority held that this example of the Warren Court's policy of incorporation at the local government level exceeded the Court's Constitutional authority.
John Howard Griffin wrote a history of Midland, Land of the High Sky (1959).
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