White-Pool House Museum

Built in 1887 on a small knoll in what is now considered South Odessa, the two story red brick house was constructed by Charles and Lucy White and their two sons, Wilfred and Herbert. The outside walls are red brick with plaster masonry over wooden lattice boards inside. The rock-lined cellar is made of native caliche rock found on the West Texas Prairie.

The Whites, a Quaker family, had come to barren West Texas from Indiana in the mid 1880’s. White’s grain business in Indiana had suffered heavy losses in the post-Civil War era and this, combined with Lucy’s need for a dry climate, led the two to load their belongings on a railroad car and begin their journey west, attracted by the railroad land company’s offer of property in Ector County.

After her husband died on June 14, 1905, Lucy White moved with her son, Herbert to Mineral Wells, Texas. The house changed hands several times until it was obtained by Oso Pool in 1923. Oil was discovered in Ector County in 1927, and a tremendous influx of people and a corresponding housing shortage occurred. Seeing the situation as potentially profitable, Pool turned the home into an apartment building. Through extensive remodeling, such as partitioning the rooms, adding bathrooms, and closing in porches, Pool created a five-unit apartment house from the original White’s home.

For the next 50 years, the ownership of the White-Pool House was transferred between two family members. Oso Pool decided to give the house and six acres of land to Ector County for historical preservation. The donation was accepted by the Ector County Commissioners Court on June 12, 1978. The White-Pool House Friends, a non-profit organization was formed in 1986 exclusively for charitable and educational purposes to preserve the historic heritage of the house.