432 Area Code 🌍☎️

Midland is a city in West Texas serving as the county seat of Midland County, with a 2020 population of 132,524 and a metropolitan area population of 169,983. Founded in 1881 as Midway Station on the Texas and Pacific Railway at the midpoint between Fort Worth and El Paso, it was renamed Midland in 1884 and incorporated in 1906. Located in the Permian Basin, Midland became a major oil and gas center following the 1923 discovery of oil at Santa Rita No. 1 well and now hosts the Spraberry Trend, the nation's third-largest oil field by reserves, with the basin producing one-fifth of America's total petroleum and natural gas output. The city served as home to former U.S. presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as former First Lady Laura Bush, and features the Bush Family Home State Historic Site. Midland's economy has diversified beyond petroleum to include telecommunications and distribution services, though oil and gas production remain central to its identity and workforce. Odessa is the county seat of Ector County in West Texas with a 2020 population of 114,428, making it the 34th-most populous city in Texas and the principal city of the Odessa metropolitan statistical area. Founded in 1881 as a water stop on the Texas and Pacific Railway and named after Odessa in the Russian Empire by Russian railway workers, the city was incorporated in 1927 following oil discoveries in Ector County and experienced rapid growth through successive oil booms in the 1930s-1950s, 1970s, and 2010s. Situated above the Permian Basin with significant oil and natural gas reserves, Odessa is home to the University of Texas Permian Basin, which enrolls over 5,000 students, and was featured in the book and film Friday Night Lights. The city is notable as the 1948 home of former First Lady Barbara Bush and former U.S. presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, who said of his time there: "At Odessa we became Texans and proud of it." Big Spring is the county seat of Howard County, Texas, located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20, with a 2020 census population of 26,144. Named after a singular large spring in the southwestern part of the city (officially singular since around 1916), the area was historically used by Native Americans and served as a watering hole along the Overland Trail to California after Captain Randolph B. Marcy's 1849 expedition mapped it. The city was founded in the early 1880s following the Texas and Pacific Railroad's completion, with ranching becoming a major industry and British aristocrat Joseph Heneage Finch, the seventh Earl of Aylesford, building the city's first permanent structure in 1883. Oil discovery in the 1920s initiated the Permian Basin oil industry, reaching its peak during the 1950s oil boom, while Webb Air Force Base (originally the Big Spring Bombardier School opened during World War II) served as a major economic driver through 1977. Big Spring gained Hollywood attention as the filming location for the 1969 Academy Award-winning Best Picture "Midnight Cowboy" and the 1980 science-fiction film "Hangar 18."