Vinson & Elkins Turns 100

It’s almost poetic: James A. Elkins married his bride in the shadow of Spindletop in 1904, just three years after the field’s legendary oil discovery that kick-started the Texas oil boom.

Though Isabel Mitchell’s Catholic parents were not thrilled about her marrying Elkins, a Baptist, a family friend offered his house for the wedding. It happened to be the former home of Captain Anthony F. Lucas, the Croatian-born oil explorer who in 1901 drilled a well one mile from his house that spewed oil like a volcano for nine straight days. The gusher attracted thousands of oil opportunists from far and wide to seek their own success in the sleepy town of Beaumont, population: 10,000.