Ranger Guard – Odessa

About Odessa

Odessa is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Ector County with portions extending into Midland County.Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 census, making it the 28th-most populous city in Texas; it is the principal city of the Odessa metropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Ector County. The metropolitan area is also a component of the larger Midland–Odessa combined statistical area, which had a 2020 census population of 359,001.The city is famous for being featured in the book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, and the movie adaption, Friday Night Lights. In 1948, Odessa was also the home of First Lady Barbara Bush, and the onetime home of former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. Former President George H. W. Bush has been quoted as saying "At Odessa we became Texans and proud of it." == History == Odessa was founded in 1881 as a water stop and cattle-shipping point on the Texas and Pacific Railway. The first post office opened in 1885. Odessa became the county seat of Ector County in 1891 when the county was first organized. It was incorporated as a city in 1927, after oil was discovered in Ector County on the Connell Ranch southwest of Odessa.Odessa is said to have been named after Odesa, Ukraine, (historically spelled Odessa) because of the local shortgrass prairie's resemblance to Ukraine's steppe landscape.With the opening of the Penn Field in 1929, and the Cowden Field in 1930, oil became a major draw for new residents. In 1925, the population was just 750; by 1929, it had risen to 5,000. For the rest of the 20th century, the city's population and economy grew rapidly during each of a succession of oil booms (roughly in the 1930s–1950s, 1970s, and 2010s), often with accompanying contractions during the succeeding busts (particularly in the 1960s and 1980s). == Geography == Odessa is located along the southwestern edge of the Llano Estacado in West Texas.