Barber Shop, Tomball, Texas

Tomball, Texas, was incorporated in 1933 in the aftermath of the discovery of oil. Soon the town became popularly known as “Oil Town U.S.A.,” with the vast majority of the population made up of employees of Humble Oil Company and their families. The 24-year-old photographer Esther Bubley was sent to Tomball by Coronet, a magazine similar to Life in its emphasis on photo essays. She spent three months photographing the lives of the people who kept the oil pumping and the town bustling.