This story is from Texas Monthly’s archives. We have left the text as it was originally published to maintain a clear historical record. Read more here about our archive digitization project. “Fundamentals,” said Robert L. Wood. “We didn’t want anything fancy. We just wanted a good, plain, basic business club.”The year was 1947. Wood, an independent oilman, belonged to the old Scharbauer Hotel crowd, meaning he was one of the dozens of Midland oilmen who milled around the hotel lobby every morning looking for deals. Over lunch at the hotel one day, Wood and half a dozen friends decided that it would be nice if they had an alternative to the lobby—a private club like the one in Dallas. The Dallas Petroleum Club, founded in…The post Texas Primer: The Petroleum Club appeared first on Texas Monthly.