Map of Sunray city

Sunray is a city in northeast Moore County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,926 at the 2010 census.

Sunray city overview:
Name:	Sunray city
LSAD Code:	25
LSAD Description:	city (suffix)
State:	Texas
County:	Moore County
Elevation:	3,507 ft (1,069 m)
Total Area:	1.71 sq mi (4.42 km²)
Land Area:	1.71 sq mi (4.42 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km²)
Total Population:	1,926
Population Density:	1,060.89/sq mi (409.69/km²)
ZIP code:	79086
Area code:	806
FIPS code:	4871180
GNISfeature ID:	1369408

Online Interactive Map

Click on to view map in "full screen" mode.

Sunray online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Sunray location map. Where is Sunray city?

Sunray location on the U.S. Map. Where is Sunray city. — Sunray location on the U.S. Map.

Sunray location on the Texas map. Where is Sunray city. — Location of Sunray in Texas.

History

Sunray, Texas, was founded by Jack Clarence Collins. He was born in Hartley, Texas, in 1893, and in 1902 moved to Channing, Texas, with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. E.S. Collins. Jack graduated from Channing High School and later, in 1916, from Texas A&M, where he was class valedictorian and class president in his senior year. Later, he served for several years as cashier of the First National Bank of Channing while extending his family’s ranch holdings. Mr. Collins was well-known and respected in ranching and financial circles, and was a ranking member of the Republican Party for several years.

Jack Collins did not call the town “Sunray” when he laid it out in 1930. The first lots were sold at $10 each under the name “Altman”, but it was discovered that a town in Rusk County had already appropriated that name, hence, the name “Sunray” was used. A post office was applied for on May 5, 1930, using the name “Altman”, but because of the duplication, “Sunray” was not approved until 1935.

The change to the name “Sunray” came because Sunray Oil Company (later Sunoco) set up a gas-oil refinery near the town on 10 acres (40,000 m) of land originally donated by Mr. Collins to Dana Oil & Gas Royalty Company. Sunray Oil Company bought the holdings of Dana in the early Jones Field in northeast Moore County, which was near the new town. The townsite location was determined by a new Rock Island Railroad route running from Dalhart to Morse along the northern edge of Mr. Collins’s townsite survey. At the time, the town was 3 miles (4.8 km) from the Jones Well and 6 miles (9.7 km) from the Morton oil well—both early oil-gas discoveries in Moore County.

On Sunday, 29 July 1956, the nearby industrial plant was the site of a major accident. The McKee refinery fire killed 19 firefighters when a storage tank suffered a vapor explosion.