Radcliffe Killam and the Laredo Oil Dynasty
Near Laredo, Texas
The Killam family arrived in Laredo from Oklahoma in nineteen twenty, and the name soon became synonymous with oil in Webb County. Oliver Winfield Killam discovered major oil fields in the region during the nineteen twenties and thirties, building a fortune that shaped South Texas. His son Radcliffe Killam carried that legacy forward, becoming one of Laredo's most prominent civic figures and philanthropists.
The family's investments reached well beyond oil into ranching, real estate, and community institutions that still bear the Killam name today. Their story is a version of the Texas oil narrative that played out not in Houston or Midland but right here on the border, where oil royalties and ranching culture fused with the binational character of the Rio Grande.
