Wink, TX

Wink is a Winkler County city in the Permian Basin of west Texas. The 2020 census counted 915 residents. Oil fields, tank batteries, school buses, and long roads set the local scale; Kermit is the county seat, while Odessa supplies larger regional services and Odessa College’s service area includes Winkler County. Wink-Loving Independent School District keeps the city’s school life centered locally. Summer heat and blowing sand are part of the environment, but oil remains the reason the town was put on the map.

Wink began in 1926 after Roy Westbrook’s discovery in the Hendrick oilfield north of town. The original name, Winkler, was shortened to Wink when residents sought a post office and found the name already in use. The boom brought a townsite and a much larger population, then the city settled into the smaller oil community it is today. Roy Orbison spent part of his childhood here; in high school he formed the Wink Westerners, who played local venues and a weekly radio program from nearby Kermit. Wink’s story is oil, school, heat, and a famous musical memory.