Masterson

In 1927, three companies combined to construct a natural gas plant and pipeline to produce gas for Denver, Colorado. Small houses and a hotel were constructed for married and single workers. A one-room school was soon constructed for the workers’ children on land donated by Miles Bivins, and the small community came to be known as Bivins. In later years the camp and the school expanded.

To meet the demand for helium during World War II, a plant to be operated by the Bureau of Mines was constructed near Bivins; it began production in 1943, after U.S. entry into the war. In order to provide services to the workers at the new Exell Helium Plant, seventy-five homes, garages, a recreation hall and a playground were also constructed at the site. During the late 1940s a post office was established in the community and when the postal service rejected the name “Bivins,” the name “Masterson” was submitted after a prominent area rancher. A Baptist church was organized and attended by members of all denominations, and community activities such as 4-H, boy and girl scouts and home demonstration clubs flourished.

In 1963, residents of the original Bivins site were notified that their homes were to be sold and they must move, and residents at the Exell site also began to move away, leaving both camps practically abandoned by 1970. The local school closed in 1978 and the post office closed in 1984. While the Exell Helium Plant closed in the late 1990s, the Bivins plant continues to gather and produce natural gas.