The Permian Basin Petroleum Museum on Interstate 20 is the standout attraction in Midland — and a genuinely worthwhile museum even if you arrive with no particular interest in oil. The exhibits cover the full arc from geology to discovery to extraction to refining, and the geological story of the Permian Basin (a vast inland sea that deposited the ancient organic material now being pumped up as crude) is told with real clarity.
Outside, the equipment park is a collection of antique drilling rigs, pumping jacks, and refinery hardware spread across several acres. The scale of 1930s and 1940s oil-field machinery is impressive up close — these were substantial industrial operations, not small-town enterprises. The museum also covers the social history of the boom years, when Midland grew from a few thousand to tens of thousands of people in a generation, and the boom-bust cycles that have shaped the city ever since.
The museum is located on I-20 West, a few miles from downtown. Admission is charged.