Hutchinson County Towns
Source: The Handbook of Texas Online
BORGER, TEXAS
STINNETT, TEXAS
PHILLIPS, TEXAS
FRITCH, TEXAS
OIL CITY, TEXAS
WHITTENBURG, TEXAS
SANFORD, TEXAS
PRINGLE, TEXAS
BUNAVISTA, TEXAS
BORGER,
TEXAS
Borger, at the junction of State highways 136, 152, and
207, in south central Hutchinson County, was established
by and named for A. P. (Ace) Borger, who was reputed
throughout Oklahoma and Texas to be a shrewd town
promoter. In March 1926, after the discovery of oil in
the vicinity, Borger and his partner, attorney John R.
Miller, purchased a 240-acre townsite near the Canadian
River in the southern part of the county. Within ninety
days of its founding, sensational advertising and the
lure of "black gold" brought over 45,000 men
and women to the new boomtown.
In October the charter incorporating the city of Borger
was adopted, and Miller was elected mayor. By that time
the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway had completed a spur
line to Borger, a post office had opened, and a school
district had been established. J. D. (Big Heart) Williams
set up the first hamburger stand in Borger on the
three-mile-long Main Street, where a hotel and a jail had
also been erected. Telephone service and steam-generated
electricity were available by the end of 1926. Before
wells were drilled, drinking water was provided in tank
wagons.
The ranchers John R. Weatherly and James A. Whittenburg,
hoping to cash in on the boom, established two rival
townsites, Isom and Dixon Creek, next to that of Borger.
Later these were incorporated into the Borger city
limits, as was the oil camp of Signal Hill to the
northeast. In November 1927 a fire destroyed the Dixon
Creek Oil Company refinery, causing more than $60,000
worth of damage. One noted visitor to Borger during this
time was the artist Thomas Hart Benton, whose painting
Boom Town depicts his impression of Borger's Main Street.
Within a matter of months, oilmen, prospectors,
roughnecks, panhandlers, fortune seekers, card sharks,
bootleggers, prostitutes, and dope peddlers descended on
Borger. "Booger Town," as it was nicknamed,
became a refuge for criminals and fugitives from the law.
Before long the town government was firmly in the hands
of an organized crime syndicate led by Mayor Miller's
shady associate, "Two-Gun Dick" Herwig. The
center of this vice was Dixon (now Tenth) Street,
notorious for its brothels, dance halls, gambling dens,
slot machines, and speakeasies. Murder and robbery became
commonplace. Illegal moonshine stills and home breweries
flourished with the blessings of Herwig and his henchmen,
including W. J. (Shine) Popejoy, the king of the Texas
bootleggers.
Acting on petitions and investigative reports, in the
spring of 1927 Governor Daniel J. Moody sent a detachment
of Texas Rangers under captains Francis Augustus Hamer
and Thomas R. Hickmanq to remedy the situation. Although
the rangers proved a stabilizing force and compelled many
undesirables to leave town, Borger's wave of crime and
violence continued intermittently into the 1930s and
climaxed with the murder of District Attorney John A.
Holmes by an unknown assassin on September 18, 1929. This
episode prompted Moody to impose martial law for a month
and send state troops to help local authorities rid the
town of the lawless element. This goal was eventually
achieved, but not before Ace Borger was shot to death by
his longtime enemy Arthur Huey on August 31, 1934.
The Great Depression also helped to propel Borger from
one era into another by the late 1930s. Although Phillips
Petroleum and other companies profited from the fields
around Borger, prices in oil and gas dropped, ending the
boom. "Black dusters," augmented by soot from
carbon black plants, turned day into night.
"Okie" migrants, tractored off their foreclosed
farms, were sometimes able to find jobs in the Borger
plants and refineries. With the aid of the Work Projects
Administration, streets were improved, and the boom
shacks were replaced with permanent buildings.
During World War II synthetic rubber and other petroleum
products became important in the Borger area. The
Hutchinson County Airport was constructed north of town
in 1949. By the 1960s Borger was one of the largest
centers for oil, carbon black, and petrochemical
production and supplies in the state. In 1969 Borger was
designated an All-American city. The advent of Lake
Meredith also added to the town's economy. The population
was listed at 14,000 in 1943, 17,949 in 1950, 20,911 in
1960, 14,195 in 1970, and 15,837 in 1980. By 1980 Borger
had 488 businesses, including several manufacturers. In
1990 the population was 15,675.
Borger remains an important shipping point for
agricultural produce as well as for the petroleum
products manufactured there. The community supports eight
schools, fifty churches, two banks, two radio stations,
twenty-four city parks, a library, a hospital, and Frank
Phillips College, a junior college. The city's newspaper,
the Borger News-Herald (formerly the Hutchinson County
Herald), has been in business since 1926. The Hutchinson
County Museum, opened in 1977, houses artifacts of the
county's pioneer past. Borger is especially noted for its
scale models of the buildings at Adobe Walls at the time
of the 1874 battle (see Red
River War). The annual World's
Largest Fish Fry is held in Borger each June.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hutchinson County Historical Commission,
History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor,
1980). H. Gordon Frost and John H. Jenkins, "I'm
Frank Hamer": The Life of a Texas Peace Officer
(Austin: Pemberton Press, 1968). John H. White, Borger,
Texas (1929?; rpt., Waco: Texian Press, 1973).
H. Allen Anderson
STINNETT,
TEXAS
Stinnett, the county seat of Hutchinson County, is at the
junction of State highways 152 and 207, in the central
part of the county. It was established in the summer of
1926 to be a shipping point on the Amarillo branch of the
Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway. It was named for
Albert Sidney Stinnett of Amarillo, who had helped
purchase the right-of-way for the railroad.
Within four months the town promoters, led by A. P. (Ace)
Borger and J. T. Peyton, sold $400,000 worth of lots by
holding special "Dollar Day" picnics for
interested buyers. Almost overnight the population rose
to around 2,500. In September 1926 the promoters
petitioned for a special election that changed the
Hutchinson county seat from Plemons to Stinnett. In 1927
the town was incorporated with a mayor-commission
government. A post office was opened, and on December 15,
1928, the present county courthouse was dedicated.
Although Stinnett was not a characteristic oil boomtown,
it profited greatly from the fields around neighboring
communities, as well as from the railroad. Many residents
who sought the "black gold" lived in boxcar
shanties and canvas tents. Stinnett had its share of
lawlessness and violence, for example, the shooting death
of the notorious bootlegger W. J. (Shine) Popejoy at the
city jail in 1933. During the Prohibition era many
restaurants, rooming houses, and drugstores in town sold
illegal whiskey and beer in their back rooms.
In 1930, when the Great Depression hit and the price of
crude oil fell, the population in Stinnett dropped to
500. The number of businesses decreased from seventy-five
in 1928 to fewer than twenty in 1930. Nevertheless the
town's school system, established in 1926-27, and several
church congregations helped Stinnett to survive. The
population increased from 635 in 1940 to 2,695 in 1960.
Much of this growth resulted from the industrial
development of natural gas and petroleum, which provided
a new source of employment. In the 1960s the town
reported eight churches, a school, a bank, a branch
library, and a newspaper.
Although its boom days were past, Stinnett retained its
importance as a commercial center for the surrounding
grain-growing, oil, and ranching area. In the 1980s,
under a mayor-council government, the town owned the fire
department, ambulance service, and all public utilities
except electricity, which was furnished by Southwestern
Public Service. The Stinnett school system produced
several outstanding athletes, most notably Donny
Anderson, former National Football League star. The
restored 1899 box-and-strip cottage of Isaac McCormick,
the area's first settler, was made into a museum on the
courthouse square. Although the population of Stinnett
declined somewhat, 2,222 people were reported in the
census of 1980. In 1990 the population was 2,166.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hutchinson County Historical Commission,
History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor,
1980). Jerry Sinise, Black Gold and Red Lights (Burnet,
Texas: Eakin Press, 1982). F. Stanley [Stanley F. L.
Crocchiola], The Stinnett, Texas, Story (Nazareth, Texas,
1974).
H. Allen Anderson
PHILLIPS,
TEXAS
Phillips is three miles northeast of Borger in south
central Hutchinson County. Early in 1926, after oil was
discovered in Hutchinson County, the pioneer rancher
James A. Whittenburg sought to cash in on the coming boom
by founding a community. He initially named the town
Whittenburg, after himself. Whittenburg's townsite was
eagerly promoted by P. R. Williams of Amarillo, who
predicted a population of 10,000 within a year. Soon it
had a next-door rival in the community of Pantex, which
was shortly renamed Phillips.
The Phillips Petroleum Company completed its first plant
in the Panhandle, the Alamo Refinery, at Pantex in 1927.
As the company developed, the boomtown shanties and
overcrowded rooming houses gave way to more permanent
housing and other facilities for employees and their
families, several churches, a hospital, and a progressive
school system. In 1935 a new $77,000 school building
replaced an earlier brick structure. In 1938 the two
townsites voted to merge under the name of Phillips.
Railroad service for the refineries was provided by a
spur of the Panhandle and Santa Fe line.
In 1947 the population of Phillips numbered 4,250. By
that time the Frank Phillips Foundation had contributed
thousands of dollars for scholarships for children of
Phillips employees. The company also provided housing for
teachers. After a fire razed the high school on March 19,
1950, classes were held in the Baptist and Methodist
churches until the structure was rebuilt. In the 1950s
and 1960s improved highways and faster local
transportation resulted in the loss of most of the town's
businesses to nearby Borger. By 1970 the Phillips post
office had been discontinued.
The population of Phillips decreased from 3,605 in 1960
to 2,515 by 1980, and the number of local businesses
decreased as well. On January 20, 1980, a hydrocarbon
explosion wiped out two gasoline-producing units and a
steam-generating facility, causing millions of dollars
worth of damage to homes and businesses in both Phillips
and Borger. Nevertheless, Phillips survived as a
residential area for company employees. In 1990 its
population was 1,624.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hutchinson County Historical Commission,
History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor,
1980). F. Stanley [Stanley F. L. Crocchiola], The
Phillips, Texas, Story (Nazareth, Texas, 1982).
H. Allen Anderson
FRITCH,
TEXAS
Fritch, on State Highway 136 in southwestern Hutchinson
County and partly in Moore County, was founded in an area
owned in part by three ranchers: J. M. Sanford, J. H.
Johnson, and Roy B. Wright. It was named for H. C. (Fred)
Fritch of Chicago, a vice president of the Rock Island
Railroad, who arranged for the purchase of the
right-of-way in 1924. After the line was opened, Fritch
established a depot at his townsite and in 1933 he laid
out the streets parallel with the railroad, which ran
from northwest to southeast.
In the wake of the 1926 oil boom, five major gas
companies located in the vicinity. The growth of Fritch
was slow during its first thirty years; in 1940 it had a
store, a post office, and an estimated population of
seventy-five. However, the construction of Sanford Dam on
the Canadian River prompted Fritch to incorporate in
1959. By the time of the dam's completion in 1965 the
city had a population of 2,800, two schools, six
churches, a bank, and retirement homes. This growth was
attributed mainly to the recreation areas at Lake
Meredith, in addition to ranching, farming, and the oil
and gas industry.
In the late 1960s growth waned due to lagging oil and gas
production. The population was 1,778 in 1970. In 1972 the
Rock Island abandoned the line through Fritch. However,
the energy crisis of the early 1970s fostered increased
oil and gas activities. By 1980 Fritch had thirty-one
businesses and a population of 2,299. The Lake Meredith
Aquarium and Wildlife Museum, opened in 1976, features
wildlife exhibits and live fish specimens from the lake.
The town is also known for its flatland irrigation
system, which uses treated sewer water. The National Park
Service headquarters for Lake Meredith National
Recreation Area is located in Fritch, and the Alibates
Flint Quarries National Monument, on the southeastern
shore of Lake Meredith, is near Fritch in Potter County.
In 1990 the population in Fritch was 2,335.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hutchinson County Historical Commission,
History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor,
1980).
H. Allen Anderson
OIL CITY,
TEXAS
Oil City, on Big Creek in southwestern Hutchinson County,
was originally known as Ingerton when it was a rural
school located on the Henry Yake ranch. During the
Panhandle oil boom of the 1920s, a small camp called Oil
City sprang up and grew as a stop on the Chicago, Rock
Island and Gulf line between Stinnett and Fritch. In
addition to a depot, a new school was built, and in 1927
a post office was established. The Oil City boom days,
however, were short-lived.
Its post office was discontinued in 1929. Its school
remained active until 1949, when the Ingerton district
was consolidated with the Stinnett schools. By 1940 Oil
City had only one business and a population of
twenty-five; it managed to survive until the Rock Island
abandoned the section of the line between Amarillo and
Stinnett in 1972. The growth of nearby towns, along with
the advent of the Lake Meredith National Recreation Area,
also figured in its demise.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Arthur Hecht, comp., Postal History in the
Texas Panhandle (Canyon, Texas: Panhandle-Plains
Historical Society, 1960). Hutchinson County Historical
Commission, History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas:
Taylor, 1980).
H. Allen Anderson
WHITTENBURG,
TEXAS
Whittenburg, in southern Hutchinson County one mile
northeast of Borger, was founded in 1926 by rancher James
A. Whittenburg to cash in on the impending oil boom. It
was meant to house employees of the Phillips Petroleum
Company, which began constructing its first Panhandle
plant nearby, the Alamo Refinery. As the boom increased,
shanties and overcrowded rooming houses were soon
replaced by more permanent houses and businesses.
A post office was established in 1926, churches were
founded, and a school system was organized. By 1936
Whittenburg reported a population of 200. In the meantime
the neighboring community of Pantex, which had a modern
hospital facility and for a brief time its own post
office, reported a population of fifty. In 1938 the two
townsites voted to merge under the name of Phillips.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Arthur Hecht, comp., Postal History in the
Texas Panhandle (Canyon, Texas: Panhandle-Plains
Historical Society, 1960). Hutchinson County Historical
Commission, History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas:
Taylor, 1980).
H. Allen Anderson
SANFORD,
TEXAS
Sanford, just south of the Canadian River in southwestern
Hutchinson County, was named for J. M. Sanford, on whose
ranch land it was established. It was founded in 1927 as
a result of the county's oil boom when the Chicago, Rock
Island and Gulf Railway extended its Amarillo-Liberal
line through this area. Sanford was populated largely by
boomers and oil company employees. During its first year
a post office, a lumber yard, a school, a cafe, and a
two-story brick hotel were erected.
Though many boomers later moved on to other areas,
Sanford became a stable petroleum town. In 1933 Natural
Gas Pipeline built what was then the largest compressor
station in the world beside the railroad tracks seven
miles southwest of Sanford. With further development of
the Panhandle oil and gas field came the construction of
three carbon black plants around Sanford. In addition,
Henderson Trusts and Phillips Petroleum Company built two
gasoline refineries there.
In the early 1950s, after the carbon black plants were
closed, Colorado Interstate Gas Company built its first
compressor station at Sanford. In 1940 Sanford had five
businesses and a population of sixty. With the advent of
Sanford Dam and Lake Meredith in the 1960s, however,
Sanford was incorporated and experienced new growth. The
Sanford school district merged with that of Fritch in
1961. The 1980 census listed several small businesses in
Sanford; the population was 249. In 1990 the population
was 218.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hutchinson County Historical Commission,
History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor,
1980).
H. Allen Anderson
PRINGLE,
TEXAS
Pringle is at the intersection of Farm Road 1598 and
State Highway 136, on the Chicago, Rock Island and
Pacific Railroad nine miles north of Stinnett in northern
Hutchinson County. It began in 1929 when the Chicago,
Rock Island and Gulf Railroad built between Stinnett and
Hitchland. The Pringle post office opened in 1929, and a
school was organized that year. William H. Pringle, for
whom the community is named, donated land for a school
building. By 1933 Pringle had three businesses and a
population of twenty. The post office closed about 1947,
and the school was consolidated with the Morse schools in
1977. The population rose to sixty in 1947, dropped to
forty-six in 1968, and has been estimated at forty from
1974 to 1992.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hutchinson County Historical Commission,
History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor,
1980).
Mark Odintz
BUNAVISTA,
TEXAS
Bunavista, west of Borger in southern Hutchinson County,
was established in 1942 to house employees of a federal
government synthetic rubber plant. It was allegedly named
after the "Buna S" process for manufacturing
synthetic rubber. When World War II cut off the supply of
natural rubber, the Phillips Petroleum Company supervised
the construction and operation of this plant, which
produced butadiene, an essential ingredient of synthetic
rubber.
Almost overnight a settlement grew up around the
enterprise. Local mail came through the post office in
Borger. In 1955 Phillips bought the facility, which
became its Copolymer Synthetic Rubber Plant. Several
types of synthetic rubber for various uses were
manufactured there in the 1980s. By 1966 much of the
government housing around the premises had been sold and
removed. The population in Bunavista was listed at 2,067
in 1960, at 1,402 in 1970, and at 1,410 in 1980. In 1979
part of Bunavista was incorporated into the city of
Borger, and by 1990 Bunavista was a named locale in
Borger.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hutchinson County Historical Commission,
History of Hutchinson County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor,
1980).
H. Allen Anderson