History of Hutchinson County, Texas: 104 Years, 1876-1980 Page: 50 of 526
520 p. : ill., map, ports. ; 31 cm.View a full description of this book.
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The town of Phillips began as a company camp
built to house employees of the Phillips Petroleum
Company when they started construction of the first
plant in 1927, it was then known as The Whittenburg
community.
As Phillips Petroleum began to develop other
plants, the boom town shanties and overcrowded
rooming houses disappeared, and more permanent
homes for its employees, churches and a school system
took its place. The Pantex Hospital operated
from the first to provide medical aid for Phillips community
for many years.
The Phillips Independent School's first term ended
in May, 1927. Seventh grade graduates presented a
three-act play, "A Little Clodhopper," to end the
year.
The first teachers taught in a red brick schoolhouse
with an annex of whitewood housing the four
first grades. By 1935 a $77,000.00 school was constructed.
Strict moral standards were imposed. Teachers
were not allowed to be married. One of the male
teachers had some friends at his home one evening
when one of the board members drove by and saw
them playing cards. The teacher was reprimanded
severely for his lax moral standards.
By 1938, the settlement of Whittenburg Camp
could then be called a town. The people voted t,.
name the town Phillips.
By 1946 Phillips Petroleum and Frank Phillips
Foundation Incorporated had contributed thousands
of dollars to funds providing additional scholarship
awards to the children of Phillips employees. To the
64 scholarships already being awarded, twelve extra
awards were added.The Phillips employees were raising their families
in Phillips and watching them grow up. These were
busy years.
Teacher housing was a problem. Expansion of
Phillips plants necessitated building new teacherage
just north of the high school building and places for
the coach, the principal, and the superintendent.
March 19, 1950, a fire razed the newly decorated
Phillips High School and destroyed a half million dollars
worth of school buildings and equipment. School
was held uninterrupted in the Methodist and Baptist
Churches while the building was being rebuilt.
Phillips added a community pool and other buildings
to the community, while losing most of its business
to the handier access of Borger, turning primarily
into a residential area for its employees, and housing
the plants of the company.
Phillips announced in late 1978 that 159 homesites
near the refinery would have to be cleared for
future expansion.
However, on Sunday morning, January 20, 1980,
an unprecedented huge hydrocarbon explosion fed
by lesser blasts ripped through two units of the Phillips
Refinery. Two high octane gasoline producing
units and a major steam generating facility were
wiped out. Millions of dollars of damage were done to
Phillips homes and 500 structures and 40 business
houses in Borger. Miraculously, there were no serious
injuries.
Phillips Petroleum Company's expansion of its
facilities during the next few years and the quickening
of the economy of this area will make more significant
changes in this small company town in the
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History of Hutchinson County, Texas: 104 Years, 1876-1980 (Book)
History book describing Hutchinson County, Texas, featuring local history, photographs, illustrations, and biographies.
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Hutchinson County Historical Commission. History of Hutchinson County, Texas: 104 Years, 1876-1980, book, 1980; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20204/m1/50/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hutchinson County Genealogical Society.