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PHILLIPS,
TEXAS
Texas Ghost Town
Hutchinson County, Texas Panhandle
Highway 119
3 miles NE of Borger
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Filling Tank
Cars from the Phillips Refinery
1942 photo by John Vaschon, Courtesy Library of Congress |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Rancher James A. Whittenburg founded the community of Whittenburg
nearby in 1926. Whittenburg acquired a rivalry with Pantex, Texas
(which soon was renamed Phillips for the dominant employer.) The Phillips
Petroleum Company completed the Alamo Refinery in 1927. It was the
first of its kind built in the Panhandle.
The company built a new $77,000 school in 1936 and also provided housing
for teachers and student scholarships. In 1938 Whittenburg and Pantex
became Phillips, Texas by a vote of the people. Phillips had a population
of over 4,000 in 1947 and although the 1936 high school was destroyed
by fire in 1950, it was soon rebuilt.
Many of the businesses in Phillips moved to Borger
in the 50s and 60s, and the population dropped from 3,600 in 1960
to around 2,500 for the 1980 census. A huge explosion in 1980 obliterated
both homes and part of the industrial area. |
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Employees
of the Phillips Refinery getting off work.
1942 photo by John Vaschon, Courtesy Library of Congress |
(According
to the Handbook of Texas, Phillips continued to survive as a community
with a population of 1,624 in 1990. For update information, see Forum
below.)
Phillips
Texas Forum
Addition
to Phillips, Texas page
On your website you state that Phillips, Texas continues to stand
as a community. This is COMPLETELY false. Phillips 66 oil company
made everyone move after that big explosion. There is nothing there
but the old high school and the refinery. The churches were leveled,
the homes that were not moved out were leveled. It was one of the
most tragic stories of small town life being overtaken by business.
People lost everything. No one has a hometown to go back to....it's
all leveled and you can't even drive in to look at your old school....armed
security guards come after you. - [Name withheld by request],
October 24, 2005
Phillips
and Borger
Dear TE, Our family was from Borger,
Texas, and my dad's brother, Sydney Wilson Bennett, worked in nearby
Phillips at the refinery. I was born in Borger in 1948 and left
for Wyoming in 1953. My aunt "Frankie" and uncle Wilson would babysit
me and my sister at their company home in Phillips. We spent many,
many a happy time there in the early years of our lives.
About 30 years ago, I took my wife to see Borger
and Phillips. We had our first child with us, and we parked our
travel trailer across from my aunt and uncle's house in a friendly
neighbor's driveway. I took my wife on a "tour" of Phillips and
Borger , and we left a
few days later, following a tornado. I just did not want to sit
through another Panhandle tornado!
I only learned of the demise of Phillips today! My aunt and uncle
moved away when he retired from Phillips, to relocate in Bowie.
Both are now deceased. I can't imagine Phillips having been leveled.
- Jim Pixley, Corona, California, May 24, 2007
Phillips,
Texas
Phillips was a wonderful place to grow up. Teachers and administrators
instilled in us a unique sense of pride in the fact that we were
from Phillips. Being from Phillips automatically made us winners.
What a great way to prepare students for life! We learned that if
we worked hard, we could do almost anything.
Our sports teams were legendary for their accomplishments. Furthermore,
due to the academic leadership of many, many teachers, a large percentage
of Phillips graduates have become doctors, lawyers, engineers, and
other professionals.
But most importantly, people who grew up in Phillips genuinely cared
for each other because we shared a common love for the community
that was Phillips. And we understood that Phillips was Phillips
because of its people.
I miss it. There will never be another Phillips. Unfortunately,
there's no way to fully understand the loss unless you're a Phillips
Blackhawk. - Carrie McFerron, Class of 1976, February 10, 2006
Thank you
for posting the follow-up from the individual setting the record
straight about the town of Phillips, Tx. continuing to exist. The
town did not survive the explosion of January 1980, and the 1987
was the last class to graduate from there. The town has pretty much
been reduced to this website: http://www.phillipsblackhawks.com/
. This is a collection of pictures, commentaries, stories, etc.
of those that attended the school during it's existence. It will
give one a small feel for the kind of town that Phillips was. -
Joe (Class of 1984), November 18, 2005
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The Phillips Petroleum Company Building built in 1927 still stands
in downtown Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Photo by John Troesser, February, 2005 |
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