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).
