History of Hutchinson County, Texas: 104 Years, 1876-1980 Page: 22 of 526
520 p. : ill., map, ports. ; 31 cm.View a full description of this book.
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and funerals, and other "social" functions and
events, the county had settled into its apparent destiny
as a rural economy with the stimulating part of its
development forever buried in its history.
The rest of the nation was as far removed from the
pace of life and philosophy of the few inhabitants of
Hutchinson County as the twentieth and nineteenth
centuries. Hutchinson County was, in all practicality,
still a living remnant of the nineteenth century.
The United States was becoming increasingly
dependent upon oil and gas during these intervening
years. The age of electric power and the automobile
had all but transformed the rest of the country, and
Hutchinson County was soon to claim the attention
of much of the nation. Not only for the vast quantities
of oil and gas to be found in the county, but also
because of the unique manner of its development
and the bizarre and outrageous manifestations of the
county's growing pains. The third symbol was now to
be added to the coin.I
N y.f
THE BOOM BEGINS
In September, 1918, the first gas well was brought
to completion in Potter County. Following quickly on
the heels of this development W.H. Holmes and J.W.
McGee began leasing land in Hutchinson County
and adjoining areas until their holdings exceeded
100,000 acres. The boom was beginning.World War I, the first war to be fought on wheels
and in the air, had greatly increased the world
demand for petroleum products, not only oil and gas
but also the waste or residue gas, which, when
burned, formed a substance known as carbon black.
The Panhandle fields were rich in these products.
The boom was on.
By 1925 two men, A.P. "Ace" Borger and John R.
Miller, a lawyer, began to develop a scheme for a
new town. Borger had been instrumental in developing
several other towns and had already acquired a
reputation as a "town builder."
Borger investigated the site in January of 1926 and
soon returned to make the deal. Buying 240 acres
from J.F. Weatherly of Panhandle, Texas, for the
unheard of price of fifty dollars an acre, the town was
soon laid out. It only consisted of wooden stakes with
strings stretched between them to mark the location
of future emporiums, but for a town builder such Borger,
it was all over but the shouting, and there was to
be plenty of that later. On March 8, 1926 Borger and
his associates opened the Borger Townsite Company
for business, and business was brisk.
The Weatherlys, apparently somewhat taken
aback by the success of the suckers they had sold
the more or less worthless land to, decided to get in
on the land boom themselves. Within a few weeks of
the opening of the Borger Townsite Company under
Ace Borger and Miller, a new townsite, bordering the
old, was opened and christened "Isom." Soon thereafter
the Whittenburgs opened a townsite and the
Dixon Creek Townsite also came into being. Within a
few years all of these later townsites were incorporated
into the city limits of Borger.
Within 90 days of its founding, the new city of Borger
had a population of between thirty-five and fifty
thousand. Most of these new settlers lived in either
tents or shacks, if they were lucky, thrown about in
the hills and valleys of the river breaks.
Another wooden shack was thrown up to serve as
the city hall and an even more disreputable building,
if possible, was erected in front of it to serve as a jail.
There the prisoners, and there were many, were
chained about the feet, because the bars on the
building were made of wood. The jail was so flimsey
that a reasonably healthy child would have little trouble
escaping. The walls and roof were more for the
protection of the prisoners from the weather than for
the protection of the citizens from the prisoners.
John Miller became the first mayor. A lawyer, he
soon began the organization of the new town on a
business-like basis. On October 28, 1926 the Charter
incorporating the town was adopted and the first city
commissioners, I. Fleig and W.T. Malone were
elected. Fred Williams became the first Chief of
Police. The city's chief source of revenue came from19
I
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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/m1/22/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hutchinson County Genealogical Society.