This 1950 GMC winch truck was owned and operated by FORA Oil Co. of Borger. Winch trucks have always been the work horses of the oil patch. They are built to withstand the rigors of the daily use in harsh, demanding conditions. This truck was . . . — — Map (db m200537) HM
The founder of Borger, Missouri-born Asa P. ("Ace") Borger (1888-1934), established other cities in Texas and Oklahoma before he platted this townsite in 1926 and helped transform a rowdy oil town into a stable community. In 1928-29 . . . — — Map (db m93318) HM
Allis Chalmers/Cooper winch tractors date from the late 1930's. Allis Chalmers was a U.S. machinery manufacturer. The Fred E. Cooper Company was an oil field drilling and service company in Tulsa, Oklahoma which also built rigs such as the example . . . — — Map (db m200539) HM
The business of finding, producing, refining and distributing petroleum products has always required a great deal of specialized equipment. In addition to drilling rigs, pump jacks and tanks, a great deal of equipment specific to particular tasks is . . . — — Map (db m200538) HM
Fifteen miles to the site of the
Battle of Adobe Walls
Fought on November 25, 1864
between Kiowa and Comanche Indians
and United States troops
commanded by
Colonel Christopher Carson
1809 – 1868
This was "Kit" Carson's . . . — — Map (db m93256) HM
Edward Fitzgerald “Ned” Beale was a significant figure in 19th century America. In his long career, he was a naval officer, military general, explorer, diplomat, rancher and frontiersman. He fought in the U.S. - Mexico War, emerging as a . . . — — Map (db m93344) HM
Named for Charles (1799-1847) and William Bent (1809-1869), famed for frontier trading with mountain men and "wild" Indians. As early as 1835 they came from their headquarters near present La Junta, Colo., to trade with . . . — — Map (db m93255) HM
With the drilling of the first commercially successful oil well by Edwin Drake in 1859, a new industry was born - one that demanded new technologies for oil extraction. Initially, steam engines were used for drilling wells and were kept in-place to . . . — — Map (db m200532) HM
Two years after Borger's founding, a 1928 scholastic census counted five African American students in two families. Bethel Baptist Church, on the city's west side, hosted the first school for black children, with Mrs. Tallie Anderson Smith, who . . . — — Map (db m93316) HM
Benton was born in Neosho, Missouri into an influential family of politicians. His father, Maecenas, was a lawyer and 4 times elected U.S. congressman from Missouri. Known as the "little giant of the Ozarks," he named his son after his . . . — — Map (db m200527) HM
Texas Rangers came to Boomtown Borger in 1929, to clean out the town of corruption, bootlegging, and prostitution. Prisoners were chained together and secured to a log such as this one. This crude jail was used to hold them until their day in court . . . — — Map (db m93320) HM
Cable-tool drilling rig used by the Gulf Oil Corp. on the C. L. Dial lease in the early Borger oil field
This cable-tool drilling rig was one of many used by the Gulf Oil Corporation in the early Borger oil field. It is one of the few . . . — — Map (db m200518) HM
In 1926, even though the city of Borger had not yet been formally organized, some of the citizens petitioned the Hutchinson County Commissioners Court to incorporate an independent school system. Borger I.S.D. was officially organized on Jul. 28, . . . — — Map (db m93317) HM
A. P. "Ace" Borger purchased 240 acres of land here in January 1926 and began to establish a new town. Within ninety days, the oil field town named for Borger had a population of more than 50,000 people.
The Rev. W. M. Lane, the presiding elder . . . — — Map (db m93340) HM
Josiah Gregg (1806-50) blazed the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Trail in 1840 as a shorter route between the U.S. and New Mexico. He crossed this site on March 17, 1840, while returning to Arkansas from a trading expedition to Santa Fe and . . . — — Map (db m93343) HM
Fritz Thompson was Hutchinson County Commissioner from 1937 through 1952, during which time much of the highway system in Hutchinson County was conceived. He was Borger City Manager from October 1, 1953 to September 30, 1956, during which time he . . . — — Map (db m93257) HM
This community landmark has its origins in Borger's prewar oil boom. In early 1941, Hudson Davis opened a car dealership here, moving his family from Amarillo. Hudson and his wife Ruby immediately became involved in civic activities, with Hudson . . . — — Map (db m93341) HM
After the discovery of oil in this area, Borger developed as a townsite in 1926. Gus (1895-1971) and John Yiantsou (1881-1948), Greek immigrants, came here from St. Louis and opened a restaurant. Gus bought this property and in 1927 erected this . . . — — Map (db m93339) HM
The southeastern Texas oil field, Spindletop, erupted on January 10, 1901, launching an oil boom in the state. This prompted many corporations and individuals to begin drilling for oil in Texas. By the 1920s, the rush reached the Texas Panhandle. . . . — — Map (db m150741) HM
Portable power to keep the lights on and the rigs drilling...
When oil was discovered here in 1922, there was no electricity or roads and Panhandle was the closest town - almost 30 miles away. Fuel, materials and equipment used for . . . — — Map (db m200534) HM
This do-it-yourself drilling rig was built on a Diamond Reo truck frame by an oilfield entrepreneur who couldn't afford a factory-built rig. Early oilmen often couldn't go to a local oilfield equipment store and buy a rig because the field was . . . — — Map (db m200535) HM
The town of Plemons was settled about 1898 when James A. Whittenburg, an area rancher, built a dugout house in a hill overlooking a bend in the Canadian River about seven miles northeast of this site. The town was named for Barney Plemons, son of . . . — — Map (db m93254) HM
This structure is a copy of a half-dugout erected in 1898 near this location by John (1865-1944) and Maggie Weatherly (1875-1968). The High Plains offered no native stone or timber for building materials. Instead, . . . — — Map (db m93342) HM
In 1941, Earl Blackburn, Vice President of J.M. Huber Corporation's Oil and Gas Division, solved a long-standing problem in Panhandle oil field production when he invented the Huber steel-bladed paraffin scraper. Before this device became a standard . . . — — Map (db m200531) HM
Geologist Charles Gould founded the University of Oklahoma Geology Department in 1900, which was the first accredited school dedicated to petroleum geology. He was recruited by the Roosevelt administration as part an ongoing assessment of the . . . — — Map (db m200536) HM
Borger, the oil-boom town that sprang to life here in 1926, had among its otherwise transient and rowdy early citizenry, a social and professional group of people accustomed to a more refined cultural and literary environment. Such a person was . . . — — Map (db m93319) HM
Plains Village Native Americans occupied a series of
interconnected rock dwellings near here from about
1200-1500. Called "Texas' first apartment house," the
ruins have been the focus of numerous excavations
through the years. Made of native . . . — — Map (db m71822) HM
Established in 1900, a year before Hutchinson County was formally organized, the Spring Creek School is an early and significant part of the county's educational heritage. In that year, W. B. Haile and other area ranchers collected funds to buy . . . — — Map (db m93759) HM
Here on June 27, 1874 about 700 picked warriors from the Comanche, Cheyenne and Kiowa Indian tribes were defeated by 28 brave frontiersmen:
James Hanbahan Billy Tyler “Bat” Masterson Dutch Henry Mike Welch — Keeler . . . — — Map (db m63864) HM
Famed cattleman Charles Goodnight established one of
the first ranches in the Texas Panhandle, the JA ranch, in 1876. Later that year Thomas S. Bugbee established the first cattle ranch in Hutchinson County.
As a result of soaring beef . . . — — Map (db m201793) HM
Famed cattleman Charles Goodnight established one
of the first ranches in the Texas Panhandle, the JA
Ranch, in 1876. Later that year Thomas S. Bugbee established the first cattle ranch in Hutchinson County.
As a result of soaring beef . . . — — Map (db m155144) HM
Largest Indian battle in Civil War. 15 miles east, at ruins of Bent's Old Fort, on the Canadian.
3,000 Comanches and Kiowas, allies of the South, met 372 Federals under Col. Kit Carson, famous scout and mountain man. Though Carson made a . . . — — Map (db m93248) HM
In the late 1890s Texas enacted colonization and homestead laws that significantly quickened the settlement of the then sparsely populated Panhandle region of North Texas. Hutchinson County soon recorded the required 150 applications for land . . . — — Map (db m155146) HM
A county-wide public school district was established soon after Hutchinson County was created in 1901. As more people began to settle in the area, regional school districts were formed. Common School District No. 8 was established in the . . . — — Map (db m155145) HM
Hutchinson County, named for prominent judge and writer Anderson Hutchinson, was one of 54 counties created out of the District of Bexar in 1876 by the Texas Legislature. It was not until 1901, however, that the county was officially organized. That . . . — — Map (db m93250) HM
Built 1899 with materials hauled at great peril across the Canadian - then without a bridge. Mr. McCormick, his wife, Capitola, and eight children lived in a covered wagon and a tent while they put up their house.
Home became cradle of county . . . — — Map (db m93249) HM
