Bunavista Grew Around a Wartime Rubber Works

During World War II, two plants rose west of Borger. One made butadiene, a basic ingredient in synthetic rubber. The other turned that material into rubber. Both plants were owned by the federal government. Construction began in 1942, and they were running in 1943.

That industrial push built more than factory lines. The Hutchinson County Historical Commission wrote that a whole community grew around the work during the war years. That community was Bunavista.

Phillips bought the Plains Butadiene Plant and the nearby Copolymer Plant in 1955. Part of Bunavista joined Borger in 1979. The small place name holds a big county story: wartime chemistry built plants, housing, and a community together.