A 1938 Map Gave Phillips and Whittenburg Their Own Insets

The Texas State Archives catalog has a small surprise in its 1938 Hutchinson County traffic map. Phillips and Whittenburg each get their own inset. The Texas Highway Department made the map with the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads after a 1936-38 traffic survey.

The map tracks roads and traffic. It also marks railroads, schools, churches, post offices, and oil or gas wells. Those details fit the two oil towns better than one dot would. Whittenburg began in 1926 near Phillips Petroleum's Alamo Refinery. Nearby Pantex had homes, a hospital, and a post office.

In 1938, residents voted to join the two townsites under the Phillips name. The old map catches the change in progress. One name was about to cover a place built from two camps, but both still had their own street plan.