Borger: Oil Boomtown, Rangers and an All-American City
Ace Borger's 1926 oil townsite drew tens of thousands in months. Texas Rangers and a month of martial law later helped end the worst lawlessness; the city remains a Panhandle energy hub.
Borger sits at State highways 136, 152 and 207 in south-central Hutchinson County. According to the Handbook of Texas, promoter A. P. “Ace” Borger and attorney John R. Miller bought a 240-acre townsite near the Canadian River in March 1926 after oil was found nearby.
Within ninety days, advertising and the lure of oil brought more than 45,000 people to the new boomtown, the Handbook says. That is a contemporary rush estimate, not a census count. In October the city charter was adopted and Miller was elected mayor. A Santa Fe spur, a post office and a school district followed the same year. Telephone service and steam-generated electricity arrived by the end of 1926; drinking water first came by tank wagon until wells were drilled.
Rival townsites at Isom and Dixon Creek, plus the Signal Hill oil camp, were later folded into Borger's city limits. Artist Thomas Hart Benton visited during the boom; his painting Boom Town records his impression of Main Street.
Boom, lawlessness and the Rangers
Oilmen, roughnecks, fortune seekers and criminals poured in. The Handbook records that organized crime took hold around Mayor Miller's associate “Two-Gun Dick” Herwig, with Dixon Street notorious for gambling, illegal liquor and related vice. Murder and robbery became common. Those facts are part of the town's hard history; they are not a celebration of sin.
In spring 1927, after petitions and investigations, Governor Daniel J. Moody sent Texas Rangers under captains Francis Augustus Hamer and Thomas R. Hickman. The Rangers forced many undesirables out, but violence continued. On Sept. 18, 1929, District Attorney John A. Holmes was murdered by an unknown assassin. Moody imposed martial law for a month and sent state troops. Ace Borger himself was shot to death by longtime enemy Arthur Huey on Aug. 31, 1934.
Depression, war work and an All-American city
The Depression and falling oil and gas prices ended the boom. Dust storms and carbon-black soot darkened the air. WPA work improved streets and replaced boom shacks. During World War II, synthetic rubber and other petroleum products mattered in the Borger area. Hutchinson County Airport opened north of town in 1949.
By the 1960s Borger was among the state's large centers for oil, carbon black and petrochemical production. In 1969 it was designated an All-American city, the Handbook says. Lake Meredith later added recreation to the local economy. Census figures in the Handbook's table include 20,911 in 1960, 14,302 in 2000, 12,551 in 2020 and 12,419 in 2021.
Borger remains a shipping point for agricultural produce and petroleum products manufactured there. Community institutions listed historically include schools, churches, parks, a library, a hospital, Frank Phillips College, the Borger News-Herald since 1926, and the Hutchinson County Museum opened in 1977.
City Hall today is at 600 N. Main Street, Borger, Texas 79008, according to the city website, phone 806-273-0900.
Related reading: Ballinger: Railroad Lot Sale and a Carnegie Library.
