T.W. Phillips Office Building, Butler, Pennsylvania
Posted by: 
JimmyEv
N 40° 51.744 W 079° 53.707
17T E 593116 N 4524069
This 1920 neo-classical building looks like it could be a government building. It’s not. It was built as the headquarters for the T.W. Phillips Oil and Gas Co., one of the largest independent oil producers in Pennsylvania.
Waymark Code: WM1YMW
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 08/04/2007
Views: 65
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Thomas Wharton Phillips first struck oil on Oil Creek in Venango County around 1861. Later, in 1885, he discovered a massive (at the time) oil field on Thorn Creek in Butler County. He formed the T.W. Phillips Oil and Gas Co. and choose Butler for its headquarters. His fields produced both oil and natural gas.
When serving in the U.S. Congress from 1892 to 1896, T.W. Phillips was true to his independent oil-producer roots. He went after J.D. Rockefeller as a “trust-buster,” trying to break Rockefeller’s monopoly on the oil industry through legislation. At the time of his death, T.W. Phillips owned 850 wells and 900 miles of gas pipeline.
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