Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 23:32:04 GMT Server: Apache/1.2.0 Last-Modified: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 16:15:16 GMT ETag: "1d0611-e2f-34706d94" Content-Length: 3631 Accept-Ranges: bytes Connection: close Content-Type: text/html
![]() |
![]() |
Uncle Frank![]() Phillips is the only major oil company still named for its founder. Frank Phillips, known by employees as “Uncle Frank,” was a remarkable businessman. Reared in Creston, Iowa, Uncle Frank had a knack for business, first as a barber and then as a banker. In 1903, a friend from Indian Territory -- which later would become the state of Oklahoma -- told Uncle Frank about newly discovered oil fields there. The young banker traveled to Bartlesville, Indian Territory, to check into oil’s business potential. He and brother L.E. Phillips moved to Indian Territory in 1905 and founded the first of several predecessor companies of Phillips Petroleum. Uncle Frank’s first well struck oil but quickly fizzled out. Second and third wells were dry holes. The desperate brothers barely had enough money to drill a fourth well on a lease obtained from a young Delaware Indian named Anna Anderson. Their luck changed stupendously: The Anna Anderson No. 1 came in a gusher, the first of a fantastic string of 82 consecutive producing wells. The Phillips oil businesses did well for several years. But then -- as now -- oil prices followed boom-bust cycles. In 1916 prices hit bottom and Uncle Frank decided to sell out and stick to banking. However, prices soared when the United States entered World War I in 1917. Uncle Frank decided to stay in oil and consolidate operations in one firm, known as the Phillips Petroleum Company. It was incorporated in Delaware June 13, 1917. Uncle Frank guided the new business with vision. Phillips Petroleum pioneered the production of natural gas at a time when competitors saw gas as a nuisance. It was one of the first companies to pursue extraction and sale of such natural gas liquids as propane and butane. In the 1920s, Uncle Frank put the firm in a leadership role in petroleum research, then moved it into refining and marketing. Phillips’ research placed it in a strategic role during World War II because of breakthroughs in high octane aviation gasoline and artificial rubber. Woolaroc, Uncle Frank’s country retreat in the wooded Oklahoma hills, became a playground for the rich and famous in the 1920s and 1930s. After his passing in the spring of 1950, Uncle Frank was buried alongside his wife, Jane Gibson Phillips, in a mausoleum at Woolaroc. |
Please send your comments to our Webmaster.
Copyright 1996 Phillips Petroleum Company. All rights reserved.
Updated 8/21/96
Multimedia by WilTel Internet Services