Ferrellgas history

In 1947, the company established its first plant, located across the river in Missouri and on land leased from the railroad.

The business began a slow, steady decline when Mabel died in 1952.

A.C. Ferrell continued the business, however, incorporating in 1954 as Ferrell Companies, Inc.

A massive flood in Atchison in 1958 destroyed much of the company's merchandise, prompting A.C. to move the business from Commercial Street to rented space across the river in Missouri.

That same year he married a 19-year-old freshman from nearby Benedictine College named Elizabeth (Zibbie). James Ferrell graduated from college in 1963 with a business degree.

In 1964, the Pennsylvania Railroad acquired Buckeye, since most of its pipelines paralleled the railroad’s right-of-way across the Mid-Atlantic states.

Giving up his military aspirations in 1965, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the propane business his parents had started.

The company expanded across the Missouri River to acquire a Rushville, Missouri dealer in 1968.

Ferrell quickly recognized that in order to grow, he needed a bigger market. Therefore, in 1969, he formed Propane Industrial to serve the larger Kansas City industrial market.

Three years later, in 1971, the merged Penn Central Railroad filed for the then-largest corporate bankruptcy in American history.

In 1973, the next growth opportunity presented itself with the acquisition of Leavitt Propane in Kearney, Missouri.

Approved by Congress in 1974, and regulated by the United States Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service, the ESOP was a form of a long-term savings plan that gave tax breaks to business owners in return for assisting employees in purchasing company stock.

Its expansion continued, opening Ferrell North America, a propane and feedstock distribution arm, in 1977.

1981:New headquarters are established in Liberty, Missouri.

Proceeds from the Indian Wells sale helped the company acquire portions of Buckeye Gas Products Company in Nebraska and Iowa in 1984.

In 1986, Penn Central created a master limited partnership to spin off Buckeye and hired Goldman Sachs & Co. to act as lead underwriter.

The November 30, 1989 acquisition of DuPane Gas Service operations in Rhode Island was especially exciting.

Blue Rhino was founded in 1994, around the same time of Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.'s initial public offering, and remains headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In 1997, Ferrellgas purchased the North Carolina Propane Gas Co.

On July 18, 1998, thousands of Ferrellgas employees gathered in 35 meetings across the United States to learn they had become owners of the company through the establishment of the ESOP. Ferrell appeared in a videotaped presentation to introduce the concept.

In late 1999, Ferrellgas became the nation's largest propane marketer in terms of retail volume when it purchased its Tulsa-based competitor Thermogas for $432.5 million.

Rounding out the management team in June 2000, Ferrellgas brought in Patrick Chesterman as vice-president and chief operating officer.

On December 1, 2002 Ferrellgas purchased the propane operations of ProAm, Inc., then the nation's 17th largest propane retailer, for $25.6 million and a $10 million deferred seller note.

On February 9, 2004, Ferrellgas announced its blockbuster merger with Blue Rhino Corporation, the nation's largest provider of propane by portable tank exchange.

For a period after Ferrell turned over the CEO job to Steve Wambold in 2009, the company also was investing heavily in technology and its employees.

At the Blue Rhino propane plant (LP gas), owned by Ferrellgas, located in Tavares, Florida in Lake County, a fire broke out at around 10:30 p.m EDT on July 29, 2013.