The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company history

In 1897, after the Illinois legislature authorized gas company mergers, People's Gas merged with seven other firms.

By this time, the company was a leading seller of gas stoves: it sold over 20,000 stoves to Chicago customers in 1898 alone.

In December 1900, North Shore Gas Company acquired all of the assets of Waukegan Gas, Light and Fuel Company.

By 1907, People's Gas had a local monopoly, and it struggled with the city to establish fair rates.

1912 North Shore Consolidated Gas Company changed its name to North Shore Gas Company.

At this time, the company still manufactured gas out of coal and oil; in 1921, it used over 700,000 tons of coal and coke and 77 million gallons of oil.

In 1929, the start of the Great Depression, the first long-distance steel pipeline was built to bring natural gas from the Texas panhandle to Chicago and other highly industrialized cities in the upper midwest.

1932 Peoples Gas constructs the first long-distance, high-pressure, steel natural gas pipeline from north Texas to Chicago, allowing for the first-time industrial use of natural gas.

By 1950, People's Gas had annual sales of over $80 million and employed over 4,500 people.

1962 For the first time, Peoples Gas is able to meet all demands by Chicago residents for natural gas to heat their homes, helping to clean up Chicago by diminishing its reliance on coal and oil to heat homes.

1967 Peoples Gas Company was incorporated as a holding company to hold the stock of The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company and North Shore Gas and other subsidiaries.

The company changed its name to People's Gas Co. in 1968; 12 years later, it became part of People's Energy Corp.

Eight years later, in 1989, Peoples Energy completed a $43 million construction project.

Since December of 1990, the reins of the company have been in the hands of Richard E. Terry, who replaced Eugene A. Tracy as chairman and chief executive.

At the end of its 1991 fiscal year, Peoples Energy reported that it had 3.065 billion cubic feet of natural gas available for peak-day delivery, of which 2.65 billion cubic feet were available to Peoples Gas and 415 million cubic feet were available to North Shore Gas.

Peoples Energy was planning to spend $21.2 million in 1992 to build a new pipeline supply connection for its North Shore Gas subsidiary and was spending $9.9 million to install new, high-tech meter-reading equipment for its Peoples Gas subsidiary.