WISCONSIN GAS CO history

1896: Company emerges from receivership as the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company.

By 1900 TMER&L and MLH&T had a combined total of 1,511 customers and more than 41.5 million paying passengers.

Finding that electrical service had been neglected in favor of interurban transportation, Mortimer set out to increase the Wisconsin company's customer base beyond the 13,582 it served in 1910.

After the war the situation grew worse; by 1920 it reached a crisis.

In the state's northern region, North American purchased Begg's Wisconsin Traction, Light, Heat and Power Company in 1923.

The two companies were merged in 1925 and jointly became the Wisconsin-Michigan Power Company.

In 1938 it merged WEPCo into TMER&L, which in turn adopted the Wisconsin Electric Power Company name.

Finally, in 1941 it transferred the common stocks of Wisconsin Michigan Power Company and Wisconsin Gas and Electric to WEPCo.

In June 1950, Van Derzee integrated Wisconsin Gas and Electric's electrical properties into WEPCo and incorporated its natural gas properties as Wisconsin Natural Gas, which became a WEPCo subsidiary.

1951: A new power plant is built at Oak Creek.

In 1964 WEPCo joined the power-pooling Mid-America Interpool Network.

In 1967 J.G. Quale became WEPCo's president.

In December 1970, Unit 1 of WEPCo's Point Beach nuclear facility went online.

In 1975, Quale was replaced by Charles S. McNeer.

McNeer's conservation efforts were so successful that in 1985 the company announced it would not build any new power plants for the remainder of the century but would instead invest $600 million in a refurbishment plan for its Port Washington and Oak Creek plants.

In March 1992, Wispark announced joint plans with Wisconsin Energy to invest a total of $3.9 million in another Milwaukee low-income housing project.

In 1995, the state Public Service Commission proposed a 32-step process for deregulating and restructuring the electric industry.

In 1998, Wisconsin Energy acquired ESELCO, the parent company of Sault Ste.

2000: Wisconsin Energy acquires Wicor, Inc., the parent company of Wisconsin Gas Co.; announces its long-range Power the Future plan.