Oklahoma Journeys
Week of April 12, 2008
Nellie Johnstone comes in, 1897
Nellie Johnstone creates headlines this week on Oklahoma Journeys. Oklahoma is known for its connections to the oil and gas business, and Bartlesville, Oklahoma, for many years was one of the primary business centers for the petroleum industry. The Nellie Johnstone Number One in downtown Bartlesville officially began Oklahoma’s association with oil, and that’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.
From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.
Today in and among the trees and playgrounds of Johnstone Park in downtown Bartlesville sits a replica of a 19th century oil derrick and drilling rig. “On this spot,” reads a sign, “was a drilled the first commercial oil well in Oklahoma, the Nellie Johnstone No. 1.” The sign and oil derrick are interesting, but they hardly convey the excitement and anticipation that existed on that spot in 1897.
Bartlesville, in it’s early day straddled the Caney River, the town on the south side of the river eventually became Bartlesville, while the people living on the north side moved off to form the town of Dewey. As town founders, George Keeler and William Johnstone worked hard to promote the area, they brought in the railroad, started a post-office and promoted the town throughout the region. Both men realized that oil existed in the region and they hoped that, if possible, they might find some close to their store and the town site. Using twenty-eight horses and taking two weeks the men managed to haul an oil-drilling rig from near Tulsa to Bartlesville. Choosing a spot right on the banks of the Caney River, the men joined now by the Cudahy Oil Company began to drill. As the well went deeper and deeper eventually passing the thousand-foot mark, local newspapers reported feelings of skepticism and lagging confidence.
All worries disappeared however when evidence of oil was found near 1,300 feet. It was in this week of 1897, on April 15th that with a shot of nitroglycerin, the well became the state’s first gusher. Named the Nellie Johnstone after William Johnstone’s daughter, the well changed forever the future of Oklahoma. The Cudahy Company quickly drilled other wells nearby, and all of them were producers. Watching the action from their barbershop in Bartlesville were the Phillips brothers who within ten years sat atop one of the worlds greatest oil empires, Phillips Petroleum Company. Citgo, Phillips, and other companies began in and called Bartlesville home, creating from its humble beginnings a city of great wealth and enterprise.
You can gain a sense of the magnitude and grandeur of the area’s oil boom at the Phillips mansion in downtown Bartlesville. The mansion, a component of the Oklahoma Historical Society, showcases the life and legacy of one of the world’s great oilmen, Frank Phillips. The grounds of the Oklahoma History Center features an outdoor Oil and Gas park that includes four examples of the oil derricks used in Oklahoma, including a wooden derrick of the type that was the Nellie Johnstone No. 1. The Oklahoma History Center is located on NE 23rd street just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.