PennWell Corp., the company that owns Utility Products magazine, turns 100 this year. The company began as a small-town publisher of a single publication, the Oil Investors' Journal. The journal was founded in 1902 in Beaumont, Texas, by St. Louis newspaperman Holland Reavis. He had been drawn to Texas by the Spindletop oil discovery. A few years later, Reavis sold the journal to Patrick C. Boyle, a former oil field scout for John D. Rockefeller. At the time, Boyle was the publisher of the Oil City Derrick newspaper in Pennsylvania. In 1910, Boyle formed the Petroleum Publishing Co., predecessor to PennWell Corp., and renamed the Oil Investors' Journal the Oil & Gas Journal. He also moved the magazine and company to Tulsa, Okla., where Boyle's family still runs PennWell's corporate office.

When Boyle bought PennWell's flagship publication in 1910, the U.S. petroleum industry was not the only energy industry in its infancy; the electricity industry also was emerging. Despite the electricity industry's birth around 1880 when Thomas Edison's Pearl Street power station started generating electricity in lower Manhattan, it was slow to grow. Then electricity was a luxury enjoyed by less than 2 percent of the population.

To commemorate PennWell's centennial, we thought it would be fun to create a cover that depicts the industry 100 years ago. And because PennWell began in Pennsylvania, a photo from that state's electric utility is fitting. PPL Corp. graciously shared some photos with us. The cover photo shows a fleet vehicle from the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Sunbury. This was one of the many small electric companies Edison used to perfect central station incandescent lighting in small Pennsylvania cities and towns. Small electric companies were common at the turn of the century, and by 1900, 64 electric companies served 88 communities in an area of Pennsylvania that Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. would serve later.

The Edison Electric Illuminating Co. (a predecessor company of PPL Corp.) of Lancaster, Pa. circa 19-15-1920. (Photo courtesy of PPL Corp.)

Because many of you who read this magazine set the poles and hang the wires that carry electricity, we thought you'd enjoy this photo of a fleet truck and the equipment your predecessors used when accomplishing many of the same tasks you do today. The industry has come a long way.

It's hard to believe that a commodity so entrenched in our lives was unavailable to most people 100 years ago. It's also mind-boggling that hundreds of miles of electric lines were built using fleet vehicles and equipment like the ones in the cover photo. The photo makes me appreciate the hard work and ingenuity that went into building our nation's infrastructure. I hope you enjoy our look back.

Regards,

Teresa Hanson
Editor-in-Chief
teresah@pennwell.com

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