Chicago Gas Company History

Chicago’s first gas company was introduced in 1849 by a group of citizens (Encyclopedia of Chicago). The company was named Chicago Gas Light & Coke Company from 1849-1855. The same group discovered that gas could not only be used to light up the streets with natural gas lamps, but could also be used inside the home for cooking purposes. In 1855 the gas company was renamed Peoples Gas Light & Coke Co. which started delivering gas to its Chicago customers. During this time companies were able to talk and decide about mergers. So Peoples Gas Light & Coke Co. President C.K.G Billings, Jr went ahead and merged 12 companies under his company’s name (Peoples Gas). This was when the Illinois Legislature has authorized the gas merge for the gas companies (Encyclopedia of Chicago). Before the 1900’s Peoples Gas Light & Coke CO. were already known to be the top sellers in gas stoves. They have sold more than 20,000 gas stoves across Chicago at that time. In the early 1900s, Illinois was still trying to figure out how to maintain fair rates. Illinois created the Public Utilities Commission (Which became the Illinois Commerce Commission in 1921) to watch over the gas companies …show more content…
Now Owning Peoples Gas, Northshore Gas, Michigan Gas Utilities, Minnesota Energy and WE Energies. They are now the largest electric and natural gas delivery company in our nation (WEC Energy). There providing gas to as many as 4.4 million customers. They are also updated with their systems and meet their standards each year. Peoples Gas and Northshore gas were once again able to keep their name. The deal that was made during the purchase of these companies was to stay the same and operate as they have been with minor changes. While they did take over the companies Wisconsin Energy Corporation (WEC) did experience cuts at their other facilities. One facility that did take a hit with cuts is WE