Editor's Note: In collaboration with the Bartlesville Area History Museum, the Examiner-Enterprise is reviving the late Edgar Weston's 'Revisiting the Past' columns that ran in the newspaper from 1997-99. Weston's columns recount the history of Bartlesville as well as Washington, Nowata and Osage counties. He was a beloved figure who, in retirement as a Washington County court bailiff, followed his passion for unearthing area history and sharing it with others through his bus tours and writings. Weston died in 2002, but his work lives on. His collection of columns was recently donated to the museum by the Weston family. We will run one of his columns every Wednesday as part of our new Weston Wednesday feature.

The Bicentennial in 1976 created a great interest in the achievements made in the development of America in most communities. In recognition of Engineers Week, the Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers was recognized by listing the progress of engineering in the Bartlesville area.

Some of the significant achievements made by the profession include:

· 1899: Moving Jacob Bartles store-home building from the mill site to Dewey was called "one of the greatest engineering feats of the Indian Territory." Santa Fe railroad built here.

· 1900: First oil shipped from Bartlesville. First natural gas well in the area.

· 1903: Katy railroad built here. Bartlesville Vitrified Brick Plant started.

· 1904-1905: Bartlesville electrical, water, and sewage systems started and paving

· 1906: Dewey Portland Cement Company organized.

· 1908: First cement produced in Oklahoma at Dewey. Interurban built to run from the smelters west of Bartlesville to Dewey.

· 1910: First glass bottle manufactured in Oklahoma made by Great Western Glass Company, Bartlesville.

· 1912: Empire Gas and Fuel Company organized.

· 1917: Phillips Petroleum Company started by Frank and L.E. Phillips. First commercially built airplane in Oklahoma manufactured in Dewey.

· 1918: U.S. Bureau of Mines established a Petroleum Experiment Station in Bartlesville.

· 1919: Masonic Building constructed, home of Empire, later Cities Service, now TRW offices.

· 1920: Phillips pioneered developing processes for extraction of hydro-carbon liquids from natural gas streams.

· 1921: H.C. Price began the Electra Welding Company in Bartlesville.

· 1922: Memorial Hospital Building erected. H.C. Price began tank welding in the field and did the first tank to be electric welded.

· 1923: National had the first zinc smelter in the U.S. to use sintering for agglomeration of zinc ore.

· 1925: Phillips became the country's largest processor of natural gasoline.

· 1927: Phillips sponsored and fueled the plane that won the San Francisco Honolulu Race.

Phillips pioneered the LPG industry, developing production and equipment.

· 1928: Price did the first electric welded major pipeline. National Zinc began manufacture of sulfuric acid from metallurgical gas.

· 1930: Reda Pump Company organized by Armais Arutunoff to build the first electrical submergible pump and motors. Phillips was the first company in the nation to design and operate a long distance pipeline for simultaneous movement of several types of liquid petroleum products. Price introduced the shielded arc and welded the first pipeline using the heavily coated rod. Country Club Road Bridge was built.

· 1933: Price eliminated use of the back-up ring on all pipeline welding.

· 1934: Wiley Post set a new altitude record from the Bartlesville airport. He flew 7 miles high, wearing the first spacesuit, a flying suit with special helmet for breathing oxygen which he helped design.

· 1935: Phillips licensed the Perco gasoline treating process. Phillips developed the amine gas treating process (Girbotol).

· 1936: Bartlesville Petroleum Research Center (BPRC) with the State of Oklahoma and the American Gas Association developed the "back pressure" method of determining gas well capacity. Price crews welded the first major pipeline using the new stovepipe method they developed. National Zinc installed electrostatic precipitator for collection of lead and cadmium fumes.

· 1937: Cherokee Avenue Bridge built. Cities Service acquired Empire Gasoline Company.

· 1939: BPRC with the American Petroleum Institute invented a pressure core barrel. BPRC engineers advanced methods for disposal of oilfield brine wastes.

· 1940: BPRC developed a correlation index for hydrocarbons. Phillips designed and developed the first process for producing carbon black from low-grade oil.

· 1942: Phillips discovered the process for manufacturing rubber from butane. Phillips discovered the process of HF alkylation for upgrading octane ratings of motor fuels.

· 1943: Price helped build the first arctic pipeline. The Chemical Engineering Achievement Award was given to Phillips for synthetic rubber and carbon black developments.

· 1946: BPRC developed a windowed cell for observing hydrocarbon phases under variable pressures.

· 1947: Reda Pump developed the electrodrill coring bit which gained fame when cores were taken of ice at the North Pole.

· 1947: Price built the then world's largest high pressure natural gas pipeline. BPRC devised a method to treat tubing surfaces with protective coatings at well depths.

· 1948: Price patented and placed on the market the HEVI-COTE process of concrete coating for pipes. Phillips developed the Hexane Isomerization process utilizing aluminum chloride catalyst. Frank Phillips Boulevard Bridge built.

This list of engineering achievements will continue next week.