Hugoton Natural Gas Museum

by Bruce Wells | May 11, 2023 | Energy Education Resources

Kansas museum exhibits 1920s natural gas field and world’s greatest helium source.

A small museum in southwestern Kansas preserves the history of one of the largest natural gas fields in the world. The Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum in Hugoton opened in 1961 not far from a producing gas well drilled in 1945.

Hugoton’s museum, founded by Gladys Renfro and a group of dedicated volunteers, has served “as a memento of the Hugoton gas field and the progressive development of Stevens County.”

The farming community proclaimed as America’s “Natural Gas Capital” also hosts a Car Show & Rod Run every August. (more…)

Louisiana Oil City Museum

by Bruce Wells | May 7, 2023 | Energy Education Resources

Preserving Louisiana petroleum history at Caddo Lake.

A 1905 oil discovery at Caddo-Pines brought America’s rapidly growing petroleum industry to northwestern Louisiana. A state museum in appropriately named Oil City tells the story.

Originally the Caddo-Pine Island Oil and Historical Museum, in May 2004 the Louisiana State Oil and Gas Museum was dedicated as a state museum under the Louisiana Secretary of State.

Oil rplatforms in 1911 on Caddo Lake, Louisiana.

Gulf Refining Company in 1911 built drilling platforms to reach the oil beneath Caddo Lake, Louisiana. The early “offshore” technologies worked, and production continues today.

Located about 20 miles north of Shreveport, the first public museum in Louisiana dedicated to the petroleum industry maintains an extensive local history library and collected photographic archives. Exterior exhibits include the former depot of the Kansas City Southern Railroad. (more…)