William G. Skelly
| William Skelly | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
William Grove Skelly June 10, 1878 Erie, Pennsylvania |
| Died | April 11, 1957 (aged 79) Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Gertrude Elizabeth Frank (m. 1904) |
| Children |
Carolyn Mary Skelly Joanna Jane Skelly |
| Parent(s) | William Skelly Mary Jane Sweetman |
William Grove Skelly (June 10, 1878 – April 11, 1957), often known as Bill or William G. Skelly, was an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the oil business. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, he moved to Kansas in 1916, then to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1919, where he founded Skelly Oil Company. By 1923, his company was one of the strongest independent producers of oil and gasoline in the United States. He helped organize the first International Petroleum Exposition in Tulsa in 1923 and became president of that organization, a position he held for the rest of his life. He was a founder of the Kansas-Oklahoma branch of the United States Oil and Gas Association, then known as Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association.
Skelly became an active promoter as well of the aviation industry, though he was not a pilot himself. In 1926, he purchased the financially struggling Mid-Continent Aircraft Company and turned it into the successful Spartan Aircraft Company. In 1928, he led the fundraising to build the Tulsa Municipal Airport. In October 1928, he opened the Spartan School of Aeronautics.
Skelly was active in other civic projects. He donated funds to the University of Tulsa for a football stadium in 1930 and for the first FM radio station in Oklahoma in 1947.
Bill Skelly was one of six children born to William and Mary Jane Sweatman Skelly. He began earning money by selling newspapers while he was still in grammar school. Finishing public school at age fourteen, he attended a business school for a year. After completing the business course, he worked with his father hauling oil well supplies to oil fields in Venango County, Pennsylvania. Soon, he became a tool dresser in the Venango fields.
In 1898, the Spanish–American War broke out. Skelly enlisted in the Sixteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers and participated in the Battle of Coamo in Puerto Rico. After the war, he became manager of the Citizens Gas Company in Gas City, Indiana, where he learned the technology of transporting and controlling natural gas through pipelines.
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