Father of the Petroleum Industry
George Bissell was born in Hanover in 1821. He was left fatherless and poverty stricken at age 12, and his prospects did not look particularly good. However, George was blessed with traits that could carry him far: a strong intellect, an abundance of curiosity, a willingness to work hard, and perhaps most important, great patience.
As a school boy George worked hard and won the opportunity to continue his studies at Dartmouth College. During his undergraduate years he supported himself by teaching and writing for magazines and newspapers. After receiving his degree and leaving the area, George continued his education and eventually took up the practice of law in New York City. He kept up his contact with his former professors at Dartmouth, making time to see them when returned to Hanover to visit his mother.
On a visit to Hanover in 1853, Professor Oliver Hubbard and Dr. Dixi Crosby showed George a substance with which they were experimenting. It was called “rock oil” and was used primarily as a medicine. The professors expected that, if it could be obtained more readily, it could be refined and used as a source of light, a cleaner fuel than whale or coal oil. The problem was figuring out how best to extract it from the earth. Bissell was intrigued and immediately began learning what he could about the current methods being used to obtain rock oil.
In 1854 Bissell and his law partner purchased land in an oil-producing region in Pennsylvania and formed the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. For two years the company failed in all its attempts to extract oil. Then Bissell decided to try derrick drilling, a method that was used to obtain salt. At the time this novel idea was met with ridicule, but Bissell persisted. Three years later the company at last struck oil and proved the method to be sound. George Bissell is often called the “Father of the Petroleum Industry” because of his success in turning petroleum into a commercial product.
George Bissell, who had left Dartmouth as a poor boy, was soon one of the wealthiest of her alumni. In 1866 he agreed to fund the building of a gymnasium on the campus. Called Bissell Hall, the gym featured on its main floor six bowling alleys, a very popular activity in that day. Bissell himself had insisted on the bowling alleys, noting that he had loved the sport as an undergraduate. In fact, he had been disciplined for indulging in what was at that time considered “a sinful sport”.
The gymnasium was demolished in 1958. George Bissell died in 1884 and is buried in the Dartmouth Cemetery.