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OUR STORY

Bob Rice

CGC was organized on May 1, 1909 under the name Antigo Gas Company.  In the early 1900’s, Antigo’s gas was manufactured from the carbonization of coal, also called “coking” and distributed to the residents of Antigo, WI through a network of cast iron pipes that were notorious for leaks.  During that time, CGC's customer's primarily used the gas for refrigerators and lighting. 

In 1919, the company was re-branded to CGC and continued to provide solely manufactured gas until 1949 when the company began supplying propane-air gas to it's then 500 customers. 

In 1949, Bob Rice and Dale Madeson acquired the floundering company and began planning the switch to natural gas.  After overcoming many “heartaches, discouragements and obstacles,” Rice, Madeson and their team succeeded in connecting City Gas Company's pipeline to ANR’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure on December 9, 1960.  Video footage of this construction can be viewed HERE.

 

Many things have changed since the introduction of natural gas in Antigo.  CGC’s customer base has risen 510%, despite a static county population.  Now our customers are supplied natural gas through an intricate web of state of the art plastic pipe totaling over 280 miles in length and our residential customers primarily use natural gas to heat their homes.
 
CGC is a family owned business and remains one of the few privately held natural gas utilities in Wisconsin. We are dedicated to providing excellent service to the community where we live, play and work.

Dale Madeson

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