BARTLESVILLE

city, seat (1907) of Washington county, northeastern Oklahoma, U.S., on the Caney River. It was settled in the 1870s around Jacob Bartles' trading post. Growth was spurred by the discovery of oil in 1897 and the arrival of the Santa Fe Railway in 1899. A replica of the first commercial well (Nellie Johnstone No. 1) in Oklahoma is in Johnstone Park, site of the original tapping. Oil and gas production, zinc smelting, and the manufacture of oil-field equipment are the economic mainstays. A U.S. Bureau of Mines petroleum experimental station is in the city. Bartlesville Wesleyan College was founded in 1909. Woolaroc Museum, established by oilman Frank Phillips and housing a collection of Western art, is 14 miles (23 km) southwest. Tom Mix was deputy marshal of nearby Dewey before becoming a famous silent-screen movie star; his elaborate cowboy gear is displayed in a museum. Inc. 1897. Pop. (1990) 34,256; (1994 est.) 33,640.