Petrolia’s past, present connected by time capsule
Former Petrolia residents Eugene, 85, and Bonnie Blair, 86, were instrumental in organizing the town’s 1973 time capsule ceremony. Married for 63 years, they raised three children together in Petrolia and now live in a care home in Parker. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle
PARKER — When Petrolia was an oil boom town, it boasted 17 bars.
At least, that’s how the local legend goes, said Eugene Blair, longtime Petrolia resident, former fire police chief and the last living committee man of Petrolia’s 1973 centennial celebration.
His wife, Bonnie, described the town from her youth as “active,” with a lively social scene: people would often go out to Petrolia’s duckpin bowling alley or the roller rink, she said, and most of them worked in the petroleum refineries.
